Respecting Iran's independence
A great deal of drama has been recently evident in the global media portraying a "personal" rift between the US president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While it is apparent that racial undertones have accompanied the treatment of President Barack Obama since his election in 2008 both within the United States and among the Israeli population, the widening rift between the US and Israel has far more important reasons than Netanyahu's irrational behavior, pervasive racism in Israel and the US, or even the two leaders' claimed perceptions on Iran's non-existent nuclear "threat". Back in the mid-1960s, Soviet-backed regimes in Syria, Iraq and Egypt were pitted as part of a Cold War standoff against America's allies in the region. The Six-Day War in 1967 in particular saw a rise in Israel's military utility for US interests in containing Syria and Egypt, both of which hosted Soviet naval bases. Iran and Turkey were on...