Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Terror paymasters are the "chief beneficiary of the war on terror.."?!

A dollar short and a day late, is how one would characterize political think tanks, but at least the Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) in its recent report (Iran, Its Neighbours and The Regional Crisis, August 2006) has drawn a frank conclusion from the bungling of the US, EU, and Israel in the middle east; the report begins with "There is little doubt that Iran has been the chief beneficiary of the war on terror in the Middle East. The United States, with Coalition support, has eliminated two of Iran's regional rival governments.."

With the additional foothold in Lebanon, via their Hezbollah proxy, the mullahs are now confident of their hegemonic goals in the region, and in projecting trouble and extending their sphere of influence. Via their shock troops in Iraq, the Badr and Sadr forces, the mullahs aim to destablize Iraq to the point that, a) the US is preoccupied with fighting the militia, b) increase the mullahs footprint in Iraq so that another militarily strong regime does not materialize, and c) divert away from the problems at home and their nuclear drive. In Afghanistan, the mullahs have cultivated a strong proxy in the western provinces.

What has become clear from the recent conflict in Lebanon, and continuuing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, is that none of the power players, the US, the EU, and Israel, will be able to confront a hugely fundamentalist and obstructionist urge of the Iranian mullahs. This rise in fundamentalism, originated and bank rolled by the mullahs in Iran, can only be effectively confronted by the Iranian people, who remain the main beneficiary of the mullahs wrath. Unshackling the Iranian resistance, should be the first step in a long ride to removing the mullahs' threat in the region and in the world.


Sunday, August 13, 2006

"the birth pangs of a new Middle East"... but wait, the mullahs have already declared victory!

Now that the UNSC has declared that the Israel-Hezbollah war must cease immediately (August 11, 2006), the mullahs, through their proxy army, the Hezbollah, are also declearing that they have won where it mattered. The resolute incomptence displayed by the international community, including the UN, the US, the UK and all other permutations thereof, has emboldened the warmongers in Tehran. Just listen to the suddenly awakened Mr. Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, warning last week, that Iran might encourage its "forces" (read both the Sadr and the much larger Badr groups) in Iraq to "create increased instability here." Unless, you have just returned from the dark side of the moon, where e/m waves do not penetrate, you would know that what Iraq does not need is an additional dose of "instability."

Mr. Khalilzad should know. Mr. Nouri al-Maliki, the now shiite prime minister of Iraq, hails from the Daawa party, the same group that is one of the origional progenitors of the Lebanese Hezbollah, the same group that's fighting Israel. The Israeli bull-in-a-china shop, Mr. Netanyahu, the Likud Party leader, has said that in effect, Israel has been fighting “an Iranian army division” in “a war conceived, organized, trained and equipped by Iran, with Iran’s goal of destroying Israel and its fantasy ideology of building a once-glorious Muslim empire in which we are merely the first pit stop.” (New York Times, August 13, 2006) Many would hate to agree with Mr. Netanyahu, but he has a point.

And, it is precisely this point that many, including us, have made for a long number of years. Unless, the hegemonic and fundamentalist tendencies of the Iranian mullahs are countered and effectively, we will see the "birth pangs of a new middle east", but not the kind that Dr. Rice, the US Secretary of State, wished of a new democratic middle east, but one of the mullahs' hegemony and instability in the region.