{"id":12846,"date":"2011-12-03T09:38:30","date_gmt":"2011-12-03T05:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=12846"},"modified":"2011-12-04T18:57:16","modified_gmt":"2011-12-04T14:57:16","slug":"bahrain-and-iranian-interference-%e2%80%93-present-danger-or-unnecessary-distraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/showcase\/bahrain-and-iranian-interference-%e2%80%93-present-danger-or-unnecessary-distraction\/","title":{"rendered":"Bahrain and Iran \u2013 Danger or Distraction?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Anwar Abdulrahman, Editor-in-Chief of Bahrain\u2019s Gulf Daily News, treated us to a history lesson in yesterday\u2019s edition of the newspaper. In Why Iran believes in death –\u00a0not dialogue<\/a>, he warned that the ancient cult of the Assassins, which caused havoc in the Middle Ages in its relentless campaign against the Seljuk overlords \u2013 or at least the cult\u2019s tradition of political assassination \u2013 is alive and well in Iran today. His latest salvo against what he perceives as the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry\u2019s failure to highlight the involvement of the Iranian regime in the events of February-April in Bahrain follows an earlier editorial <\/a>on a similar theme.<\/p>\n

In his hard line against Iran, Mr Abdulrahman is starting to remind me of Cato the Elder, the stern Roman politician at the time of the epic struggle between Rome and Carthage<\/a>. It is said that at the end of every speech in the Roman senate \u2013 whatever the subject \u2013 he would conclude with the words \u201cCarthago delenda est\u201d \u2013 Carthage must be destroyed.<\/p>\n

Fascinating as the story of the Assassins is \u2013 and I bow to Mr Abdulrahman\u2019s knowledge of Persian history \u2013 I think a little context is called for. Assassination is a tradition endemic among authoritarian regimes in the modern Middle East and North Africa. Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussain, the Assad dynasty and various extra-national factions have consistently practiced the art over the past fifty years. And then we have Israel\u2019s Mossad, generally regarded as the supreme exponents. So Iran is not alone.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, whatever criticisms are levelled at various GCC members in their methods of dealing with internal dissent, assassination of opposition figures in exile is not a tool employed by those countries \u201cpour encourager les autres\u201d. So in this respect, Bahrain and its neighbours in the Arabian Peninsula can rightly claim the moral high ground.<\/p>\n

The real question is this. Does the Iranian threat \u2013 whether it took the form of moral support or actual logistic intervention earlier this year \u2013 deserve to remain at the forefront of Bahrain\u2019s national consciousness at this critical time? If Iran\u2019s influence is preventing all political parties from joining the National Commission set up by King Hamad to frame a reform programme that addresses the recommendations of the Bassiouni Report, then perhaps the answer is yes.<\/p>\n

If this is the case, then I suggest that the political imperative is to persuade those parties that do not wish to join the Commission that they should look at the realities on the ground. They should recognise that whatever the ultimate aspirations of some of their members to achieve a political alignment with Iran, those aspirations are unrealistic in the short term, and probably in the medium and long term as well. That considered, perhaps the interests of their constituents will be best served by their\u00a0leaders working to ensure that the reforms improve the social and economic welfare of those who feel that they have been marginalised and discriminated against.<\/p>\n

I can understand the logic of reminding the people of Bahrain of the cruelty, injustice and ruthless ambition of the Iranian regime. But I doubt that those reminders will change the minds of the true believers in the theocratic model of governance. And besides, Iran currently has so many detractors and so many forces lined up against it, that Bahrain\u2019s political process is unlikely right now to be at the forefront of the regime\u2019s decision-makers.<\/p>\n

Bahrain needs to focus on Bahrain. It has many friends both locally and internationally upon whom it can rely to assist in pre-empting any Iranian threat. And Iran is currently doing an excellent job of digging ever-bigger holes from which to extract itself.<\/p>\n

In a conscious echo of Tony Blair\u2019s message to the factions in the Northern Ireland peace process, one diplomat I met this week pronounced that Bahrain\u2019s wavering politicians should recognise that the train is leaving the station, and that they should make sure they are on board. I would rephrase his statement: they should help to drive the train.<\/p>\n

With the greatest respect to Mr Abdulrahman, much as history informs the present, it does not necessarily predict the future, thank goodness. Bahrain should always\u00a0be aware of history, but at this moment it should concentrate on the art of the possible. The opportunity to shape the country\u2019s future has not gone away. The stakeholders should demonstrate their leadership not by saying \u201cno, because\u201d, but by declaring \u201cyes, despite\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEVE ROYSTON: Should the Iranian threat \u2013 whether in terms of moral support or actual intervention \u2013 be one of Bahrain\u2019s principal concerns?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":12847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,56,83,82,149],"tags":[2491,18303,9882,2399,18312,7012,18306,18311,191,3276,18324,2529,3581,6647,5937],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}