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| http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB08Ak02.html
By Dmitry Shlapentokh
As the heat over Tehran's nuclear program intensifies, there is rote repetition
in many of the Western media of linkages between Iran and al-Qaeda. Such a
simplistic assessment could actually help the Islamic extremists - the true
enemies of the US.
Iran is reported to have sent a letter to the UN's International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) asking that it remove by mid-month all seals and surveillance
systems on Iranian facilities still being monitored by international inspectors.
The letter follows a decision by the IAEA to report Iran to the UN Security
Council over allegedly not fully complying with the United Nations watchdog.
There is no doubt that most Iranian leaders have little time for the US, and
that they have something in common with Osama bin Laden. Yet Iranian President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad and bin Laden are two very different phenomena. Bin Laden and
al-Qaeda, as well as similar groups, are the products of the decomposition of
traditional society; their goals call for revolution and violence without end.
In a way, the jihadis could well be compared with the Trotskyites, who were
committed to "permanent revolution".
These people cannot be induced to renounce terror with incentives, threats or
through retaliation.
Iran, on the other hand, represents a different type of regime. It is true that
the protagonists of the Iranian revolution of 1979 rose to power with the
proclaimed goal of spreading radical Islam all over the world. Still, as was the
case with the Bolsheviks and other revolutionaries, whose initial ideology
became "national-Bolshevism" with transformations, Iranian radicalism has
blended with traditional Persian nationalism.
It has become the ideology of the regime that wants not so much to spread
revolution but to uphold the prestige of the state. In fact, what is proclaimed
as revolutionary ideology is nothing but a means of spreading the influence of
the Iranian state. In sharp contrast with the Taliban, the political and
ideological fellows of bin Laden, the Iranians have diplomatic relations with
many countries; they are members of the UN and have legitimate bank accounts.
The Iranians do not destroy ancient monuments in the Taliban fashion, and they
are immensely proud of their Persian heritage, which goes back to pre-Islamic
times.
And institutionalized revolutionaries such as those in Iran and radical
Islamists do not even have much sympathy for one another. In bin Laden's recent
audio tape in which he threatened attacks on the US, he did not even mention
Iran and its confrontation with the US. And he often expressed his dislike of
the Saddam Hussein regime, another example of an institutionalized revolutionary
regime.
An example of animosity between jihadi extremists and institutionalized regimes
can be found on the Internet site of Chechen fighters against the Russians. They
have increasingly become jihadi extremists rather than nationalists.
The site devotes considerable attention to Iraq and Afghanistan; it frequently
quotes Taliban sources and elaborates in detail on American losses. At the same
time, coverage of the Iranian standoff is minimal, and frequently without
expression of any sympathy for the Iranians.
Yet extreme pressure on Iran, such as sanctions or even military action, would
push these opposite forces into an odd alliance that, instead of increasing the
overall security of the US, would actually lead to the opposite result. And of
course it would increase instability in the Middle East, if not the global
community.
Diplomacy is as essential in defending national interests as understanding the
importance of the use of force. And the art of diplomacy is to turn one's
enemies into friends - not to unite one's enemies against you.
Dmitry Shlapentokh, PhD, is associate professor of history, college of Liberal
Arts and Sciences, Indiana university South Bend. He is author of East Against
West: The First Encounter - The Life of Themistocles, 2005.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB08Ak02.html
Alan
"Can't you see we're still here,
Can't you see we're still here,
Singing loud; Singing clear,
We shall not go under,
We're still here."
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