Juan Cole: Ahmadinejad and the Limits of American and Israeli Power
[Juan Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, maintains the blog Informed Comment. His most recent book, just out in paperback, is Engaging the Muslim World.]
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Middle East’s populist answer to the American tea party, has stirred controversy with his trip to Lebanon, which will begin Wednesday. He is planning to visit villages in southern Lebanon on the border with Israel that have been rebuilt with Iranian aid after Israeli incursions and wars, the last in 2006. Ahmadinejad’s theatrical politics often make him a laughingstock, but his trip is intended to make the serious point that Tehran can stand up to Western sanctions and thwart attempts to box the Islamic Republic in.
Ahmadinejad is a major thorn in the side of U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Iran rejects the legitimacy of Israel, one of the pillars of American policy in the Middle East (though Ahmadinejad has never actually threatened to wipe Israel off the face of the map, a charge based on a mistranslation). Iran supports nativist paramilitaries such as that of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Badr Corps in Iraq. Most seriously, Iran is pursuing the enrichment of uranium, which it says is for civilian power generation. The U.S. and Israel, however, fear the program could end up being dual-use and result in, at the least, the ability to assemble a nuclear warhead on short notice.
Iran, despite draconian U.N. and U.S. sanctions, remains a major player in the region. Shiite Iran has just rallied the Shiite religious parties in Iraq to support its favored candidate for prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki of the Islamic Mission Party. Syria and Turkey have warm relations with the Ahmadinejad government. Even Egypt has just announced a resumption of direct flights between Cairo and Tehran....
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Middle East’s populist answer to the American tea party, has stirred controversy with his trip to Lebanon, which will begin Wednesday. He is planning to visit villages in southern Lebanon on the border with Israel that have been rebuilt with Iranian aid after Israeli incursions and wars, the last in 2006. Ahmadinejad’s theatrical politics often make him a laughingstock, but his trip is intended to make the serious point that Tehran can stand up to Western sanctions and thwart attempts to box the Islamic Republic in.
Ahmadinejad is a major thorn in the side of U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Iran rejects the legitimacy of Israel, one of the pillars of American policy in the Middle East (though Ahmadinejad has never actually threatened to wipe Israel off the face of the map, a charge based on a mistranslation). Iran supports nativist paramilitaries such as that of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Badr Corps in Iraq. Most seriously, Iran is pursuing the enrichment of uranium, which it says is for civilian power generation. The U.S. and Israel, however, fear the program could end up being dual-use and result in, at the least, the ability to assemble a nuclear warhead on short notice.
Iran, despite draconian U.N. and U.S. sanctions, remains a major player in the region. Shiite Iran has just rallied the Shiite religious parties in Iraq to support its favored candidate for prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki of the Islamic Mission Party. Syria and Turkey have warm relations with the Ahmadinejad government. Even Egypt has just announced a resumption of direct flights between Cairo and Tehran....