While claiming that the critics of the Iran Deal are “overstretching the specter of Iran’s imperialism,” Paul Pillar more than underplays the reality of it even as it unfolds under our watchful eyes in places like Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon.
Tag: Syria
The Ruse of Civility, Or, Ruse Awakening
“When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse.” (The Atlantic, Nonviolence as Compliance)
Similarly, when calls emerge from certain quarters addressing “both sides” of a conflict and appealing for calm, even when one side has been using overwhelming violence from the get-go while the other remained committed to nonviolent tactics with few exceptions, we can all be sure that a ruse is in the work.
Of Geopolitics & Communal Identity
Conflict in the Middle East will have consequences far beyond its borders, especially in Europe.
This is a very important article by Nicholas Blanford and can help us predict the future patterns of conflict in the region. The key quote in it for me, the one that explains how “geopolitical concerns” are understood by Iran’s leaders at this stage and, consequently, how other players are bound to understand them as swell, is this:
In February 2014, Mehdi Taeb, a senior Iranian cleric, underlined the importance of Syria to Iran in stark terms, saying it is a “strategic province for us.” “If the enemy attacks us and wants to take either Syria or [the Iranian province of] Khuzestan, the priority is to keep Syria,” he said. “If we keep Syria, we can get Khuzestan back too, but if we lose Syria, we cannot keep Tehran.”
Another Broken Promise
And now we can add Syria and the Central African Republic to the mix
He broke his promise on Darfur. He broke his promise on the Armenian Genocide. He broke the promise he made while president to uphold a certain redline in Syria. In fact, he remained quite indifferent to the unfolding genocide there waxing philosophical at one point and saying:
“And how do I weigh tens of thousands who’ve been killed in Syria versus the tens of thousands who are currently being killed in the Congo?”
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 