Why this demonising and continuing provocation of Iran?
January 12th, 2012Another Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated yesterday by a magnetic bomb placed on his car, the fifth such incident in the last 2 years. This part of a covert war with Iran now under way including cyber warfare (the Stuxnet virus that shut down a fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges), the killing of the pioneer of the Iranian missile programme in an explosion at a Revolutionary Guards base near Teheran 2 months ago, and the promise of more ‘unnatural events’ 2 days ago from the Israeli IDF chief of staff. The rationale for all this is that Iran has to be stopped at any cost from building an atomic bomb. Iran has repeatedly denied it is doing so, and insists on its inalienable right to obtaining nuclear energy under the NPT. More significantly there is still no conclusive proof that Iran is actually building a nuclear bomb: the IAEA says that inspectors still “verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material at Iran’s nuclear facilities”. So why this relentless demonising of Iran by the West?
Of course it would be better if Iran did not manufacture a nuclear bomb, assuming that is their long-term intention which is far from certain. But even if that were their true aim, is it something that the West has a right to stop? Iran is entirely encircled by 6 nuclear powers, some mortally hostile – the US (with military contractors and CIA operatives remaining in Afghanistan after the troop pull-out, US client states like Bahrain and Qatar, US allies like Turkey and Turkmenistan, and the US fleet in the eastern Mediterranean), Pakistan, India, China, Russia, and of course Israel with 100 nuclear warheads less than a thousand miles to the east. It is hardly surprising against this background that Iran would want nuclear weapons for self-protection. Nor is this a mad mullah or Ahmadinejad fantasy: surveys show two-thirds of the Iranian population support nuclear energy and one-third nuclear weapons.
The MOD review of 2006 reiterated Britain’s justifications for retaining nuclear weapons: it is “to deter and prevent nuclear blackmail and acts of aggression”. If that is warranted for Britain, why not for Iran which is under far greater nuclear threat? That is never answered by the West. The US justifies its unremitting hostility towards Iran (on which it imposed the Shah through the coup against the democratic Mossadeq in 1953 and then suffered the humiliation of the seizure of the US Embassy staff for a year in the revolution of 1979 – history not to be forgotten) on two grounds. An Iranian atomic bomb would start a Middle East nuclear arms race including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That is implausible given that Iran has shown no signs of attacking its neighbours for centuries, unlike Israel. Second, Israel must be protected against any threat to its regional supremacy. Given Israel’s extreme aggression towardcs its neighbours over the last 60 years, it might be wise for the US to consider whether that automatic reflex support for Israel regardless of the circumstances is really in the US interest as the Arab spring spreads across the Middle East.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:16 am
Mr Meacher,
We spent £33.2 billion on Education (Fiscal Year 2011 )
We spent £45.6 billion on “Defence” (Fiscal Year 2011 )
We spent £43.7 billion on Interest Payments on the National Debt (Fiscal Year 2011 ) – debt servicing, with revolving credit.
If I was an Alien Accountant from another planet and viewed these figures as a way of determining the priorities of this newly Found Planet Earth – what conclusions would I come to and how would I regard the amount of money spent on borrowing something that the Government could just create for Free? Not only are they idiots, they are violent idiots.
Would I not come to the conclusion that greater enthasis was placed on “blowing stuff up” than Education. Once returing to my home planet and making recommendations to my Superiors, I probably wouldn’t recommend returing by myself or without a very large Military Support Contingent.
The very word “Defence” and “Ministry of Defence” is misleading as it has very little to do with Defence.
Also, we are spending 10 billion pounds more on Interest Payments than we spend on Education.
I read recently that many British Based Banks had Invested large amounts with Arms Manufacturer’s who make Cluster Bombs. These cluster Bombs (Made in Europe), were sold to Libya in 2007 and used in Misrata against Civilians. While the UK Government were openly meeting with Gadaffi, fellow European Countries were selling Arms to Gadaffi that would later be used to kill Civilians creatiing the need for NATO Armed Forces to be sent into Libya to prevent more carnage. Would it not have been better to vote in Parliament to Regulate against British Banks Investing in European Arms Manufacture rather than allow Bank Finance to reach to Factories where the Bombs were made, and then wait for them to be sold to Gadaffi, then wait for Gadaffi to use them on his own people? is it because we’d all forgotten about a PAN AM 747 being blowned up in 1988? Would we not have saved lives voting against unregulated Finance going towards Arms Manufacturing? Or is cluster bomb Manufacture part of the Maastricht Treaty Agreement?
You might remember that we were spending approximately 3 million pounds a day flying RAF sorties over Libya under NATO. And that’s not taking into account the numbers of civilians who were killed and the chaos that now resides in Libya – yet another mess that future Generations will have to pay for with even more austerity merasures. Yet we still align ourselves with the biggest terroist in the World – the U.S. Military. Yes – I know they helped us out in WWII but they are even are starting to dress like German Soldiers now.
Despite this European Financial and Moral Mess, the United States appears to be even more desperate as their Dollar fights for survival, resulting in the US’s aggressive and violent behaviour in it’s Foreign Policy. “Well, we got it wrong about Iraq, but we’re definitely right about Iran. Definitely WMD there for sure?”. Well, definitely Oil there for sure.
In Summary:
Uk Bank Finance => EU Arms Manufacturer => Middle East Dictator => Civilian Carnage => UN outrage => UK MPs Vote on Humanitarian Action=> More Violence – etc. etc .etc.
If MPs are so upset about people being killed by cluster bombs – why were British Banks Financing these cluster bomb Manufacturuer’s in the first place? Why under the noses of the European Union – in Europe?
Or have I missed something? Peak Oil Perhaps.
So, Conquer List:
Afghanistan – check
Iraq – check
Libya – check
China – Ah – too big. Plus they have WMDs.
Russia – ditto
Syria – in the bag.
Iran – after Syria
Venezuela – Leader Too Popular at the moment.