Treat Israel Like Iran

Treat Israel Like Iran

by Stephen Kinzer

Israel’s deadly response to the Gaza-bound flotilla showed how differently the U.S. treats Israel and Iran. Stephen Kinzer argues it’s time to treat them in the same way.

Quick, name the rogue state in the Middle East. Hints: It has an active nuclear-weapons program but conducts it in secret; its security organs regularly kill perceived enemies of the state, both at home and abroad; its political process has been hijacked by religious fundamentalists who believe they are doing God's will; its violent recklessness destabilizes the world's most volatile region; and it seems as deaf to reason as it is impervious to pressure. Also: Its name begins with “I”.

How you answer this riddle depends in part on where you sit. From an American perspective, the obvious answer is Iran. Iran seems alone and friendless, a pariah in the world, and deservedly so given its long list of sins. In Washington's view, Iran poses one of the major threats to global security.

Many people in the world, however, see Iran quite differently: as just another struggling country with valuable resources, no more or less threatening than any other, ruled by a regime that, while thuggish, wins grudging admiration for standing up to powerful bullies. They are angrier at Israel, which they see as violent, repressive and contemptuous of international law, but nonetheless endlessly coddled by the United States.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-02/israel-iran-twin-pariahs/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsC4

Why would we look at any situation from the point of view of someone else's best interests?

And this ass must let us know how such a POV would be of any use to the Iranians struggling to shake loose of its current government?

Desperate for revenge upon hated Israel.

:puke:

but really, revenge? You actually want a foreign policy rooted in that? typical. and idiotic. And you know I harshly condemn the attack on the flotilla.

Maybe we would be doing things differently. You know, "Walk a mile in someone else's moccasins".
We, the U.S., are always about US!US!US!US!US!US!US!
Just because We are the United States does not necessarily make our actions right.

Of course you'll say "yes", but I have to wonder whose best interests you are truly considering yourself.

by all of their "friends" they have created over the last 60 years.

including Al Qeada. We never want to hold terrorists accountable for anything unless their conservative militants in the US who vote republican

Actually, progressives support the rule of law!