Running the Show

A report came out this week that stated boldly that the so-called War on Terror has boosted Iran's standing in the Middle East and raised its level of influence in its war torn neighbours, Iraq and Afghanistan. After Israel's current misadventure in Lebanon, Hizbullah, backed by Iran, is now the darling of the Middle East. On the surface, Iran seems to be running the show in the Middle East. But I want to suggest that something else is going on.

Iran seems to be unstoppable according to media reports. They are making a mockery of the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency with their nuclear (weapons) program. They can turn off the oil as the world's fourth largest supplier and cripple the global economy at any time if challenged. And now they are conducting war games to demonstrate their resolve against any interloper on their territory. Iran is ascendant.

Compared with this Iranian power, bizarrely given the facts, the US seems punchdrunk. They are thwarted at every turn by Europeans, Russians or the Chinese and they can't make things work in Iraq and they certainly can't find Osama bin Laden. Blundering seems to come with all US foreign policy. Is this blundering perhaps purposeful?

You see there has been a massive void in US strategic thinking ever since the Cold War ended. How do you justify spending $400 billion on defense every year without a powerful enemy like the Soviet Union? Hence George W Bush's Axis of Evil and now his Islamic fascists; the new Nazi Germany apparently. And Iran fits snuggly into that terrorist mould. But unlike Al Qaeda with their relatively small operations, we are told that Iran could really supplant the US given time. This is laughable but this case is being made, everyday. And more and more of us are believing it. This is deliberate.

By attempting to paint Iran into the role of the new Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, the US is desperately searching for a reason to maintain its empire and its massive stockpile of weapons. Unfortunately the world has changed. Maybe the US should try and talk to Iran instead of expressing this traditional polarized worldview. Maybe they should divert much of that money away from defense and into real battles, like those against HIV/Aids or countless other diseases. Maybe they should ensure that everyone on earth has clean drinking water, for free. And then there's climate change which is the true threat, not Iran.