Public Should Be Privy to All Cables

[ninboydean]

Beres' recent commentary on Wikileaks betrays an uninformed view of the Wikileaks cables and a contemptuous attitude towards media consumers.

Take Iran: Beres is quick to claim that most nations are "well aware" that Iran more resembles a "little Satan" than Israel. In fact, only 10% of individuals polled in Arab states believe that Iran is a

Comments

[underlankers]

Consider me skeptical on whether or not public opinion in the Arab countries matters one bit. The *regimes* know the Iranian system is as a big a threat to them as Israel is. The information leaked was already known, to be certain, and if you aren't aware that Israel and the Arab states were already forming alliances against Iran, well........

Let these links speak for themselves.

http://www.themajlis.org/2010/02/02/the-grand-and-mythical-alliance-against-iran

http://www.cfr.org/publication/12477/sick.html

http://www.foreignpolicydigest.org/Middle-East/July-2010/an-israeli-arab-alliance-inevitable-reality-or-illusion.html

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/13/the-israeli-saudi-american-alliance-against-iran.html

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-israeli-arab-alliance-against-iran/

I think you're underestimating dramatically the extent to which the regimes in Egypt (the first target of Islamism) Saudi Arabia (hated by everyone except the US government) and Syria (the only surviving Ba'ath state left) have it in for the Iranian one. It makes much more sense than the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as Israel is not as different from its Arab rivals as people pretend it is here in the USA and Iran's conventional arsenal is overwhelming next to everyone else's.