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Arab governments have been basking in the glow of all the attention focused on them recently in relation to their concerns about Iran.  It seems that hardly a day goes by without some new article touting Arab government support for a U.S. attack on Iran, the latest by Jeffrey Goldberg in his new Atlantic piece.  For governments which have been literally begging the United States to end Israel's occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territory in exchange for full normalization with Israel, having your opinion being considered on something - on anything - by the policy elite in the United States should be cause for celebration.  Unfortunately, the glow is turning to sunburn as all the latest hype on Arab support for a U.S. attack on Iran misses the true nature of Arab government concerns about Iran's regional dominance.  

There are three points to remember concerning Arab - Iranian relations:

• Arab governments seek a "balance of forces" in the region - not regional conflagration.
• Arab governments and the Arab publics tend to be in slightly different places on concern about Iran and entirely in the same place in their concern about Israel's continued occupations of Arab territory.
• A U.S. war with Iran which would have disastrous consequences for Israel and th... >>>