February 26, 2009

Arab 'Fear' Of 'Nuclear Iran'?

There is 'western' meme, which was pushed by the Bush administration, that Arab countries fear a 'nuclear Iran'. How real is that?

A few days ago Reuters cited one non-government Arab source and several anonymous 'western' diplomats when it wrote on how Gulf Arabs fear U.S.-Iran diplomacy at their expense:

Gulf Arab states are beginning to worry that any U.S. rapprochement with Iran could ultimately lead to their worst nightmare -- a nuclear-armed, non-Arab, Shi'ite Muslim superpower in their neighborhood.

...

"We have no objection to Iranian-American negotiations. On the contrary, we encourage this kind of dialogue as a way of avoiding taking the region into military action," said Mustafa Alani, at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. "At the same time we have huge concerns that the Americans could give concessions to the Iranians which would undermine our security and be unacceptable to us," he said.

A few days later AP wrote with same theme also quoting Mustafa Alani. Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Center was born in Iraq and studied and worked extensively in the U.K. Der Spiegel talked with him too:

When asked about Iran's nuclear program, Arab politicians' official answer is that Israel should also get rid of its nuclear weapons. But that, says Alani, is not the real problem, because the region has had experiences with both Iran and Israel. "The Arabs have waged wars against Israel. Israel has never used its nuclear weapons. The Arabs trust the Israelis, but they don't trust the Iranians."



Last July the Guardian also quoted Mustafa Alani in the 'Arabs fear Iran' context. It also quoted one Abdullah Alshayji, introduced as a "Kuwaiti analyst". Well - Alshayji is also a Foundation Council Member of the Gulf Research Center.

In December 2007 the LA Times headlined Arabs fear Iran may now up the ante in the Mideast. The first quoted 'expert' on such such 'fear' is "Christian Koch, research director for international studies at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, United Arab Emirates."

The Gulf Research Centers was founded and is financed by the Saudi businessman Abdulaziz Sager of the Sager Group:

When and where an added value is deemed necessary the Sager Group selectively represents some multinational corporations and assists them in selling their products and services throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia both in the government and private sectors.

Sager Group also provides security services. (And also prime London real estate?)

To me it seems that all the 'reporting' of Arab 'fear' uses exactly one Arab source - the foundation of the Saudi businessman Abdulaziz Sager and its 'experts'. Note that Sager also argued for military rule in Iraq.

But what is the realist Arab opinion? Marc Lynch reports:

This afternoon I attended a fascinating conversation with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa hosted by the Carnegie Endowment and moderated by the Washington Post's David Ignatius.

...

Moussa didn't bite when Ignatius suggested that Arab leaders were urging the U.S. to be tougher on Iran and to hold off on the promised dialogue. On the contrary, he responded, for the last few years it has been the Americans coming to the Arabs and talking up the Iran threat and not the other way around. He acknowledged Arab concerns about Iran, but concluded that the Arabs and Iran would have to learn how to co-exist. As to the Iranian nuclear program, Moussa would only talk about the double-standard surrounding Israeli nuclear weapons.

Will 'official' media, Reuters, AP, LA Times, now report Amr Moussa's take or will the continue to promote the 'fear' theme a Saudi businessman with interest in security services is selling them?

Posted by b on February 26, 2009 at 8:40 UTC | Permalink

Comments