Shi'ites and Sunnis find common cause

[bemildred]

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But as Shi'ites by the hundreds of thousands poured into Karbala - beating their chests and flogging their backs with chains to recall Hussein's ordeal - the political divide between Islam's main branches has narrowed. At the heart of the change, analysts say, is Shi'ite Iran, which has backed Sunni militants like Hamas and become the recognized champion in the Muslim world for the Palestinians, at a time when the interests of "moderate" Sunni states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia are perceived to be more in line with those of Israel and the United States.

Just two years ago, experts such as Tufts University's Vali Nasr speculated that the chaos in Iraq might lead to a Shi'ite-Sunni conflagration across the region. But history has taken a very different turn, says Mai Yamani, a London-based, Saudi-born anthropologist and analyst.

"A very interesting change has taken place, especially after this Gaza conflict: that is, the alliance of all the Islamists, be they Shi'ite or Sunni, against the so-called moderate Arab regimes, who are the allies of the US," Yamani says.

New alliance?

The Gaza conflict, in which Israel is fighting Iranian-backed Hamas, a Sunni Palestinian Islamist group, highlights this new alliance, the seeds of which were sown by Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, analysts say. That revolt's ecumenical vision for Islamism was heard in Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's famous slogan, "Neither East nor West, But Islam!" That call to arms is now led by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KA09Ak02.html

[babylonsister]

1. Not the common cause anyone hoped for, I'll warrant.

Good job by this admin all around.

[bemildred]

2. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Given the propensity of politicians to use disasters and wars to unite the people behind them, you would think that it would occur to them that it can work the other way, you can unite your enemies by being too aggressive too.

[babylonsister]

3. They were never known to look for long-term solutions or

to consider future problems for that matter. And this is the result. They can't be gone soon enough. All this damage done.