Don't Fear the Shiites. The Idea of a Teheran-Controlled »Shiite Crescent« over the Greater Middle East Is at Odds with Reality

In the Middle East and the USA the claim is abroad that there is a Shiite alliance directed from Iran that includes the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Syrian Assad regime, and the Shiite dominated government in Iraq, and reaches to Saudi Arabia. In fact, the confessional dimension plays a considerably more minor role, and moreover there are political tensions and conflicts within the Shia itself. These warnings of a threat from the »Shiite crescent« are not infrequently the product of political calculation.