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You post is insightful except for the last paragraph. If Iran were not a theocracy why would we might mind if it dominated the region? Surely it's no worse than

You post is insightful except for the last paragraph. If Iran were not a theocracy why would we might mind if it dominated the region? Surely it's no worse than Saudi Arabia. And wouldn't Israel behave better if someone could stand up to it?

ArkyBeagle 12y ago
I suspect the 1979 hostage event still dominates opinion of Iran. It's a mostly unhealed wound. Even if you take 1953 into account, it stings. Having someone stand up to Israel will more than likely galvanize the politics of Israel towards at least more militarism. The Iranian opposition to Israel looks suspiciously like Eliminationism - a catchall term designed by Daniel Goldhagen to describe a specific political technology. The Frontline show on ISIS describes ISIS quite clearly as Sunni officers and such being cast out of Iraq as another Eliminaitonist tactic to gain political support for the al-Maliki government. Saudi Arabia is sort of fictional; it was created out of the rubble in the region around the time of the First World War. It's an artifact of what was left when the British Empire began to decline in the region. But it is more or less an honest broker; the others in the area are less known. It really does go back to Lawrence and all that. The book "A Peace to End All Peace" describes this process in excruciating detail. Lawrence does not fare well in the book. He's practically a (military) fillibuster. Saudi Arabia being the site of both Mecca and Medina is highly constrained in what it can appear to do. This makes it stable. But is cannot appear to keep the Haj from political "enemies" witout inspiring ... fury.
- Tloewald 12y ago
  "Having someone stand up to Israel will more than likely galvanize the politics of Israel towards at least more militarism." Well we've tried forty years of no-one standing up to Israel and that hasn't worked (and Israel has moved further and further to the right during this period).
  - ArkyBeagle 12y ago
    I did not say I thought there was a solution. Israel is just too handy a target and anti-Semitism ( oh, the irony ) is too delicious a plum for "leaders" in the region. The original Caliphate took a handful of geniuses to construct, with Suleiman, Saladin and Mehmet chief among them. Let us hope such men rise there now. Ottoman history knows that Suleiman formally denounced blood libel against the Jews and that Christians were relatively well-treated.

ArkyBeagle 12y ago

I suspect the 1979 hostage event still dominates opinion of Iran. It's a mostly unhealed wound. Even if you take 1953 into account, it stings. Having someone stand up to Israel will more than likely galvanize the politics of Israel towards at least more militarism. The Iranian opposition to Israel looks suspiciously like Eliminationism - a catchall term designed by Daniel Goldhagen to describe a specific political technology. The Frontline show on ISIS describes ISIS quite clearly as Sunni officers and such being cast out of Iraq as another Eliminaitonist tactic to gain political support for the al-Maliki government. Saudi Arabia is sort of fictional; it was created out of the rubble in the region around the time of the First World War. It's an artifact of what was left when the British Empire began to decline in the region. But it is more or less an honest broker; the others in the area are less known. It really does go back to Lawrence and all that. The book "A Peace to End All Peace" describes this process in excruciating detail. Lawrence does not fare well in the book. He's practically a (military) fillibuster. Saudi Arabia being the site of both Mecca and Medina is highly constrained in what it can appear to do. This makes it stable. But is cannot appear to keep the Haj from political "enemies" witout inspiring ... fury.

Tloewald 12y ago
"Having someone stand up to Israel will more than likely galvanize the politics of Israel towards at least more militarism." Well we've tried forty years of no-one standing up to Israel and that hasn't worked (and Israel has moved further and further to the right during this period).
- ArkyBeagle 12y ago
  I did not say I thought there was a solution. Israel is just too handy a target and anti-Semitism ( oh, the irony ) is too delicious a plum for "leaders" in the region. The original Caliphate took a handful of geniuses to construct, with Suleiman, Saladin and Mehmet chief among them. Let us hope such men rise there now. Ottoman history knows that Suleiman formally denounced blood libel against the Jews and that Christians were relatively well-treated.