Some call Ahmadinejad “the anti-imperialist President.” The bases of their claim are nothing but Ahmadinejad’s anti-American, anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian rhetoric. Anti-imperialism is a progressive attribute, and does not apply to a reactionary regime which itself has dreams of expanding its influence beyond its borders.
Ahmadinejad shrewdly uses his anti-American/anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian rhetoric to attract attention and gain support from the people who are actually suffering from wrong and oppressive policies of the US, Israel, and other powers in the Middle East. The plight of the Palestinian people is very real, but what has the Iranian regime done in their support, other than empty words and supporting like-minded Islamists in the region?
Ironically, Ahmadinejad has played anti-imperialism in reverse, by providing ammunition to the most hawkish and reactionary fundamentalist factions of Israel. Ysrael Beitenu of Avigdoor Liberman owes much of its 15 seats in the Knesset to Ahmadinejad. A right-wing Israeli analyst said it rightly: Ahmadinejad is god-given!
Had it not been for the misguided American foreign policy, from the time of Reagan to G.W. Bush, this same regime would have been much closer to the Americans. The Mullahs are very pragmatic; they got help from Reagan and Israel during the Iran-Iraq war. Israel was among the main providers of arms, such as Katyusha shells, anti-tank missiles, air-to-surface missiles, and cruc… >>>
