AMMAN, Jordan, March 5, 2007
Iran's Two-Faced Diplomacy
Kristen Gillespie Examines President Ahmadinejad's Recent Effort To Make Nice With The Neighbors
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In this photo released by the Saudi Press Agency, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center-right, is greeted by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, center-left, on his arrival at the airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Saturday, March 3, 2007. (AP/Saudi Press Agency)
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Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, center left, and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad review an honor guard upon Ahmadinejad's arrival at Khartoum airport, Sudan, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, stands for his country's national anthem accompanied by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, right, as he finishes his visit to the capital Khartoum, Sudan Thursday, March 1, 2007. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's official visit to regional rival Saudi Arabia over the weekend was part of a wave of Iranian diplomacy in the Arab world aimed at diffusing a growing strain between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. It's too early to tell whether the Iranian president's visit will have any tangible effect.
Iran is a non-Arab, Shiite Muslim country, but it has the full attention these days of Sunni Arab leaders throughout the Middle East.
Ahmadinejad and his ministers have visit Sudan, Lebanon and Syria recently to spread a message of Muslim unity. But, ironically, it is Iran's continued support for Hezbollah, the Shiite militia in Lebanon, and armed Shiite groups in Iraq, leading Sunni leaders in the region to question Tehran's real goals in the region.
Iran may be talking peace, but those groups are currently destabilizing Lebanon politically, and Iraq violently.
The consensus seems to be that curbing Iran's influence in Iraq would be a good way to start bridging the Sunni — Shiite divide, before it gets any wider.
"So long as Shiites in Iraq are seen to be taking revenge on Sunnis, and Iran is viewed as supporting that, it's doubtful that the meetings in Saudi Arabia will assuage that fear," a Western diplomat in the region tells CBS News. But Saudi Arabia did what the Bush administration hasn't been willing to do: sit down with Iran and attempt to open a dialogue with an increasingly-isolated country trying to go nuclear.
Increased fighting between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq has made Jordan's King Abdullah and the rest of the government here anxious about the possibility of violence spilling across the border. With up to 700,000 Iraqi refugees living in a country with a population near five million, just a few Iraqis bent on violence could destabilize Jordan.
Sunni Arabs' worries over Iran can be divided into the concerns of the rulers, and the concerns of the people. Dictators worry about regional instability fueled by Iranian cash, and they know there are plenty of Shiites on the ground willing to act out the impulses of Tehran's ruling clerics.
Meanwhile, majority Sunni Arab populations in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and beyond, fear a mass-Shiite uprising; the sect attempting to conquer the whole region — with Iranian backing.
Many Jordanians say it was the spectacle made of Saddam Hussein's hanging that really broke open the centuries-old wound between Sunnis and Shiites. Shiites present at the execution mocked Saddam as the rope hung around his neck. To Sunni Arabs watching the shaky cell phone video around the world, Saddam represented the Sunni people, and their dismal fate at the hands of Shiites.
In a society where the official television news looks more like an old Stalinist propaganda reel, and even supposedly-independent journalists have some relationship with the formidable intelligence apparatus, rumors in Jordan carry significant weight.
After Saddam's execution, the rumors started flying; that Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the United States, and, of all countries, Israel, had formed a secret alliance to undermine Sunni Arabs.
Rumors that if it weren't for the American presence, the Iranians would cross through Iraq and slaughter Sunnis in Jordan; that one million Iranians had moved into Iraq since the war began and assumed Iraqi identities, which they would ultimately use to create a Shiite theocracy.
Iran's contradictory behavior of doling out cash and training to militias, while delivering a diplomatic message of peace, has done little to counter the rumors of a conspiracy.
After his meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, Ahmedinejad declared: "We tried to devise some measures to prevent the enemies from harming the Muslim world and to foil their plot." Iran and Saudi Arabia, Ahmedinejad said, would stand together against "evil plots."
It is the power of conspiracy theories in this part of the world that makes Ahmedinajad's comments resonate with his base, and while they may sound bizarre to Western ears, it all makes perfect sense to the average person on the street here, believe him or not.
Iran's diplomatic offensive highlights the well-documented reality, that Tehran is not supporting peace in Arab countries. Externalizing the enemy and promoting diplomacy may be one way to avoid addressing that contradiction. Evil plots aside, Ahmedinejad alone can explain just what his intentions are to a skeptical Arab world. And he's trying, but who's buying it?
Kristen Gillespie
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 63 CommentsThat's all I have to say to you. May you not have a good day, only you deserve the good ones in mental hospitals.
But let's go have a cup of coffee with him. Brilliant.
Posted by singinrick at 11:04 PM : Mar 05, 2007
Are you loyal to United States,her people and her constitution or the European invaders in Palestine?
How does illegitimate and unjustified existance of Israel benifits United States and her people?
Why do you think that the purpose of the creation of Americans lives is to SERVE,BEING SLAVE,PROTECTOR and DEFENDERS of the NON-AMERICAN GOD-CHOSEN ENEMEIS of THE GOD's only SON.
I don't hate anybody more then those enemis of United States like you,known as CHRISTIAN?Your PSYCHOSIS "CHRISTIANITY"has taken away your brain capabilities of reasoning.
Your disloyalty and animosity against United States is the greatest danger America is facing rightnow.
China is advancing because the greedy Russians are helping them by selling them advanced weapons and technology! The Russian technology being sold to China still has all the instrument panels written in Russian, I hope for China's sake that in the heat of battle them remember how to read Russian!! The Russians build very good weapon systems, they just never had the money to do it. I hope the Russians know what the're doing, they may be facing their own weapons and technology if China gets aggressive occupying the Russian far east! The Russian citizens are already complaining about China taking over their land, bossing them around! I have a feeling that aarangement may come back to haunt Moscow!
That's the smartest way of Chinese policy. No outright confrontation but 100% secret competition (like shooting of its own satellite in outer space). That's a very clear signal. Same is Japan.
The U.N. is a worthless joke and everybody knows it! The U.S. is the U.N. in effect until the U.N. changes! China would not be so far ahead if China honored U.S. patents and copyright laws. China has cheap labor, don't share its wealth and is basically cheating by stealing and copying everything! I'm not impressed! Since the U.S. owes China billions because China won't change the value of its currency to fair market value, China does have the temporary advantage, but only because China is cheating!! China don't want any problems with the U.S. because the U.S. owes Chia too much money, if China acts stupid the U.S. won't pay them! In the case of Japan, Japan is an ally, Japan is cool.
For the world's problems, we have the UNITED NATIONS. But if we try to play its(UN)role and guard the world with our own stick that's something needs to be looked into. Look at Japan and China: no war since WWII. They are busybees on economic development and would outpaces the US in the coming decades, while we will be guarding their interests in the world with our own tax money(billions of dollars). We have been spending billions of dollars on war in Iraq and sadly the death toll of our forces has exceeded 3000; and in Vietnam more than 10,000. Other big powers are quietly engaged in faster economic development and pushing the US to fight as their 'big brother'. Their currency is getting stronger vs US$.
But let's go have a cup of coffee with him. Brilliant.
Posted by singinrick at 11:04 PM : Mar 05, 2007
He's first and foremost a politician, like Bush. And like Bush when he huffs and puff and says stupid things like these he's just playing to his base, just like Bush does when he claims to be a good christian or an American patriot. In both men's cases they're lies to get or keep support from the more ignorant of their followers. In both cases it's politics as usual. The two of them are actually very much alike in some ways, except that Ahmadinejad is obviously the smarter of the two and a much better diplomat and politician. Besides I hear Iranians make a mean cup of coffee and we really have no choice but to negotiate with him because Bush wasted our troops in his insane war in Iraq and we have no real options left. Good job there Georgie!
The U.S. is the preeminent military power in the world. That status carries a lot of responsibility. When the world has a problem the U.S. is the only real option to address it. The U.S. isn't always successful but if the problem is ignored like it is in most cases because the U.S. can't do everything, be everywhere, the world is worst off. Its only because of the U.S. position in the world that its involved everywhere. Who else is going to step up to the plate? In the case of the Tsunami the U.S. military was the only option to get there in time! Now that China is spending like crazy on its military, maybe China can step up to the plate too, China has the manpower to spare!
Who is more civilized? They or we? Christians or muslim?
Our priest are pedofile or homosexuals. The Catholic-Church has paid millions of dollars to enforce this kind of seculars life. So I understand this business our chuch when they pay over 200,000 peoples money because they where iniciated in the Priesthood from a system with hundred years motivation and there God who is our God say nothing.
nope......... fascist nazi islam is in the stone age........ but you knew that already.......
fascist nazi islam still practices slavery, aparthied, genocide, etc etc etc.... but then you alo knew that already.....
What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim book of jihad
Thomas Jefferson knew about fascist nazi islam..... he killed plenty of them....
In 1786 Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). They asked him by what right he extorted money and took slaves. Jefferson reported to Secretary of State John Jay, and to the Congress:
The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet (Mohammed), that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to heaven.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan07/jeff_quran.htm
http://www.khouse.org/articles/2007/691/
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2002_winter_spring/terrorism.htm
Genesis 9:25-27: "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
http://users.binary.net/polycarp/slave.html
Another site:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4694896.stm
'He added that when the emancipation of slaves took place in 1833, compensation was paid not to the slaves but to their owners.
In one case, he said the Bishop of Exeter and three colleagues were paid nearly #13,000 in compensation for 665 slaves.'
-Jews, says Lewis Browne, "traveled everywhere from England to India, from Bohemia to Egypt. Their commonest merchandise in those days, beginning with the eighth century, was slaves. On every high road and on every great river and sea, these Jewish traders were to be found with their gangs of shackled prisoners in convoy."
and here is the link:
http://www.jewishtribalreview.org/08slave.htm
-Arse007, Stop smearing others with your stupid comments. Humanity history has hideously been full of shameful practices from all point of views. Your attitude of stirring-sh*t were pop-up back in your face...
In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786, In 1786...
-Arse007 you're still at stone age... what a krappy mind you have, bigot.
I hope for peace always! Yes, peace on earth! Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's big mouth, posturing, policies and bad behavior put those 2 American Carrier Battle Groups near Iranian Cities and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's mouth and positive actions can make them go away! Nobody wants war!
What a dream from a living room!
PEACE BE ON THIS EARTH!
And a nice dream too, I don't see 2 Iranian Carrier Battle Groups circling likes sharks out my window!
What a dream from a living room!
The U.S. has a lot of firepower sitting next to IRANIAN CITIES!! Maybe it is just a show of force, maybe it is just a bluff, no one really wants war, but if a mistake is made the mistake will still occur on IRANIAN CITIES, not U.S. cities, that's the point! IRAN can't be comfortable with that prospect! I'm sure IRAN will retaliate if the U.S. strikes, if there's any IRAN left!
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