Ali has an excellent post up about the dangerously provocative Israeli rhetoric surrounding the planned—but now delayed—passage of the Suez Canal by two Iranian naval ships.
But the Israeli side of the story, which bordered on hysterical at times, was picked up by the neoconservative blogosphere in the U.S. and dominated the attention of [...]
News and views on U.S.-Iran relations for February 19-22:
The Wall Street Journal: The Journal’s editorial board writes that the Obama administration needs a “new freedom agenda,” and should take notes from George W. Bush’s second inaugural address. They accuse Obama of “[O]ffer[ing] no support for Iranian demonstrators after [the June 2009] fraudulent elections” [...]
News and views on U.S.-Iran relations for February 18:
The Weekly Standard: Hudson Institute Visiting Fellow Lee Smith blogs on the Iranian plan to send two naval ships through the Suez Canal, and observes that the Iranians are conducting “a test, and not just for Egypt’s military regime.” “The Iranians are also [...]
News and views on U.S.-Iran relations for February 16:
The Wall Street Journal: The Journal’s editorial board elaborates on “Why Tehran’s thugs will be harder to depose than Hosni Mubarak” and observes that the U.S. has less leverage over Iran’s leadership because “Tehran scorns the West.” Or, “To put it another way, pro-American dictatorships [...]
News and views on U.S.-Iran relations for February 12-14:
The Washington Post: On her “Right Turn” blog, Jennifer Rubin asks “Will Obama now reverse course on Iran?” “We should re-evaluate the ongoing, useless talks with the Iranian regime on its nuclear weapons program, which have the effect of legitimizing the regime and depressing the [...]
Jack Ross, the American Conservative blogger, has an enlightening essay on Right Web about the neoconservative split over the current events unfolding in Egypt. Ross’s tack is somewhat different than the one offered here by Daniel Luban (see below).
Instead of highlighting the differences between some neocons and the Israeli right, Ross focuses [...]
On December 23, right-wing pro-Israel activist Noah Pollak was wandering through the Athens airport when he snapped a picture of an HSBC advertisement containing this factoid:
Only 4% of American films are made by women. In Iran it’s 25%.
Pollak tweeted the picture, adding that the ad was “truly outrageous.”
The [...]
Jennifer Rubin has spent much time advocating for escalating U.S. measures on Iran. At Commentary, she called a U.S. attack on the Islamic Republic the “best of the disagreeable options.” Now, at the Post, Rubin seems to have softened this view, calling for “more fruitful actions.”
But Rubin’s reporting on Iran issues often [...]
News and views on U.S.-Iran relations for January 20:
Commentary: The Foundation for Defense of Democracies‘ Benjamin Weinthal blogs on Commentary’s Contentions blog that Switzerland has finally “relented and announced that it will fall into line with EU sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector,” but only after “touting its ‘active neutrality’ position, [...]
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Neoconservative Pundits: Arabs are obsessed with Israel; Arabs don't care about Israel
Iran hawks and neoconservatives have had a tendency to pick one of two arguments on the issue of whether Israel plays a central role in Middle East politics.
The first argument states that Israel is a central character in Arab nationalism and that irrational hatred of Israel and Jews has a prominent place in any [...]