"Many of the West's Iran analysts and experts, both Iranian and American, assert that the regime needs a U.S. enemy for its survival. If true, wouldn't sustained offers of friendship -- which would put the Iranian regime's domestic agenda at the forefront -- provide the biggest threat to the regime?" - Reza Marashi, "A Tale of Two Diasporas," ForeignPolicy.com, January 19, 2012.
And between bombing Iran and an Iranian bomb, Israel prefers the former. But it is not confident Obama shares that preference.
Trita Parsi, the founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and author of two books on the history of U.S.-Israeli-Iranian relations, says "U.S.-Israeli relations are in a crisis over Iran." In a January 19, 2012 article for CNN -- "Obama vs. Netanyahu vs. Ahmadinejad," -- Parsi writes...
"When the two states cannot agree on an objective, tensions over tactics and strategies are to be expected. Nowhere has the disagreements been more stark than on the idea of talking to Iran. Obama entered the White House on a promise to pursue diplomacy with Washington's foes. While this shift away from Bush's outlook was welcomed in some quarters, it was met with great dismay in Israel -- precisely due to the fear that in a negotiation, Washington would betray Israel's security interests."
The roots of the American-Israeli crisis are deep. Israel's false flag attack on the U.S.S. Liberty
on June 8, 1967, remains a hidden thorn in their relationship. Thus
far, America has been patient and diplomatic. But America's patience is
running thin. If Israel continues to act in a hostile and belligerent
manner towards America, the situation could get very messy.
The
reality is that America is simply too big a power to be connected at
the hip to any single nation, and Israel can't come to terms with this
fact. Israel wants America all for herself because she is jealous and
insecure, but America has outgrown this silly romantic affair. The days
of Israel seducing America are over. Now, Israel must be brought into
line by America and the international community. Israel's hardliners
will argue that the world is "anti-Semitic," but the world will laugh
this off because this shameless propaganda trick doesn't work anymore.
Israel needs to be humbled. Apparently, it learned nothing from the defeat by Hezbollah. Instead of getting wise, Israel has become more irrational and aggressive. It is now seriously threatening to attack Iran and destroy the world economy in the process.
The world needs to take a collective deep breath and reject Israel's paranoid view of Iran and the region. Israel is in no position to dictate issues of war and peace in the Middle East. Who is Israel to dominate U.S. foreign policy and drag it into a war that would severely damage American interests and American fighters? Israel is an ungrateful and spoiled nation that can't even win a war against a militia. It needs to learn to play nice, or be pulled by the ear out of the game.
America must talk to Iran, and bring Israel into line because America has regional and global responsibilities. This is the rational, wise, pragmatic, and realistic path to pursue because the current aggressive stance toward Iran by America and Israel is inconsistent with American interests.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, wrote in his 1997 book, "The Grand Chessboard," that "it is not in America's interest to perpetuate American-Iranian hostility." He added that America and Iran share numerous strategic and economic interests in the region:
"Any eventual reconciliation should be based on the recognition of a mutual strategic interest in stabilizing what currently is a very volatile regional environment for Iran [e.g., Iraq and Afghanistan]. Admittedly, any such reconciliation must be pursued by both sides and is not a favor granted by one to the other. A strong, even religiously motivated but not fanatically anti-Western Iran is in the U.S. interest, and ultimately even the Iranian political elite may recognize that reality. In the meantime, American long-range interests in Eurasia would be better served by abandoning existing U.S. objections to closer Turkish-Iranian economic cooperation, especially in the construction of new pipelines, and also to the construction of other links between Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. Long-term American participation in the financing of such projects would in fact also be in the American interest."Over the last 20 years, Israel has twisted the minds of Americans and Westerners by cultivating a paranoid-based view of the Middle East in the global mainstream media.
Are the Mullahs a bunch of power-hungry and shrewd tyrants? Yes, but they're not irrational and suicidal. They will not preemptively wipe Israel off the map. Reasonable men can be reasoned with, but rather than considering this fact, Israel has decided to wage war against Iran.
Below are four more facts that Israel is not considering and also does not want the world to consider:
Fact : The majority of the Iranian people are peaceful and pro-American, and want better relations with the United States, Israel, and the world.
Fact : America and Iran share strategic, economic, and security interests in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Persian Gulf, and the entire region.
Fact : Iran is a regional power with capabilities to inflict severe damage on the United States and Israel regardless of the status of its nuclear program.
Fact : America and Iran would both gain politically and economically by restoring diplomatic and trade ties with each other.
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