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Apology to Readers
The Maine Campus regrets to inform readers that instances of plagiarism have been identified in several political columns written by Pardis Delijani. Thirteen of her 15 columns contained varying amounts of lifting from national and international news sources. The writer declared these instances to be unintentional.
A reader brought to the newspaper’s attention one occasion of plagiarism in a Delijani article published in February 2011, and an investigation by staff members of The Maine Campus revealed others.
Delijani has been removed from her paid columnist position but plans to contribute to our opinion pages on state and local issues. Senior political science student Ben Goodman will replace her in the Monday political columnist spot.
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Amidst the uprisings with neighboring countries, Iran could not have asked for a better opportunity to expand influence and power over the region.
The United States has already lost its goal in creating an independent Arab nationalistic democracy in Iraq, in which Southern Iraq all the way up to Kirkuk is already largely under Iranian influence.
The Iranian government is branching out to other states in order to provide support for the same struggle the Iranians overcame in 1979 — the overthrow of the United States’ puppet monarchial dictator, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Iran views Egypt’s Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak’s fall as a new sign of Washington’s and Israel’s decline in the region, whereas the United States sees opportunities in a new outbreak of anti-government protests in the Islamic republic.
However, in a region where repeated administrations of the United States’ government have failed to provide any sort of stable and long-lasting relationship with various Middle Eastern states such as Iraq, it should be no surprise that these countries would potentially follow the nationalistic Islamic path when Iranians gravitated toward during the 1979 revolution.
Iran frames the anti-government unrest sweeping the Middle East, while the United States paints it as a democratic trend it inherently must support. Despite this fact, the United States supported the dictatorial rule of Reza Shah Pahlavi’s and Mubarak’s oppressive regime, just to name a few.
Iran, at least in the short-term, is gaining ground against the United States. In the last few years, non-Arab Shi’ite Iran has gained influence in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and it could see its clout rise higher as mass protests spread to Yemen and Bahrain. Among them, all but the Palestinian territories have majority or significant Shi’ite populations.
Iran plays the role as the hero who is willing to stand up to Washington. This is why American-backed autocracies like Egypt are more vulnerable than anti-American dictatorships like Iran, for they are subject to the scrutiny of American politics and public opinion.
The Bahrain crisis has created a potential transformation of the existing Saudi-Iranian Cold War”to direct confrontations and the intensification of proxy conflicts already prevalent in the region.
The Iranian regime has responded swiftly to events in Bahrain, calling the GCC move an “occupation” and an “invasion” even as it continues to crush its own people’s Green Revolution.
As the situation in Bahrain deteriorates, Iran will most likely seek alternative measures to gain leverage, perhaps by using its proxies in Lebanon or Iraq. Iraq, Lebanon and Hamas-led Gaza are already solid examples of Iran’s ability to capitalize on chaos and conflict to further its interests in the region.
The situation in Bahrain is providing Iran the opportunity to influence the emerging new regional order, which is illustrating the limits of U.S. influence and power in a region vital to American interests. The Obama administration’s calls to speed up political reforms and its more recent condemnation of the crackdown have fallen on deaf ears in Manama. Instead, King Hamad has sought advice or been influenced by Bahrain’s close ally, Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis are increasingly becoming frustrated with Washington and have warned both the United States and Iran not to interfere in Bahrain’s affairs.
Despite these warnings, neither Iran nor the United States will back down from intervening in these Middle Eastern newfound developing systems of government. The United States must recognize that Iran is not just a major player in the Middle East, but will be all over the globe.
Obama cannot follow his predecessors in thinking by ignoring Iran and refusing to negotiate with the government; the United States is taking a step toward diplomacy. Ever since the Iranian 1953 coup d’état, the United States has been increasingly losing the trust and respect of the Iranian people and government.
In order for the United States to prevent major Iranian influence over the crumbling Middle East, it cannot continue to feed from the hands of Islamist and Nationalist campaigns. The United States cannot reverse the imperialist and oppressive history over Iran, but it can and must tear down the unsubstantial wall of animosity it has toward the becoming nation.
Pardis Delijani is a third-year international affairs student. Her political columns will appear every Monday.
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