Monday, November 29, 2010

Wikileaks, Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia

Update: I have been trying to catch bits and pieces from these 250,000 cabels, and one thing that is becoming increasingly clear to me is the RACIST media spin, which is trying to divert the damaging attention from the US department of foreign affairs and instead scapegoat the "dubious Arabs" and the "dangerous Persians" ... all concerns I expressed a few hours ago before North America woke up are becoming more justified. There seem to be a concerted effort to demonize Muslims (Arabs) and through their eyes, justify a war against Iran, selling it as: "see it is not only Israel who is afraid of Iran; all the neighbors wanted bombed too" ... clever Zionists, huh? Well we are more clever than you!
End of update

Initial reaction
Well well, my facebook world is flooding with angry and nationalistic messages about the recent Wikileaks: Saudi Arabia urging a military attack to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions.


And then came concerns of Robert Gibb, that such as these leaks are undermining the plight for democracy and worsen the human rights situation in Iran. This concerns, coming from Robert Gibbs the White house spokes person made my brows hit the ceiling: "what the Eff??" THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IRAN'S DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT!!!!

To link ANY policy regarding Iran's nuclear program to the Green movement is TOTAL hypocrisy of Mr Gibb, especially in the light of the following leaked piece of information:

¶7. (S/NF) Regarding the recent election in Iran, MBZ (Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan ) cautioned that Mir Hossein Musavi is no different than Ahmedinejad when it comes to their nuclear ambitions, 'same goal, different tactic.' In this respect, he regards Musavi as more dangerous than his competitor, as at least Ahmedinejad was 'an open book.' He reminded Secretary Geithner that Musavi and his advisors are part of the same group that took the U.S. Embassy in 1979.

A few minutes after all these reports, a Saudi Arabian friend of mine sent me a little message. If you are curious what Iranians and Arabs think about this, am copy pasting our little exchange about this issue:

The Iranian Naj:
I WOULD BE VERY CAUTIOUS ABOUT THIS, CASHING ON ANTI-ARAB SENTIMENTS OF IRANIANS ... KILLING A FEW BIRDS WITH ONE STONE

The Saudi Arabian friend of Naj:
While I agree with you... and believe that stoking such ethnic tensions could be in part behind this... I hope most people realize that there is a difference between the actions of governments in the middle east and the feelings of people. Most Arabs I know have very little direct contact with Iranians, the exception being Iraqis. Almost all the Arabs I know, which does not represent them all obviously, feel identified with the Iranians as a people and sympathetic to their causes. I am sure that news like this, if they believed it, would anger them about their own governments.
The Iranian Naj:
The problem is that we Iranians know very little about Arabs and have seriously distorted stereotypical notions that can easily get ignited by documents such as this. I think the problem needs to be understood from two angles:

First, that the Arab governments harbor hatred for the Iranian one is not necessarily untrue. Iranians need to understand WHY that is. In my view it s because Iran has a more vocal and more dynamic pro-democracy movement, compared ot other countries of the region and this unsettles the Arab governments.

Second, that which is referred to as "arab street" does aspire to the Iranian model, and this not only unsettles the arab governments, but the scare-crow, Israel. However, reports such as this exacerbate the anger of the pro-democracy Iranian activist, who used to fight shoulder to shoulder for Palestinian rights but are recently let down and dismissed by their fellow Arab activists who have branded their movement as an American interventionism, turning a blind eye to the HORRENDOUS violations of social, civil, and human rights of Iranians.

Reports such as these, therefore also undermine the Iranian green movement, and give the Iranian government extra excuse for putting the screws on all Iranians.

So, the bird flock is killed indirectly:
  1. The Iranian democracy will not get actualized => this relaxes the arab dictaorships.
  2. The anti-arab sentiments of the Iranians are fueled => increases the antagonism between Iran's anti-Israeli government and the Iranian people.
  3. The more unpopular the Iranian government becomes at home, and the further the military attack becomes likely, the more extortionist the armsdealing princes become.
  4. The indignation about the war agenda of the American economy and the Israeli "neediness" gets shifted to fellow muslims, the fellow muslims become further radicalized =>Islamophobia gets further justified.

I think over all, the outcomes of such leakages CAN be positive if people put their nationalistic "reactions" aside, and sit to think of the implications of these and how one can reap benefits from such reports. How one can change the course of history. My fear is that most people don't take time for that, and the cycle of hatred, misunderstanding and retardation will continue."

Of course, I am wondering why no one has mentioned Haaretz piece on the not-leaked, rather by-Pentagon-published documents about the Tipped Kettel Operation: The truth about Israel, Iran and 1980s U.S. arms deals.

8 comments:

littleindian said...

Hi Naj,
Is it not possible that the leaks are true. That the Sunni world may not want a Shia Bomb.

Is it not true that there hasn't been peace between Shias and Sunnis for centuries?

When I look at the demography of Islamic nations, Shias are a small isolated island surrounded by Sunni nations.

At the moment, the Islamic Bomb is a Sunni bomb; belongs to a Sunni nation, an ally, deeply indebted to Saudi.

The centuries of Sunni superiority, strength by numbers - augmented by the Sunni bomb can be cancelled without a battle if Iran is successful in developing her own nuclear device?

Enemy's enemies are one's greatest friends. Why does it not surprise me that there may/could have been some liaison between Arab nations and Israel to destroy Iran's capabilities.

I have always argued that Iran has every right to develop her own nuclear capabilities. Even if that includes a nuclear arsenal. If Pakistan and Israel can develop and retain their's, so should Iran.

The way I see, GWB's invasion of Iraq, saved Iran. Not only did he destroy a Sunni enemy of Iran, he ran out of money and resources to launch another invasion against a nation, which in contrast to Iraq, would not have been a pushover.

Otherwise we would not have been reading about the possibilities in the wikileaks, such a scenario may have already taken place. And would have become a part of history.

Naj said...

NICE TO SEE YOU OLD FRIEND!

Oh yes, the leaks are real, and the hatred and backstabbing is real too and it is not unidirectional, necessarily.

Except that Iranians (and Israelis) speak up their evil minds, the Arabs hide in the mud.

I think Ahmadinejad's response today was well measured. That Israelis are already jumping up and down and seeking support for their war, and Clinton shaking her pompom is a bit unsettling though.

littleindian said...

Hi Naj,
You are the only Iranian I know, and have liaised with. So if I read news of Iran, sometimes I drop in to read what you say.

Anonymous said...

Iran e-mathloom

parvati_roma said...

Great post, Naj - it neatly and eloquently addresses various spins counterspins and queries I've read floating around so... I've linked it, hope that's OK?

Naj said...

Thanks Parvati, of course it is ok.

Anonymous said...

dear Mrs. Naj,
When the political junkies come up for air, they'll find that the USA still doesn't have a useful military option in Iran.Until the IRI announces that it has nukes, and President Palin announces her coming assault..ain't gonna happen.
US policy should remain regime change, and support the Green forces of peaceful transformation.Your friend,Pedestrian, talks about "decades";God willing,it won't take that long.
btl

Anonymous said...

Why Iran Loves WikiLeaks

By CHAS FREEMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/opinion/05freeman.html?src=twrhp