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Source: https://english.aawsat.com/amir-taheri/opinion/kissingers-analysis-mideast-full-loopholes
Kissinger's Flawed Analysis of ISIS and Iran
(Asharq Al-Awsat-UK) Amir Taheri - Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warns that destroying ISIS could lead to an "Iranian radical empire." He seems to think that the Khomeinist regime in Tehran and the ISIS "caliphate" in Raqqa belong to two different categories. The truth, however, is that they are two versions of the same ideology. What is the difference between Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claiming "supreme leadership of all Muslims throughout the world" as "Imam" and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's similar claim as "Caliph"? And aren't both regimes claiming to have the only true version of Islam with a mission to conquer the entire world in its name? The choice is not between helping the Khomeinist regime and going to full-scale war against it. The least that Western democracies could do is not to help the Khomeinists out of the holes they constantly dig for themselves. True, the Khomeinist regime has enough power to cause a great deal of trouble in the region, and is doing so. But this doesn't mean it is capable of building an empire, something that requires a strong home-base - which the present Iranian regime no longer has, if it ever did. The Khomeinists have difficulty recruiting Iranians to become martyrs in foreign wars, and are forced to hire Lebanese, Afghans, and Pakistanis. Without cash-injections by the U.S. and allies, the Khomeinists will also be hard put to pay salaries, let alone finance empire-building projects. The writer was formerly editor of Iran's premier newspaper, Kayhan.