Views from the arab world: Iran and Western reaction

Ever wonder how the Arab world feels about Iran and the rush to acquire nuclear weapons? The West and its collective respeonse to the Iranian threat has been really tough, almost to much to deal with. Poor Iran! The fear of the THREAT of more severe sanctions must have the mullahs in Iran doubling over in laughter. That is if one can find any place in the Koran where it states that laughing and humor are allowed. That is a topic for another time. When, not if Iran achieves nuclear weapons, Iran will be able to hold the entire region captive with fear and loathing. Once Iran crosses this line into the community with nuclear weapons, many arab countries will have no choice but to cuddle up to Iran and throw themselves into the boiling pot that comprises a region gripped by a possible Iranian checkmate.

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Arabs Fear Iran As a Tidal Wave; The West Thinks It's Easily Contained by a Sand Castle

Barry Rubin

Rubin Reports

How do leading Arab forces view the U.S. and Iranian maneuverings over Tehran’s drive to get nuclear weapons, the world’s number one political and strategic crisis? Such reactions are almost always either left out of Western calculations on the Middle East or treated in a distorted manner, replaced by clichés: they only react to what the West does and they are overwhelmingly concerned about the Arab-Israeli conflict.

If treated properly, however, such primary materials are a gold mine for comprehending world views, the situation, and probable responses. Al-Sharq al-Awsat is probably the most interesting Arabic-language newspaper today. It is Saudi-owned, London-based, and the closest thing to a liberal daily. Still, though, it reflects Saudi elite viewpoints.

The newspaper’s editor, Tariq al-Homayed, in a February 18 article, sees the region heading toward war, and he is far from alone in doing so. What he says is extraordinarily important even if—especially if—one doesn’t take it literally.

Now it is going to be the Age of Ahmadinejad and the Egyptians, Saudis, Jordanians, and others know that this involves far more than getting a nuclear umbrella. Either there will be a shooting war or, more likely, a combat conducted through subversion, terrorism, mass hysteria, and serious efforts at revolutionary upheaval.

Meanwhile, in the West, the debate continues of whether to have sanctions; precisely what weak and useless sanctions to impose; or how easily it will be to “contain” Iran through a few sentences of speech by a president not noted for his strength or readiness to use force along with a few military units in the Gulf.

The threat far outweighs the response. Continue reading

Rubin Reports

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