Monday May 1, 2006

Column:

Most Westerners share certain beliefs. Most Westerners believe that the world is flat, that Elvis is alive and living a wonderful life somewhere in the Bahamas, that the Muslim world is a united entity.

Well, most Westerners are wrong. Elvis is dead.

And while the Muslim world is united against the United States and the West, the Muslim world is definitely not a united entity.

In fact, the Muslim world is fraught with internal conflict and individual state-by-state worries and woes. The only unification within the Muslim world is Muslim belief in two conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories that rock Muslim societies. Conspiracy theories that Muslim leaders force feed their citizens. Conspiracy theories that deflect Muslim attention from the many, real problems plaguing each individual country and that unite all Muslims, no matter where they may reside, in hatred and fear.

Conspiracy Theory # 1:
The United States is conspiring to destroy all Muslim countries and all Muslims.

Conspiracy Theory # 2:
Israel is a threat to Muslim existence and was created by the Western world to compensate for the guilt that the West felt over the Holocaust.

Muslims are wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The big problem facing the West, however, is not that Westerners hold one set of erroneous beliefs and that Muslims hold to another set of erroneous beliefs. The big problem facing the West, specifically the United States of America, is that the West does not understand Muslim thinking. And because they do not understand Muslim thinking the West, again, specifically the United States cannot predict or anticipate Muslim behaviors or reactions.

Let's look, for example, at the synapse between the United States and Iran. The United States does not understand Iran. Iran, on the other hand, totally understands the United States. Iran understands that the United States does not understand them and that plays directly into Iranian hands.

Iran is playing a two-track game of US VESRSUS THEM. Track # 1 has US, Iran, versus THEM, the rest of the Muslim world. Track # 2 has US, Iran, versus THEM, the United States. And Iran is using the United States to help them win in their game against the rest of the Muslim world.

The main objective, perhaps the sole objective, of Iran is to galvanize the entire Muslim world placing Iran at the center of this new united world. But Iran cannot possibly realize this objective alone. Iran knows that. The reality is that Iran is only of marginal interest to the rest of the Muslim world, far, far away from the Muslim epicenter. In fact, in almost every meeting of the Muslim League the Iranians and their agenda have been sidelined.

For the past millennium Iran has been the pariah of the Muslim world. Iranians are not Arabs and they are despised by the Arabs. Iranians are not Sunnis and they are rejected by the Sunnis. As the only Muslim Shiite regime these Sunnis are seen as heretics.

Iran wants to prove that the Western world is even more anti-Iran than it is anti-Muslim and that, because of the special distinction awarded them by the West, the only chance of Muslim survival is to unite under Iranian leadership. So Iran condemns all Muslim countries attempting to appease the West as traitors to the Muslim cause. Included in the Iranian list are the real leaders of the Muslim world Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Iran believes that one of the best ways to be propelled directly into the epicenter of the Muslim world is to become the target of the United States. That is the reason for all the vitriol, for playing up all the anti-Western and anti-Israel and Holocaust rhetoric. And the United States and the United Nations are, unknowingly, unwittingly, playing right into Iran's hand. Of course, Iranian leadership hates the US and Israel and would love to see an earth void of both countries, but in actuality, annihilating those countries is way down on their actual agenda. Exalting their own country is top of their list.

Other Muslim countries have no interest in Iran's agenda. Muslim countries do, however, approve of using anti-West and anti-Israeli rhetoric. That rhetoric is the backbone of Muslim Conspiracy Theories. And Muslim Conspiracy Theories are the best tools any Muslim country has for side tracking the masses and deflecting anti-government feelings. So Iran needs to move Muslim Conspiracy Theories from the theoretical into the practical.

Will Iran be successful? Will Iran ever become a player in the Muslim world, let alone the key player in the Muslim world? Unlikely. Iran might as well take up the search for Elvis. But what is likely is that the Muslim world will perpetuate the Conspiracy Theories, ratcheting up the vitriol every now and again in response to actions taken by the West.

The Western world is correct to be concerned about Iran. And the United States had better catch on to Iran's game.