At times like this, I’m glad I’m writing on the Middle East and not, say, the Deseret News’ Iceland blog. There’s never a dull moment in the region, and these past two weeks have produced great stories for comment. Rather than focus on one topic, I’ve decided to highlight two events that I believe will continue to profoundly impact the Middle East, for better or for worse.
We all knew that the mullahs in Tehran were a little crazy, but Iran’s plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States and then bomb the Israeli and Saudi embassies in Argentina was bizarre even by its standards. The plan was so amateurish (hiring a Mexican drug cartel to off the ambassador) that some analysts refuse to believe the plot was approved by senior Iranian officials.
I, however, have no problem fingering the Iranian government’s top leaders. Given the recent rising levels of animosity between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the Iranian infiltration of Latin American countries for over two decades, another attack on Iran’s enemies involving a Latin element was almost inevitable.
If you don’t believe me, ask the families of the victims of deadly Iranian attacks on the Israeli Embassy and the Jewish AMIA building in Argentina. Many if not most of the terrorists involved in the attacks were trained in South America.
Iran’s perfidy has led President Obama’s critics (including at least one Republican challenger) to claim that he is viewed as a weak leader in many countries, including Iran. If they are to be believed, a tougher, more resolute president might have deterred the ayatollahs from launching an attack on American soil. With all due respect, I think they’re forgetting that Iran’s leaders have shown equal disdain for Democratic and Republican presidents.
In 1983, suicide bombers dispatched by Iranian proxy terror groups attacked the American Embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing hundreds of Americans. An act of war? Most definitely. The U.S. president at the time? Ronald Reagan, not noted for being a wishy-washy Democrat. In response, the U.S. withdrew its troops and shelled a few targets in Lebanon.
Since the international sanctions regimen against Iran clearly isn’t working, I hope that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia can craft a response that hits Iran where it hurts, including targets like its central bank. Iran and Saudi Arabia will continue to wage a no-holds-barred strategic and theological battle in the Middle East for the foreseeable future. The less money that the mad mullahs have to fight with, the better.
Like many Middle East observers, I rejoiced at the news that one of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipients was the courageous Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman. Often called the “mother of the (Yemeni) revolution,” she has been jailed many times by her country’s despotic ruler for her advocacy of women’s rights and freedom in Yemen.
At first glance, the prospects for improving the lot of women in Arab countries seem pretty bleak, even in countries involved in the Arab Spring. In Egypt, the cultural center of the Arab world, at least 9 out of 10 women undergo genital mutilation, as do one-fourth of Yemeni women.
This dehumanization of women in the Land of the Pharaohs explains how female reporters from CBS and CNN could be sexually assaulted by Egyptian mobs on the country’s main square in separate incidents this year.
Women in Arab countries are far more likely than men to be illiterate: nearly half of all Arab women (including 70 percent of Yemeni women, 40 percent of Egyptian women and 28 percent of Libyan women) would be unable to read an Arabic translation of this article.
In addition, political participation by women in the Middle East remains the lowest in the world. The only countries in the region where women have risen to high office are Israel and Turkey, both of which are non-Arab (however, there have been female Arab members of Israel’s Knesset).
Efforts like Karman’s to increase women’s participation in public life are sorely needed, since women in positions of power could work to educate and empower the rising generation of young Arab women.
Women in the Middle East have made progress in the past few decades, though much more remains to be done to allow them to become full members of their societies. Recognition by the international community of Tawakkul Karman’s bravery and dedication sends a message to the region’s women that their seemingly Sisyphean struggle against ignorance and prejudice will not be forgotten.
Mark Paredes served as a U.S. diplomat in Israel and Mexico, blogs for the Jewish Journal and Meridian Magazine, and will begin leading tours to Israel next year for Morris Murdock Travel. He can be reached at deverareligione@yahoo.com.
