>
> A well-reasoned op-ed column in the Newark Star-Ledger by two Middle
> East experts on why the notion that Iran is a threat to Israel is a
> crock:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/jg6ja
Last year I read a book called Sands of Empire, by
Robert W. Merry. He espouses the "clash of civilizations"
worldview, with which one may or may not agree. But
one point I found interesting is that is that the way to
manage cross-cultural international affairs is to deal
primarily with the core states of a given cultural block.
"Core states" would be America for the West, Russia
for the Orthodox civilization, China for the Sinic, India
for the Hindu. Who is the core state for the Muslim world?
Well, that's the rub. There isn't any. No one Muslim state
hold sway over the others. The neoconservatives
were probably hoping Iraq would serve that role, but that
country seems to be indisposed at present. Merry makes
a case for Iran serving that role (despite being a Shi'ite
nation, whereas 90 percent of Muslims are Sunni). Merry
says a reasonable U.S. policy would be to "seek to bring
Iran into a position of respect among nations, much as
Richard Nixon did with China in the 1970s." Merry says
our policy of vilifying Iran is the exact opposite of what
we need to do to manage relations between the West
and Islam. I think of this perspective whenever the U.S.
does something to diss Iran, or whenever Iran tries to
garner some respect before the world. (Being a physical
threat is a primitive way of gaining respect.)
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