“Obviously, the United States supported Osama bin Laden and his people during the Soviet occupation and it wasn’t just his organization, it was many such organizations.… The United States did nothing to stop the Saudis from doing this,” Tehran University Professor Dr. Mohammad Marandi said in an interview with Press TV.
He believed that textbooks and speeches that have come out of Saudi Arabia have also created a major problem as the Saudi political order supported a “very extremist” ideology during the past few decades.
“The language is extremely provocative and dangerous. Now, this problem has really spread. We can see it extend all the way to Nigeria, Boko Haram is very much influenced by Wahhabi ideology and Takfiri sentiments and you see it as well as in Kenya and Syria, in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, and unfortunately, Western countries for political reasons have turned a blind eye to this reality for over three decades,” the commentator explained.
Marandi said European countries are becoming much more concerned that the spread of extremism is posing a threat to their security, adding that the Western media are completely silent about the ongoing “fearful situation” in this part of the world.
The analyst also warned that tens of TV channels have been funded to advocate “religious, racial, and sectarian hatred” at an extraordinary level.
“Yet for example, Press TV was banned from satellite TV by the United States as well as other channels. Yet these extremist channels were never banned. And now, we have a new phenomenon,” Marandi added.
He urged the West to stop the hate coming from satellite TV channels funded by Western entities and their allies if it truly seeks to stop the threat of extremism.
Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. Over 160,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the violence fueled by the Western-backed militants.
