With Bashar Assad still in power in Syria, supported by Russia, Syrian ally Iran is about to dominate the Middle East, and thereβs nothing that can be done about it. But is this really such a bad thing?
Maybe it is if youβve put all your eggs in other Middle Eastern baskets to the total exclusion of Iran, while your rivals long ago established a solid footing there. In that case, youβve just lost a mighty expensive βlong gameβ bet, and it wonβt be easy to eject the entrenched competition from that market in order to gain a foothold.
So what to do? Common sense would dictate that you continue to do what other U.S. administrations have done: keep trying to convince the public that itβs not about global oil dominance or big business at all, and that itβs really about politics and human rights.
The gullible will continue to believe it. Just like theyβll continue to believe that Iranβs top allies, Syria and Russia, are threats to humanity, despite the fact that both countries just teamed up with Iran to wipe out an actual threat to humanity: the Islamic State.
Do you ever wonder why Iran is always the Westβs whipping boy when there are so many more egregious cases? Not only are other rogue states left alone by Western nations, theyβre often supported in their transgressions.
Take, for example, the United Arab Emirates, a country known for employing expats from underdeveloped countries in modern-day slave labor to build a massive playground for rich Arab oligarchs on a foundation of desert sand. Hollywood legend Robert De Niro was in the UAE Sunday to speak at the World Government Summit, where he lamented the Trump administrationβs stance on climate change. I hate to break it to De Niro, but Dubai was plagued with sand and heat long before the industrial revolution.
While standing in a mecca built by slavery, De Niro also criticized Trumpβs America for a lack of sophistication.
βWe donβt like to say we are a βbackwardβ country, so letβs just say weβre suffering from a case of temporary insanity.β De Niro said.
The actor was apparently oblivious to the fact that he was uttering these words in country where women must receive permission from a βmale guardianβ to marry. Meanwhile, the endless saga of Iranβs hijab law for women is covered on a near-weekly basis in Western media.
The double standard for Iran vis-Γ -vis other Middle Eastern nations more pliable to Western interests is glaring.
Iran is only considered a βthreatβ because it refuses to sell out its national interests to those who show up at its doorstep demanding it do so. In other words, Iran has exactly the kind of protectionist approach that many Americans demand of their own government. Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot and Iran led a coalition to gang up on the U.S. with sanctions and accusations of being a global menace, all because Iranian leadership didnβt agree with the way America ran itself. As an American, youβd tell them where to shove it, right? Well, itβs easy to see why Iran has been telling off the U.S. for decades.
If youβre younger than 50, youβve been bombarded with anti-Iranian messaging for pretty much your entire life: how Iran sponsors terrorism, how Iran is a nuclear threat, how Iran is a regional hegemon. It all seems plausible until you venture beyond the one-sided messaging and seek the point of view from the other side.
And yes, there is another side. Iranian officials with whom Iβve spoken over the years are just as paranoid about outside interference in their domestic affairs and threats to their national security as U.S. officials are. The difference is that Iranians can point to a CIA-backed coup dβΓ©tat in 1953 as proof of Western meddling, As the old adage goes, just because youβre paranoid doesnβt mean that you donβt have enemies.
So letβs cut out the nonsense when it comes to Iran. Itβs a country just like so many others. βWhining to winβ is a strategy for losers.
