[Asharq al-Awsat-UK] Amir Taheri - Debate about "who won" has raged in the Arab world and Israel, not to mention the Western media. Some Arab writers have continued a long tradition of self-deception that represents every defeat as victory. Because neither side was pushed to his threshold of pain, there is no winner and no loser. This is a recipe for a bigger war sooner or later. Was Israel hurt enough to think of surrendering or at least to change its overall policy? Has Bush been hurt enough to abandon his plans or, at least, stop pushing Iran's back to the wall on the nuclear issue? Has the Islamic Republic been hurt enough to realize that it cannot challenge the American script for the Middle East through proxy wars? Has Hizballah been hurt enough to understand that it cannot offer the Lebanese Shi'ites long-term leadership by dragging them into what is essentially a duel between the U.S. and Iran? The answer to all these questions is: no.
2006-08-22 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive