I wonder why we just don’t admit we have no intention of
negotiating with Iran and stop pretending. Khomeini has apparently turned down
the offer of bilateral negotiations with the U.S., saying very clearly Iran
cannot negotiate as long as they are being constantly threatened by the U.S. So
what does our new Secretary of State, John Kerry, do? He begins by threatening
Iran, making demands in advance, and, of course, making it impossible for
anything positive to happen. This pattern seems to have repeated itself several
times in the past few years. The U.S. threatens and makes demands, Iran
resists, and, as I believe happened in at least one case, when Iran did not
resist the U.S. withdrew the offer. This makes no sense to me unless you assume
we do not truly wish to negotiate.
The U.S., and apparently at least some other countries, keep
insisting Iran is attempting to build a nuclear bomb even though there is no
evidence whatsoever this is true. Khomeini has said more than once they have no
intention of building a bomb, evidence indicates this is so, but no one wants
to believe it. Now it turns out there is some concern in Europe that their
missile defense system may be flawed and might not protect them from Iranian
missiles. What Iranian missiles? There is no reason whatsoever to believe Iran
is about to attack Europe with missiles, none at all. And remember the excuse
we were giving for building a missile shield system in Poland to protect Russia
from Iranian missiles. There was, again, no reason to believe Iran was going to
attack Russia. Nor is there any rational reason to believe Iran is about to
attack Israel and certainly not the U.S., so why all the hysteria?
Personally, I believe there is a genuine element of racism
involved in this peculiar situation. It seems predicated on the notion that
Iranians are stupid, that if they had a bomb they would immediately begin to
attack everyone, especially Israel and the U.S., apparently too stupid to
understand they would immediately cease to exist. They are certainly not stupid
enough to believe they could win against the overwhelming might of the U.S.,
Israel, and most of Europe. Iran has not attacked anyone for over 200 years,
can we say the same? The IAEA has been monitoring the Iran program for years
and have said they are complying with international rules, thus verifying they
are apparently not trying to cheat and build a bomb. But still no one seems to
believe them, seeming to believe instead that they are liars. As it is
impossible for the IAEA to prove absolutely, beyond any doubt whatsoever, they
“might” not be telling the truth, they cannot be believed. We demand in advance
they do as we want and if they refuse they are the problem, they must be liars,
cheats, and stupid. Now that’s the way to negotiate, especially if you have no
desire to actually achieve anything.
And of course all the while the Israelis, along with the
Neocons, are demanding we start bombing immediately, “before it is too late.”
Too late to keep them from doing something they are apparently not doing. When
you have someone like John McCain singing “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,” and
comparing their leaders to monkeys, while his woosie sidekick, Lindsey Graham,
apparently just as bloodthirsty, echoing the same sentiments and bowing to
Netanyahu’s demands that we attack Iran on Israel’s behalf, can you wonder the Iranians might have reason
to be concerned? Don’t forget the sanctions, now killing innocent Iranian women
and children, another attempt to make them comply with our demands. Why should
they have to negotiate over whether or not we kill their children, especially
when we are not even at “war” with them? Killing Iranian children because of
some paranoid Israeli fantasy is, at least in my opinion, even beyond immoral (it
that is possible).
It seems to me there is some kind of strange culture-bound
“hysterical psychosis” affecting Western-Europeans, a form of temporary madness
preventing us from acting rationally towards Iran. I also suspect part of the
problem is the tendency on the part of many to confuse Iranians with Arabs, or
lump them together. Thus Iranians, who are not Arabs, are unfortunately subjected
to the same negative (and totally unfair) stereotype Westerners have long
imposed on Arabs. I suggest this particular affliction is characteristic
primarily of Western-European males who are middle-aged or older who have never
overcome their stereotypical racist beliefs about citizens of the Middle East,
especially Arabs (and especially including Palestinians).
Of course this whole pretense of negotiation has little or
nothing to do with whether or not Iran is trying to produce a bomb. It has to
do primarily with the Iranian threat to Western-European hegemony in the Middle
East. Unless the Iranians are willing to concede that hegemony beforehand there
can be no true negotiations. And of course if they did concede that in advance
there would not really be negotiations because negotiations by their very
nature imply a process taking place between equals. Khomeini understands this,
the U.S. either does not or does not want to acknowledge it. Thus there will be
no meaningful negotiations with Iran, the hysteria will continue, and unless
President Obama can keep his head on straight in the midst of the crazies
(including Netanyahu) there could even be another stupid, unnecessary and
immoral “war” in the Middle East.
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