Why Ahmadinejad smiles

A powerful appraisal of Iran's continuing take over of the Middle East through it's various proxies.

"So as Iran progresses forward with its grand strategy for regional hegemony, the West dithers and so assists it. No wonder Ahmadinejad is always smiling." (Caroline B. Glick)

FROM JEWISHWORLDREVIEW.COM:

Why Ahmadinejad smiles
By Caroline B. Glick

The regime affiliated Iranian Fars news agency published a sensational story this week. According to the Fars report, Saudi Arabia and Israel collaborated in killing Iranian terror-master Imad Mughniyeh.
The story is important regardless of whether it is true. It is important because it says something important about the nature of Iran's relationship with Syria. Specifically, it says that Iran views Syria as a vassal state.
If Teheran were not convinced of its control of the Syrian regime, it would never have dared to publish a story that places the Assad regime in an open confrontation with Saudi Arabia. An even partially independent Syria would never go along with such an open challenge to Saudi Arabia.
Syria of course is not Iran's only proxy in the Arab world. There is the Hamas regime in Gaza as well. Thursday the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center released an in-depth report on Hamas's military build-up since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in September 2005. The report notes that Hamas receives arms and funding from Iran and Syria and sends its fighters for extending training at camps in Iran and Syria.

By directly supporting Hamas and by supporting Hamas indirectly through Syria and Hizbullah, Iran has successfully transformed Gaza into a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iran. While Hamas may have independent interests, the fact is that any independent will Hamas may have had at one time has become entirely subservient to Teheran. This is so because Teheran has rendered itself Hamas's indispensible ally and protector. Without Iran, Hamas would have no staying power.

Then there is Lebanon. The weak Siniora government, which was brought to power by the anti-Syrian and anti-Iranian March 14 democracy movement three years ago, is clearly no match for Iran and its proxies. Presidential elections have been held up for five months due to Hizbullah's Syrian- and Iranian-ordered refusal to agree on a compromise candidate. The Siniora government needs Hizbullah's agreement because Iran's proxies have murdered a sufficient number of cabinet ministers and members of parliament to take away Siniora's parliamentary capacity to elect a successor to Syrian-puppet, former president Emil Lahoud.

The assassination of political opponents in Lebanon of course began in earnest with the March 2005 assassination of pro-Western and pro-Saudi former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. This week in Washington Senator Arlen Specter asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to comment on an interesting Syrian offer. According to Specter, during Jordanian King Abdullah's visit to Washington last month, he suggested that Syria might be willing to rein in Hizbullah and Hamas in exchange for an offer of immunity for President Bashar Assad in the UN's probe of Hariri's murder. Rice rejected the offer, but that is not what is interesting.
What is interesting is that Syria would feel comfortable making what amounts to a confession of control over Hizbullah and Hamas. While at first glance the Syrian offer seems to contradict the assertion that Syria is an Iranian proxy, it actually does no such thing. It shows that Iran is willing to shuffle some proxies around in order to protect other ones. To protect Assad for instance, Iran may be willing to have Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal temporarily decamp to Teheran or Qatar or Bahrain. While such a move would have absolutely no impact on Iran's continued control over its proxies, it could neutralize the UN tribunal's threat to the Syrian regime.

To sum up, through its proxy strategy, Iran has taken control of Syria, has paralyzed and is increasingly calling the shots in Lebanon and has effective control over Gaza from which it can attack Israel and Egypt at will. And of course, it is the primary sponsor of the insurgency in Iraq.
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