"..I don’t like the Shi’a and I am against the visit at this point BUT we should thank Iran for its support of the resistance. So I don’t know which camp I belong to?.."

"... But the biggest gap in the recent coverage of the story has been understanding Arab public opinion toward Iran and how this affects government calculations. In fact, Iran has the ability to play the Arab-public-opinion card and reach out to groups that threaten the control of Arab governments. And there is evidence that they have succeeded in doing just that, even beyond the rising power of their allies, particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon. In large part, Tehran benefits from Arab public anger toward Israel and the United States, and from the perceived paralysis of their own leaders ......  In an open question about the world leader Arabs admired most, Ahmadinejad was chosen by 12 percent of those questioned—landing him in third place, behind only Turkish leader Recep Erdoğan and Venezuelan demagogue Hugo Chavez. My own analysis of the results suggested that Iran is benefiting from the sentiment that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This was particularly visible when those polled were asked to identify the two states that posed the biggest threat to them: 88 percent identified Israel, 77 percent identified the United States and 10 percent identified Iran. While the results on this latter issue varied somewhat from country to country, the trend held across countries polled. ....... Polls aside, one gets a good flavor of the type of Arab public reactions from reader comments on popular web sites. These do not provide scientific evidence in the same way as do polls, but they provide texture.

In the wake of Ahmadinejad’s visit to Lebanon last October, for example, I conducted an analysis of online reader comments on two popular web sites: Aljazeera.net and Alarabiyya.net. The Saudi-funded Alarabiyya and the Qatari-funded Aljazeera have different editorial policies, including on Iran. But the results are telling: The visit generated considerable reaction not only in Lebanon but also elsewhere in the Arab world and beyond. And it seemed to play into all the issues: the Sunni-Shia divide, Iran's rising influence in the Arab world and its animosity to Israel. Having translated the first twenty-five comments on each site, here is a snapshot of reader feedback (for the complete list of reader reactions click here):

Aljazeera.net:

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Iran has always stood against Israel and with Arab rights. Ahmadinejad’s visit to Lebanon is a message that says “we are here.”

God bless the Iranian nation and I hope God makes it the most powerful on earth and may America fall.

God be with you Ahmadinejad who is with those in Palestine and fights the Americans and the Zionists.

I don’t like the Shi’a and I am against the visit at this point BUT we should thank Iran for its support of the resistance. So I don’t know which camp I belong to??? 

Alarabiyya.net:

If only the Lebanese people would take care of their own problems, they wouldn’t bicker about this inconsequential visit (Saudi Arabia)

Ahmadinejad is a hero like no other! He is the shepherd of the resistance and we thank God for you.

How can those who are against the visit call for the liberation of Palestine?!!! How can you object to his visit when he is championing the Palestinian cause? 

In all, the results were telling: of the fifty comments on both sites, 60 percent were positive about Ahmadinejad’s visit, 30 percent were negative and 10 percent were neutral. Alarabiyya’s readers were almost evenly divided between those who were positive and those who were negative, while 70 percent of Aljazeera’s readers were positive about the visit...."