Submitted by Nikos Retsos, retired academic, May 12, 2007 01:32

        The courting of the Arabs by the U.S. and Iran is directed at different  levels.  The U.S.  courts the pro-American royal regimes  to  keep them in the U.S. fold, and Iran courts the suppressed  Arab populations  whose hatred boils against the U.S. and Israel.  With the U.S military might trounced in Iraq, Iran sees an opening  to weaken more the U.S. influence in the region.  When the U.S. says  a nuclear Iran will be a threat to its neighbors,  it means a threat to the pro-American kings, princes, emirs and royals that control the region's resources on behalf of the U.S.  The late Israeli prime minister Monahem Begin said once that those royals drink the blood of their people [the oil riches].

      Internal Arab dissent, however, has brought changes, and some royals have decided  to make changes rather than  be swept away like Romania's Nicolae Chauceskou.  In deciding to fund the establishment of the Al Jazeera news network, the Emir of Qatar said:  "if you don't open the door and allow the people in, they will break the door down."   That meant revolution, and that is the U.S nightmare scenario in the region.  No wonder the U.S. wanted to bomb Al Jazeera into rubble, but relented over strong European objections.   Now the Arab populace is better informed,  its hatred against  the U.S. has skyrocketed,  and here is where Iran comes in as the brotherly neighbor  to woo  those  who want to jump out of the U.S. sinking  superpower  gunboat.

      Iran presents itself  as  the future big brother  to the Arabs, and it certainly has the Arab masses on its side.  And with the U.S  failure in Iraq, and the Israeli failure in Lebanon,  with new modern anti-aircraft batteries from Russia, and  with  Russia -U.S hostility on the rise over the U.S. deployment of anti-ballistic missiles in Eastern Europe,  Iran will probably thrive  by exploiting a very naive and bullying  U.S. policy that has alienated not only the Muslims, but also most of the people in the globe.     

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