Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Tom Friedman: cold war with Iran


The New Cold War with Iran -Thomas L. Friedman

The next president is going to be a cold-war president - but this cold war is with Iran.

That is the real story in the Middle East today - the struggle for influence across the region, with America and its Sunni Arab allies (and Israel) versus Iran, Syria and their non-state allies, Hamas and Hizbullah.

For now, [we are] losing on just about every front. How come? The short answer is that Iran is smart and ruthless, America is dumb and weak, and the Sunni Arab world is feckless and divided.

The outrage of the week is the Iranian-Syrian-Hizbullah attempt to take over Lebanon. The Shiite militia Hizbullah emerged supposedly to protect Lebanon from Israel. Having done that, it has now turned around and sold Lebanon to Syria and Iran.
[New York Times]

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