When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Geopolitics

Iran: How Decades Of Middle East Power Plays Backfired

Whenever Iran's revolutionary regime feels the heat, it stirs more trouble in the Middle East. It has even brought the exasperated Arabs closer to Israel.

Man holding a poster of Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei & Hezbollah Sec. Gen. Nasrallah during a June 2007 protests in Tehran
Man holding a poster of Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei & Hezbollah Sec. Gen. Nasrallah during a June 2007 protests in Tehran
Elahe Boghrat

-OpEd-

In past years, whenever the Islamic Republic of Iran found itself pressured in any way at home or abroad, or whenever the prospect of peace between Israel and the Palestinians and other Arab states took a serious turn, it would almost inevitably respond with sabotage or terrorism.

Sure enough, the country has been under pressure since October 2019 when protests erupted in Iraq and then Lebanon against sectarian government and Iranian meddling in those countries. Inside Iran, two years after the protests of late 2017, people and especially youth came out again to face gunshots and arrest at the regime's hands. In spite of the repression, the self-styled theocracy feels more constrained by the day.

Be sure to expect some shenanigans from Tehran.

It all shows the threadbare nature of the "strategic depth" it claims for itself. Its ambitions to engulf the region and breathe down Israel's neck through a chain of client states like Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, or extend its tentacles toward the Western Hemisphere through Venezuela and other leftist states, have withered somewhat.

The Islamic Republic, which claimed to be the crux of a regional "resistance" to the Western powers, has instead become the focus of popular resistance in several countries to the respective governments it is manipulating. Thanks to Iran and with renewed fury, people in the region are demanding efficient, representative and peaceful governments that meet the needs of the contemporary world and build a better future.

Street scene in Tehran — Photo: Jochen Eckel/DPA/ZUMA

There might have been a time when people believed dishing out power in portions to religious and ethnic clans (Shia, Sunnis, Kurds or Druze) or forming "Islamic republics' might bring a measure of peace and security to the region. But events have shown that division of power on that basis and the presence of unstable governments constitute an explosive source of conflict and discord of which regional states had already had their fill since 1918.

To bring the Arabs and Israel closer together!

Iran itself moved on from clerical rule with a constitutional revolution in 1904. But the secular monarchy of the Pahlavis, fear of communism and Western states' genuine, if ephemeral, support for the 1979 revolution, plunged the country back into obscurantism. Just 10 years after the revolution, the Soviet Union collapsed and Iran had become the regional mischief-maker.

And while it has in the past 40 years proved to be one of the chief obstacles to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, it has revealed another, astounding capacity: to bring the Arabs and Israel closer together! With news from last week, be sure to expect some shenanigans from Tehran reacting to the United Arab Emirates' plans to normalize ties with Israel. That is, if it can find more resources for its regional projects or anyone willing to do its bidding.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

Who Is Responsible For The Internet's Harm To Society?

A school in the US is suing social media giants for damage done to children's well-being. But fining tech giants is a feeble response to their attacks on society's welfare.

a young boy looking at a smartphone

Are parents, website owners or government oversight bodies for to blame for the damage done to children and young adults?

Mónica Graiewski

BUENOS AIRES - In January 2023, schools in Seattle in the United States took court action against the websites TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking damages for losses incurred from the psychological harm done to their pupils.

They maintained that behavioral anomalies such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders were impeding pupils' education and had forced schools to hire mental health experts, develop special educational plans and provide extra training for teachers.

Here in Argentina just days after that report, two teenagers died from taking part in the so-called "blackout challenge" on TikTok.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest