Well, the Iranian public is very pro-American, and it's one of the few publics in the Middle East, I think, that would reform, if it could, in a way that was friendly to U.S. interests. If the United States goes into a frontal confrontation with Iran, however, it will push the Iranian public away. The Iranians are very nationalistic and they don't want to be dominated by the U.S. *****************************
I've got an Iranian friend in Tehran who's attitude fits this description. I think that a lot of Iraqis were of this mindset too, passing around pirated dvds of a Hollywood persuasion and other assorted contraband cultural commodities. It's an attraction to things modern, not so uptight and fundamentalist. Then, in Iraq, the occupation came and the nationalism kicked in, fueled by its "evil" twin, fundamentalist religion.
My bet is that the members of the ruling political apparatus know this too and are playing ideological game of hard ball with the Iranian rulers in order to try to shake the Persian Prince and his faction from power so that a faction more amenable to U.S. interests can succeed. I don't even think Shrub and crew are stupid enough to invade Iran. I hope, I'm not proven wrong.
The ultimate point of this "brinkmanship", as always in the ME, is to keep as much control on the oil spigot as possible.
Best, Mike B)
http://happystiletto.blogspot.com/
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