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NEWS & LETTERS, August-September 2006Our Life and Times by Kevin A. Barry and Mitch WeerthIran and the U.S.As the Arab-Israeli conflict heated up again in July, U.S. leaders pointed to Iran as the instigator of both the Hamas and Hezbollah attacks on Israeli soldiers. For U.S. imperialism, this was an attempt to divert attention from its tacit support of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, at a time when U.S.-supplied Israeli planes were terrorizing the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. The U.S., bogged down in Iraq, has no stomach for further military interventions in the region, something U.S. public opinion would also oppose. Thus U.S. threats against Iran ring hollow, especially given the close links between Iran and the very Shiite fundamentalist parties the U.S. is supporting in Iraq. The Iranian government’s threats against Israel are equally hollow. The incendiary rhetoric over the past year about wiping out Israel, the obscene Holocaust denials, and the hints about being on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, are all designed to gain support among the Arab and Muslim masses internationally, by projecting Iran as the leading Muslim state willing to confront Israel. While nationalist sentiment inside Iran favors nuclear weapons, as it does elsewhere, the rest of this agenda tends to fall flat. Opposed by wide sectors of its youthful population, the 27-year-old Shiite theocracy has to contend with ever-newer forms of resistance. Most recently, it has been faced with the formation of an underground and exile network, the Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization (PGLO). PGLO has gained a lot of attention since the July 2005 hanging of two gay teenagers. Supporters of women’s rights have also continued to hold demonstrations, despite police violence. Rather than fear, the regime’s heavy-handed tactics have sown contempt. |
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