<story><title>Saudi Arabia, an ISIS That Has Made It</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/opinion/saudi-arabia-an-isis-that-has-made-it.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>she_moves_on</author><text>One frustrating thing that the author gets wrong is labelling Iran the &amp;quot;Gray Daesh.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Iran has geopolitical conflict with the West, but it&amp;#x27;s a false equivalent of Saudi Arabia. Iran is a theocracy trying to control a population that growingly wants to be secular. Women in Iran go to university at higher rates than men, can drive, hold office, and vote. Life in Iran for a women is not perfect but is heaven compared to Saudi Arabia.&lt;p&gt;Iranian sponsored militias like hezbollah are in geopolitical conflicts as Iran wants more regional influence. They want regional islam. They are not trying to establish a global Shiite islamic state.&lt;p&gt;Like most things it comes down to money and power. Saudi plays ball with America economic hegemony and Iran does not. So rather than allying with the more moderate&amp;#x2F;educated nation with huge potential to be progressive, we ally with the one that is best for big business and willing to cede military control of the region to us.&lt;p&gt;The Iranian theocracy is fucked, don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong. But we really have our priorities in a mess.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>0xFFC</author><text>As Iranian (I am commenting from Tehran) I completely approve your point of view.I even explained in long comment in this post(you can find it in bottom).Iranian regime nightmare is liberal people( because they are the most effective opposition to current regime, all of other opposition&amp;#x27;s dismantled by regime very easily they don&amp;#x27;t even exist in society).&lt;p&gt;you know why? Because they are only threat to nature of this unbeatable regime(which have money manpower and religion).but west politicians keep ignoring this fact.Iran society is way ahead of its regime.Maybe far better than turkey in term of progressiveness And regime knows perfectly. Not Isis.not USA.not Israel.non of them is serious threat for them in long term.but a huge young population with secular believes is THE most threat for regime nature.people who use internet and spend time behind porn sites and don&amp;#x27;t give fuck about Islam is the most threat (and lose) for Iran regime.&lt;p&gt;You want change middle east . change their fucking -stupid- culture with internet, with porn.</text></comment>
<story><title>Saudi Arabia, an ISIS That Has Made It</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/opinion/saudi-arabia-an-isis-that-has-made-it.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>she_moves_on</author><text>One frustrating thing that the author gets wrong is labelling Iran the &amp;quot;Gray Daesh.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Iran has geopolitical conflict with the West, but it&amp;#x27;s a false equivalent of Saudi Arabia. Iran is a theocracy trying to control a population that growingly wants to be secular. Women in Iran go to university at higher rates than men, can drive, hold office, and vote. Life in Iran for a women is not perfect but is heaven compared to Saudi Arabia.&lt;p&gt;Iranian sponsored militias like hezbollah are in geopolitical conflicts as Iran wants more regional influence. They want regional islam. They are not trying to establish a global Shiite islamic state.&lt;p&gt;Like most things it comes down to money and power. Saudi plays ball with America economic hegemony and Iran does not. So rather than allying with the more moderate&amp;#x2F;educated nation with huge potential to be progressive, we ally with the one that is best for big business and willing to cede military control of the region to us.&lt;p&gt;The Iranian theocracy is fucked, don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong. But we really have our priorities in a mess.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Cyph0n</author><text>Ah yes, but you fail to mention Iran&amp;#x27;s extremely aggressive agenda in the region.&lt;p&gt;The Ahwazi Arabs (Sunni, coincidentally) are stripped of nearly all basic human rights, enclosed in their own state essentially within Iran&amp;#x27;s borders [1]. Even the Shia in Saudi Arabia are treated better than how Iran handles the Ahwaz region.&lt;p&gt;Further, Iran loves fighting wars by proxy for some reason. Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guard are roaming around Syria like they own it. Hezbollah&amp;#x27;s hold on Lebanese politics is undeniable. And of course, the funding of Houthis in Yemen who hilariously failed to execute an easy coup, the result of which started a full-blown war.&lt;p&gt;The region is in turmoil, and both sides are at fault. I personally believe that the US is entirely aware of the troubled sectarian relations in the region, and is using that as a way to get cheap oil and sell arms, which is a valid strategy.&lt;p&gt;This has to stop. The only lasting solution is dialogue.&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ahwazi_Arabs&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ahwazi_Arabs&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>