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Is There More To Rising Middle East Sectarianism Than Meets The Eye?
Could it be that Sunni Arab leaders are intentionally trying to exploit sectarian differences to set up future action against Iran? Read Foreign Policy Watch.
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2 Responses to “Is There More To Rising Middle East Sectarianism Than Meets The Eye?”
This was also suggested by Deborah Amos on Wednesday’s All Things Considered, in discussions with several analysts. A rough synthesis of their opinion (but, like with Cliffs Notes, listen to the whole story):
Suspicious, if not fearful, of Iran’s growing influence in the area with fundamentalists and the region’s Shi’a, Sunni governments from Saudi Arabia to Jordan are working to push them back; and the U.S. is becoming part of the fight, if I hear this correctly. This isn’t objectionable to the Administration because (1) it sees Iran, especially with its nuclear program, as a destabilizing influence; and (2) getting everyone to focus on Iran takes the eye off of Iraq.
Why wouldn’t they? The Wahabi belief is that Shiite Islam is heretical, they were raiding Shiite communities in Iraq in the 1920s over religious expansion, if the British had not intervened there might not have been a Shiite Iraq. Other Sunni sects have similar views. In the past the religious tensions were mostly localized and tribal, but now that the area has been divided into nation states the situation is similar to the past alignment of Catholic and Protestant powers in Europe. They might need to go through the same religious wars that Europe did to “solve� their differences, and should we stand in the way?