Friday February 20, 2009

I've Been Thinking:

You would think that Bahrain and Iran would be the best of friends.
You would be wrong.

Bahrain and Iran are engulfed in a serious diplomatic tiff.
The break occurred as the two countries were finalizing a natural gas deal. Bahrain walked out on Iran in a tizzy.

So what happened?
Iran is Iran is Iran.
Iran needs processed natural gas and so they approached Bahrain, which would make perfect sense.
The two countries got as far as ironing out the details of the deal when the Iranians felt it incumbent upon themselves to dis the Shah of Iran.
It is classic Iranian behavior.

The Iranians are constantly repeating what a big mistake it was to liberate the 14th province of Iran, which is today's Bahrain.
The Iranian negotiators listed the liberation as one of the greatest mistakes committed by the Shah.
That is when the negotiators picked themselves up and walked out.

I find it fascinating to see the lens through which Iran views local and regional issues.
For Iran, it is all about Iran and Shiite Islam - everything else is significantly less relevant.

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