Headlines coming out of the Mideast focus on massacres in Syria. The world is outraged over the brutality of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and the United States is calling for his removal from power.
In the background are the continued attempts to prevent Iran from manufacturing nuclear weapons. United States policy in that regard is firm — no nukes in Iran. But we don’t call for a regime change there. Some form of rapprochement with Iranian leaders, economically, is the carrot offered by President Barack Obama if Iran gives up any and all attempts to obtain nuclear weapons.
On the surface some might believe the issues with the two countries, Syria and Iran, can be handled separately. But Iran supports the Assad regime and has long used Syria as a pathway to deliver military materials to other places in the Middle East. Iranian attempts to achieve hegemony would be dealt a serious blow if Syria becomes a Sunni Arab state with strong ties to Saudi Arabia and others.
The next scheduled talks between Western powers and Iran are to take place later this month in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a supporter of the Assad regime in Syria for many years. There is little possibility that Putin will support Western calls for Assad’s ouster. Iran would like to inject the Syrian situation into the nuclear talks as well.
Another key player in all of this is Israel, which may at any time attack Iranian nuclear plants. For now at least, Israel is focused squarely on Iran and is not a key player in what to do next in Syria. But some factions in the United States and elsewhere are calling for some form of military intervention on the borders of Syria, perhaps via Turkey.
This complex web is far more difficult to navigate than current headlines in America would lead us to believe. Yet our government must navigate such shoals and do so during a heated presidential campaign.
The muddle in the Middle East is very much an American problem, not one between Democrats and Republicans.
Opinion
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Discussion
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