March 18, 2015
Iran's Great Cultural Advantage
Throughout all the vicissitudes of dealing with Iran, an obvious fact has been insufficiently addressed: The external behavior of Iran's regime is simply more dynamic and more effective than that of any other Muslim regime in the Middle East. Iran has constructed thousands of centrifuges. Tehran has trained and equipped Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite forces in Iraq and Yemen, and it has propped up Syria's embattled president. Turkey and the Arab world appear sleepy-eyed in comparison. Iran acts. The other Muslim countries struggle to formulate responses, and when they do, they are still less effective than the Iranians. Why is that so? What secret sauce does the Iranian regime have?
Read the full piece at Real Clear World.
More from CNAS
-
Podcast
Transatlantic Security / Middle East Security
Russia in the Middle East with Jonathan Lord and Hanna NotteOne year after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, the crisis in the Middle East has grown more and more complex. With the region teetering on the brink of broader conflict, the B...
By Jonathan Lord, Hanna Notte, Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
Video
Middle East Security / Energy, Economics & Security
Biden Urges Israel Not to Attack Iran Nuclear SitesRachel Ziemba joins Bloomberg Television to discuss oil rising for a third day as traders watch for supply risks in the Middle East. Watch the full episode from Bloomberg Tel...
By Rachel Ziemba
-
The Fury of History
Commentary
Even manifestly unpopular regimes do not end on their own. There has to be a trigger....
By Robert D. Kaplan
-
Commentary
Transatlantic Security / Middle East Security
The Axis of UpheavalThe West has been too quick to dismiss the coordination among China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia....
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Richard Fontaine
