Iran is a threat because Washington says so. Certainly, WaPo accepts the charge at face value:
Iran’s ambitions, which have cast a long shadow over the greater Middle East, may serve as a common bond keeping a frail peace process intact despite threats that have arisen even before the negotiations open Thursday at the State Department.
Iran’s nuclear program and spreading political influence through a swath of Sunni Arab countries have alarmed the region’s kings and elected autocrats for years.
ONOZ! Not the kings and autocrats!
As the clock ticks down…
Blue wire? Or red wire? Which one do I cut–BOOM!
…on predominantly Shiite Iran’s nuclear program, though, it becomes more urgent for Israel and its Arab neighbors to achieve peace and face together the shared threat to their security and political stability.
The dynamic brings an “enemy of my enemy” calculation to this round of talks, binding the Jewish state’s security interests to those of its Sunni Arab neighbors more tightly than in the past.
You don’t have to be an Iranian citizen to recognize that Iran is run by scary assholes. But could not the same be said by any other citizen in the Middle East, Israel included? And, ya know, it’s funny — just yesterday the President Who Cannot Be Doubted (except in the most ludicrous ways) announced the withdrawal of combat forces from a Middle Eastern country that some nation run by a religious zealot invaded illegally, destabilized, set up a torture prison, divvied up winnings to corporate pals, and threw into civil war. You’d think that might have some influence on the political climate of the region.
But let us not re-litigate the past. Let us move forward to a bright new tomorrow. “Turn the page,” as it was recently said.
Netanyahu will need Obama’s support if he decides to undertake a military strike against Iran, either before or after he carries it out. His willingness to stick with peace talks, which Obama has called a priority, would win him goodwill in what has so far been a stormy relationship between the two men.
All in good faith, then.
