April 15, 2015

GETTING IT BACKWARDS:

Saudis Should Welcome the Iran Deal (VALI R. NASR, APRIL 14, 2015, NY Times)

[A] final nuclear deal is much likelier to make the Arab world more secure for a decade or more, by preventing Iran from getting near a "breakout" -- the ability to produce enough bomb-grade material to become a nuclear power. And that would give the whole region time to address the real cause of its instability: the lack of effective pluralist government in fragile states throughout the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa.

Fixing that gap requires time to resolve internal political divisions left over from the 20th century. And time to pursue that goal is one likely outcome of the formula reached in Lausanne, Switzerland, last month, particularly if it also promotes Iran's reintegration with the global economy. That alone has potential to temper Iran's foreign policy in the region.

So far, the Arab countries have operated on a logic precisely opposite. 

Given that the solution to Arab woes involves replacing their undemocratic regimes, why would those regimes welcome an alliance between the two great democratic actors in the region?

Posted by at April 15, 2015 4:11 PM
  

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