Crescent International
The US is bound to make another strategic miscalculation in the Middle East as it is failing to come to terms with its declining power.
Toronto,
December 26, 2012, 19:40 DST
Events in Syria, ongoing demonstrations in Iraq and statements by the US regional protégé, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on December 25 against Islamic Iran, point to the fact that Western imperialists are determined to use the sectarian card as its main policy instrument against Muslims.
From the very beginning of the Syrian uprising, the US and its regional proxies have imposed a sectarian narrative on the situation completely ignoring the fact that on both sides of the conflict there are Sunnis, Christians, Druze and Alawites. The people’s uprising for fundamental rights in Bahrain was similarly painted with the sectarian brush. Since the US invaded Iraq, it became the hotbed of Western designed sectarian plots to divide and rule the resource rich Middle East.
As in the past, today the US policy of exploiting natural differences in the Middle East to incite violence is being pushed forward by the region’s principal sectarian outfit, the Saudi monarchy. However, as Turkey became the primary center of the US proxy war in Syria, Washington began actively infusing sectarianism into Turkey as well. This fact was highlighted on numerous occasions by Imam Alparslan Kuytul, one of the influential Sunni scholars of the Islamic movement in Turkey. Since 2011, Imam Kuytul has underlined on numerous occasions that “even though we have different perspectives with Shia Muslims on certain matters of jurisprudence, we the Muslims of Turkey never labeled them unbelievers. However, since Turkey agreed in 2011 to house a radar system that is part of NATO’s missile shield against Iran, the sectarian rhetoric in Turkey increased dramatically.”
Western imperialist regimes led by the US assume that by applying tough economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran and at the same time drawing it into a set of proxy-military conflicts in the region, the Islamic government in Iran will quickly collapse. This policy also aims to create a long-lasting conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims that would deprive the Muslims from achieving progress in any field.
Theoretically speaking, the above policy that Washington has been implementing for decades at a low level can produce the desired strategic results for the West. However, taking into consideration that this Western project has got bogged down in Syria, the economic crisis of capitalism, the Islamic Awakening in Arab countries and with this violent scenario inevitably spilling over into Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Palestine, Western pillars of neo-colonial presence in the region will significantly weaken. Not only Islamic Iran but Western imperial powers will also be fighting off attacks on their interests.
Given the deep animosity the vast majority of people in the Middle East have towards the US and its regional allies, the latter will suffer badly. Assumption of power by the Islamic movement in Egypt has degraded the sectarian card as a strategic policy instrument and it will be harder to utilize it.
Washington had assumed that by toppling Saddam Hussain, the Iraqis would greet them with flowers; the US ended up being chased away by bombs and bullets. The US is bound to make another strategic miscalculation in the Middle East as it is failing to come to terms with its declining power.
END
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