03.12.2011                      07.Kislev. 5772                      Wajeze

Arabien-Analyse:

Arab World: Fire spreads both ways

Not only has Iran's ‘Resistance Axis’ failed to gain from the Arab Spring, it has also been forced on the defensive.

Before the Arab upheavals of 2011, the Middle East was dominated by a cold war, pitting US-aligned regional states against a self-designated “Muqawama (resistance) Axis” of states and movements led by Iran. Both these blocs still exist. Both have been in different ways diminished by the ferment currently under way in the Arabic-speaking world.
The Iran-led Resistance Axis liked to portray itself as the representative of authentic local Muslim forces, arrayed against a corrupt and declining alliance of local collaborators aligned with the US and Israel. Contrary to its preferred script, however, various components of this bloc now find themselves under siege and threatened by forces unleashed by the Arab Spring….