Word: iranians
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Iran is the 21st century equivalent of 1930s Russia - a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The Iranians haven't stumbled upon this mystifying state coincidentally, and the enigma isn't the result of outsiders' failure to try to understand them. Rather, the Iranian government has a deliberate policy aimed at confusing the outside world about its goals and decision-making processes. "There is an intention out there to confuse," a noted Iranian professor told me in Tehran a few years ago. The rulers in Tehran think that opacity and the perception of unpredictability buy them security...
...policy. Right now, the Obama Administration is embarking on the sanctions track, pursuing both a U.N. Security Council resolution, as well as measures by a coalition of the willing that would go beyond anything imposed by the U.N. The idea is that a tough sanction regime would hit the Iranian government - and especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guards - while sparing Iran's population. (See the top 10 players in Iran's power struggle...
...with Iraq's predominantly Sunni neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria supporting a greater share of power for Iraq's Sunnis. Allawi's list of candidates includes some of the key Sunni political players, and the self-styled strongman makes no secret of his desire to challenge Iranian influence in Baghdad. Iran would prefer that Maliki stay in power, though Tehran is even closer to his Shi'ite rivals such as Sadr and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. (Watch a video about Iraq's vote...
...stakes in Iraq's political process - domestically and regionally - are high, and reflect the absence of a consensus on both fronts. Despite their distaste for Saddam Hussein, Iraq's Arab neighbors had long looked to his regime to serve as a regional bulwark against Iranian influence in the Middle East, and supported his eight-year war against the Islamic Republic in the 1980s. The U.S. invasion removed that bulwark, and Iran has profited greatly from Iraqi democracy. The governments elected since Saddam's overthrow have been uniformly friendly toward Tehran and dominated by Shi'ite parties. While none of these...
...Further complicating the mystery, the U.S.-based Foundation for Democracy in Iran claimed in a 1996 report that the 1990 murders of the Saudi diplomats were the result of Iranian hit squads. The DSI, which took over the case from the Thai police in 2004, said any Iranian connection to the murders is only a rumor. But a 2009 arrest warrant for an "Abu Ali" for the murder of one of the Saudi diplomats has fueled speculation on message boards and in the blogosphere of Middle Eastern involvement. Despite having little concrete evidence about Abu Ali, a DSI team headed...