Porter writes: "It has become evident to all - besides those who are
determined for their own reasons not to see it - that the Islamic State's
intent on setting up an Islamic caliphate has the potential to dissolve the
basic international order that has governed the Middle East for a century."
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sitting next to President Hassan Rouhani
and addressing the cabinet. (photo: AP)
Israel Lobby Stops Iran's Help on Syria
By Gareth Porter, Consortium News
10 September 15
Despite the worsening Mideast crisis, President Obama can't escape the tight
policy constraints imposed by neocon thinking. The obvious move to work with
Iran to save Syria from an Islamic State or Al Qaeda victory is blocked by
the influence of the Israel lobby, writes Gareth Porter for Middle East Eye.
By the logic of geopolitics, the United States and Iran ought to be
cooperating to contain and weaken the Islamic State (also known as ISIS,
ISIL or Daesh). Both countries have declared that the group is a very
serious threat to their own security and to the security of the entire
Middle East.
Indeed, it has become evident to all - besides those who are determined for
their own reasons not to see it - that the Islamic State's intent on setting
up an Islamic caliphate has the potential to dissolve the basic
international order that has governed the Middle East for a century. So the
logic of Iran-U.S. strategic cooperation against Daesh (as the group is
referred to in Arabic) is no less compelling than was the logic of the Nixon
administration in reaching an understanding with Maoist China to
counter-balance their common Soviet adversary.
But that logical development isn't happening, contrary to the fears of some
and hopes of others, and it isn't likely to happen any time soon, despite
the nuclear agreement and the Obama administration's success in beating back
the unprecedented campaign by the Israel lobby to defeat it. The reason is
that it is not the logic of geopolitics, in the end, that is governing the
problem.
It isn't the Iranian side of the equation that is failing to follow the
geopolitical logic. Contrary to the constantly reiterated propaganda theme
of the anti-Iran forces in the region and in the United States that Iran's
ruling elite simply wants "death to America," Iran has publicly signaled to
the Obama administration repeatedly that it was open to such cooperation.
But the Obama administration has refused to reciprocate, for the simple
reason that it is not capable of formulating a regional policy on the basis
of an objective analysis of strategic interests.
To understand the why the international politics of the Middle East are now
so profoundly dysfunctional, one must begin with the contrasting modes of
Iranian and American foreign policymaking. The dramatic differences between
the two approaches to defining interests and policy toward the region has
produced a fundamental mismatch between the U.S. and Iranian ways of
responding to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Middle East.
For Iran, geopolitics does indeed shape policy toward the region and the
U.S. Iran, as a middle power that is vulnerable to threats from enemies in
the region, cannot afford to base its policies on anything but a realistic
appraisal of the threats and opportunities. Specifically, Iran has been
facing explicit threats of attack from both Israel and the United States
since the mid- to late-1990s. Now Daesh and Al Qaeda are on the offensive in
Iraq and Syria, threatening the twin pillars of Iran's security strategy.
Under those circumstances, Iranian officials know that they must take
advantage of any possible opening to improve relations with the United
States. Iranian officials have made it clear that they are prepared to take
advantage of any possibility - even if slight - of reaching an historic
agreement with the United States that could lead to strategic understanding
on the threat from Daesh.
One of the conceits of the U.S. political and national security elite is
that the real power in the Islamic Republic is held by Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guard leadership, and that their interests
lie in continuing hostility toward the United States. But that convenient
belief is belied by Khamenei's own public position.
On April 9, Khamenei clearly articulated the view that Iran is ready to
cooperate with the United States on regional issues if the U.S. would
indicate some willingness to change its policy. In the context of the
negotiations on the nuclear issue, Khamenei declared: "If the counterpart
stops its bad behavior, one could expand this experience to other issues,
but if the counterpart continues its bad behavior, it would only reinforce
our experiences of the past and distrust in the United States."
Iran has made it clear that it is prepared to think creatively and flexibly
about a modus vivendi with the United States. Last December, the Secretary
of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, recognized that the
United States was unlikely to cooperate explicitly with Iran, because of its
continued support for Israel. But he suggested that a change in U.S. policy
toward Israel was "not impossible" and then raised the possibility of
something less than explicit cooperation.
"The two can behave in a way that they do not use their energy against each
other," he said, and he called the nuclear agreement "crucial in this
regard."
In the final round of negotiations on the nuclear agreement from late June
to mid-July, Iranian officials in Vienna confirmed to me that Iran and the
United States had not discussed regional issues during the nearly 18 months
of negotiations. But senior Iranian officials were still holding out some
hope, however slight, that the Obama administration might soften its
hostility toward Iran sufficiently to make at least tacit cooperation
possible once the agreement was reached and approved by Congress.
The Iranians were basing their hope on an analysis of the objective
situation in the region. One official told me on July2: "The United States
doesn't have any reason to trust its allies in regard to Daesh." He was
alluding to the well-established fact that major funding for the terrorist
organization had come from Gulf Sunni regimes and that they were clearly
more interested in taking down the Assad regime than in stopping Daesh. But
the same official also said: "Some in the United States may see Daesh as a
source of pressure on the Syrian regime."
But while Iran acknowledges the need for a change in U.S.-Iran relations to
ease regional security threats, the United States has not made a move toward
any such acknowledgment. U.S. policy toward the Middle East has long been
defined primarily not by threats originating in the region but by much more
potent domestic political interests, both electoral and bureaucratic.
The power of the Israel lobby in Washington, primarily but not exclusively
over Congress, is well known, and that has imposed a rigid political and
legal framework of hostility toward Iran on the U.S. government for two
decades, beginning with a complete trade embargo that remains in place and
creates major obstacles to any shift in policy.
What is seldom acknowledged, however, is that the interests of the Pentagon,
the CIA and the National Security Agency have become tightly intertwined
with those of the anti-Iran coalition in the Middle East. A set of mutually
reinforcing bureaucratic interests now binds U.S. policy to an alliance
structure and military and intelligence programs in the Middle East that
have come to replace objective analysis of regional realities in determining
U.S. policy.
The first is the imperative for the U.S. military of holding on to U.S. air,
naval and land bases in the region, all but one of which are located in
states that are part of the anti-Iran coalition. Continuing long-term
control of those bases is the coin of the realm for U.S. military
institutions that trumps possible competing policy concerns.
Similarly, arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the other Gulf sheikhdoms and Israel
are a primary interest of the Pentagon, its arms contractor partners and its
congressional allies. And the determination of that same set of domestic
interests to continue the bonanza or research-and-development spending on a
missile defense system requires a continued identification of Iran as
primary regional adversary and threat.
Finally, the U.S. national security state has never given up its ambition to
regain primary influence in Iraq, despite the political legacy of the Iraq
War and a Shia-dominated regime in the country. That quite unrealistic
interest reduces still further the space for any cooperation with Iran in
the region.
The interaction of all those dynamics leaves the Obama administration in a
position where it cannot adopt a real Middle East strategy that reflects the
gravity of the current situation. The paradoxical result is that, instead of
responding to the regional crisis by applying creative diplomacy involving
an opening to Iran, the Obama administration is reduced to maneuvering
within the tight constraints imposed by the dominant political interests in
cleaving to the status quo.
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sitting next to President Hassan Rouhani
and addressing the cabinet. (photo: AP)
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/09/09/israel-lobby-stops-irans-help-on-syria
/https://consortiumnews.com/2015/09/09/israel-lobby-stops-irans-help-on-syri
a/
Israel Lobby Stops Iran's Help on Syria
By Gareth Porter, Consortium News
10 September 15
Despite the worsening Mideast crisis, President Obama can't escape the tight
policy constraints imposed by neocon thinking. The obvious move to work with
Iran to save Syria from an Islamic State or Al Qaeda victory is blocked by
the influence of the Israel lobby, writes Gareth Porter for Middle East Eye.
y the logic of geopolitics, the United States and Iran ought to be
cooperating to contain and weaken the Islamic State (also known as ISIS,
ISIL or Daesh). Both countries have declared that the group is a very
serious threat to their own security and to the security of the entire
Middle East.
Indeed, it has become evident to all - besides those who are determined for
their own reasons not to see it - that the Islamic State's intent on setting
up an Islamic caliphate has the potential to dissolve the basic
international order that has governed the Middle East for a century. So the
logic of Iran-U.S. strategic cooperation against Daesh (as the group is
referred to in Arabic) is no less compelling than was the logic of the Nixon
administration in reaching an understanding with Maoist China to
counter-balance their common Soviet adversary.
But that logical development isn't happening, contrary to the fears of some
and hopes of others, and it isn't likely to happen any time soon, despite
the nuclear agreement and the Obama administration's success in beating back
the unprecedented campaign by the Israel lobby to defeat it. The reason is
that it is not the logic of geopolitics, in the end, that is governing the
problem.
It isn't the Iranian side of the equation that is failing to follow the
geopolitical logic. Contrary to the constantly reiterated propaganda theme
of the anti-Iran forces in the region and in the United States that Iran's
ruling elite simply wants "death to America," Iran has publicly signaled to
the Obama administration repeatedly that it was open to such cooperation.
But the Obama administration has refused to reciprocate, for the simple
reason that it is not capable of formulating a regional policy on the basis
of an objective analysis of strategic interests.
To understand the why the international politics of the Middle East are now
so profoundly dysfunctional, one must begin with the contrasting modes of
Iranian and American foreign policymaking. The dramatic differences between
the two approaches to defining interests and policy toward the region has
produced a fundamental mismatch between the U.S. and Iranian ways of
responding to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Middle East.
For Iran, geopolitics does indeed shape policy toward the region and the
U.S. Iran, as a middle power that is vulnerable to threats from enemies in
the region, cannot afford to base its policies on anything but a realistic
appraisal of the threats and opportunities. Specifically, Iran has been
facing explicit threats of attack from both Israel and the United States
since the mid- to late-1990s. Now Daesh and Al Qaeda are on the offensive in
Iraq and Syria, threatening the twin pillars of Iran's security strategy.
Under those circumstances, Iranian officials know that they must take
advantage of any possible opening to improve relations with the United
States. Iranian officials have made it clear that they are prepared to take
advantage of any possibility - even if slight - of reaching an historic
agreement with the United States that could lead to strategic understanding
on the threat from Daesh.
One of the conceits of the U.S. political and national security elite is
that the real power in the Islamic Republic is held by Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guard leadership, and that their interests
lie in continuing hostility toward the United States. But that convenient
belief is belied by Khamenei's own public position.
On April 9, Khamenei clearly articulated the view that Iran is ready to
cooperate with the United States on regional issues if the U.S. would
indicate some willingness to change its policy. In the context of the
negotiations on the nuclear issue, Khamenei declared: "If the counterpart
stops its bad behavior, one could expand this experience to other issues,
but if the counterpart continues its bad behavior, it would only reinforce
our experiences of the past and distrust in the United States."
Iran has made it clear that it is prepared to think creatively and flexibly
about a modus vivendi with the United States. Last December, the Secretary
of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, recognized that the
United States was unlikely to cooperate explicitly with Iran, because of its
continued support for Israel. But he suggested that a change in U.S. policy
toward Israel was "not impossible" and then raised the possibility of
something less than explicit cooperation.
"The two can behave in a way that they do not use their energy against each
other," he said, and he called the nuclear agreement "crucial in this
regard."
In the final round of negotiations on the nuclear agreement from late June
to mid-July, Iranian officials in Vienna confirmed to me that Iran and the
United States had not discussed regional issues during the nearly 18 months
of negotiations. But senior Iranian officials were still holding out some
hope, however slight, that the Obama administration might soften its
hostility toward Iran sufficiently to make at least tacit cooperation
possible once the agreement was reached and approved by Congress.
The Iranians were basing their hope on an analysis of the objective
situation in the region. One official told me on July2: "The United States
doesn't have any reason to trust its allies in regard to Daesh." He was
alluding to the well-established fact that major funding for the terrorist
organization had come from Gulf Sunni regimes and that they were clearly
more interested in taking down the Assad regime than in stopping Daesh. But
the same official also said: "Some in the United States may see Daesh as a
source of pressure on the Syrian regime."
But while Iran acknowledges the need for a change in U.S.-Iran relations to
ease regional security threats, the United States has not made a move toward
any such acknowledgment. U.S. policy toward the Middle East has long been
defined primarily not by threats originating in the region but by much more
potent domestic political interests, both electoral and bureaucratic.
The power of the Israel lobby in Washington, primarily but not exclusively
over Congress, is well known, and that has imposed a rigid political and
legal framework of hostility toward Iran on the U.S. government for two
decades, beginning with a complete trade embargo that remains in place and
creates major obstacles to any shift in policy.
What is seldom acknowledged, however, is that the interests of the Pentagon,
the CIA and the National Security Agency have become tightly intertwined
with those of the anti-Iran coalition in the Middle East. A set of mutually
reinforcing bureaucratic interests now binds U.S. policy to an alliance
structure and military and intelligence programs in the Middle East that
have come to replace objective analysis of regional realities in determining
U.S. policy.
The first is the imperative for the U.S. military of holding on to U.S. air,
naval and land bases in the region, all but one of which are located in
states that are part of the anti-Iran coalition. Continuing long-term
control of those bases is the coin of the realm for U.S. military
institutions that trumps possible competing policy concerns.
Similarly, arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the other Gulf sheikhdoms and Israel
are a primary interest of the Pentagon, its arms contractor partners and its
congressional allies. And the determination of that same set of domestic
interests to continue the bonanza or research-and-development spending on a
missile defense system requires a continued identification of Iran as
primary regional adversary and threat.
Finally, the U.S. national security state has never given up its ambition to
regain primary influence in Iraq, despite the political legacy of the Iraq
War and a Shia-dominated regime in the country. That quite unrealistic
interest reduces still further the space for any cooperation with Iran in
the region.
The interaction of all those dynamics leaves the Obama administration in a
position where it cannot adopt a real Middle East strategy that reflects the
gravity of the current situation. The paradoxical result is that, instead of
responding to the regional crisis by applying creative diplomacy involving
an opening to Iran, the Obama administration is reduced to maneuvering
within the tight constraints imposed by the dominant political interests in
cleaving to the status quo.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
