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No Dialogue with the Deaf Neighbor

[Gulf News-UAE] Abdullah Al Shayji - Iran's grandiose project to become the dominant power in the Middle East and North Africa clashes directly with Arab, U.S., Turkish and Israeli goals. Nevertheless, Iran has increased its reach through a host of methods, including cooperation, co-optation, as well as ideological and financial means. Tehran invests heavily politically, socially and militarily to intervene directly in Iraq and indirectly through proxies in Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen. It also seeks to grow the Shiite faith in predominantly Sunni countries such as Morocco, which severed ties with Iran a few months ago, and Yemen, where it is working to undermine the government by supporting the Zaidi Shiites' Al Houthi insurgency. The Iranians have employed these tactics for years in their dealings with Arabs and others. Iran must adopt a reasonable, neighborly policy of non-interference in the affairs of the GCC, as well as other Arab countries near and far. Failing this, any Arab or GCC dialogue with Iran will be a waste of time and nothing more than a dialogue with the deaf. The writer is a professor of International Relations and the head of the American Studies Unit at Kuwait University.
2009-09-14 08:00:00
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