Iranian voices as UN General Assembly enters Sixty-eighth Debate Session
Editing by Carolyn Bennett
The United Nations General Assembly is the main
deliberative, policy making and representative organ of the United Nations.
Comprising all 193 Members of the United Nations, it provides a unique forum
for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues
covered by the Charter of the United Nations.
The 68th Session of the United
Nations General Assembly’s annual general debate – when Heads of State and
Government and other high national officials gather to present their views
about pressing world issues – opens Tuesday September 24 and run through
Tuesday October 1, 2013
We consider war a weakness. Any government or administration that decides
to wage a war, we consider it a weakness.
And any government that decides on peace, we look on it with respect to
peace [Hassan Rouhani].
Progressive Islam faces colonial secularism
─ Dr. Amir Dabiri Mehr
“…Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the
reorganization of the Middle East in the years following World War I, the
West has failed to present a better model than subordinate dictatorship for
these countries.
“The U.S. involvement in toppling Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein was not aimed at removing the shadow of a vampire dictator over the Iraqi nation. Instead, Washington had come to the conclusion that Saddam was no longer a trustworthy element for enforcing Washington’s policies across the region and he was deciding arbitrarily as he did with his invasion of Kuwait.
“
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…The protest movement that started as the Islamic Awakening
or Arab Spring in Tunisia and then spread to Egypt, Libya and Bahrain was not a
premeditated Western scenario.
“It was a spontaneous reality born of pent-up popular
demands similar to other social movements and phenomena that require time and
opportunity to emerge.
“…All these uprisings and awakening movements share four
attributes: 1) emphasis on religious identity 2) freedom-seeking 3)
democracy-seeking 4) independence-seeking.”
American rationally sidelined in
dealings with Iran ─ Dr. Amir Dabiri Mehr
A list of “6 opportunities lost by the United States as a
result of its hostility with Iran…show “that American politicians have never
dealt with Iran based on the American rationality and the national interests of
the United States over the past years.”
- U.S. is presented to the Iranian people as ruthless and aggressive, especially with the implementation of inhumane sanctions in the recent years
- U.S. private sector is deprived of investing in Iran, particularly in the areas of oil and gas
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Women of Iran under Western Sanctions |
- Anti-arrogance and anti-American sentiments have spread in the Middle East and the Muslim world, which was inspired by Iran’s Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic’s anti-oppression policies
- U.S. in the Mideast is increasingly discredited in its rivalry with the Islamic Republic, particularly in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria
- U.S. is increasingly deprived of the chance to directly interact with and contact Tehran over key regional issues
- U.S.’s allying with some reactionary governments with the objective of filling the vacuum of Iran has further downgraded the United States’ credibility as a country claiming to advocate democracy; and begs the question of why the U.S. has friendly ties with tyrannical and reactionary states, yet is hostile to a democratic state like Iran.
“…It is fair to say,” Dr. Amir Dabiri Mehr concludes, that “by continuing the hostility with Iran, the Americans have had no tangible
achievement in the field of their national interests and have only been able to
appease Tel Aviv while receiving backlash.” Altering the U.S. approach toward
Iran “will open a new chapter of national-interest diplomacy.”
H
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arry J. Bentham writes along the same lines of dominance and
forced subservience. “Beyond Iranian-U.S. relations, the top political tension
in the modern world … arises over the issue of countries crossing the barrier
by refusing to be servants and becoming leaders in the international order. It
is a valid historical observation that the countries which consider themselves
as top powers often assume the role of oppressors, denying the rights of
emerging powers and seeking to marginalize them.”
Round and round we go
Circularity, West blocks own “values”
Political futurist writer Harry J. Bentham headlines Equality requires Iran access to
nuclear technology
“…Despite modern liberalism’s commitments to liberty and
equality, there is an insurmountable paradox in treating non-Western states as
second-class participants in international relations” ─ a state of affairs, an attitude that is "…further emphasized by the lack of
value placed in the lives of non-Western people by Western governments.
In the minds of Western
politicians, a million dead children in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East is
barely a scratch on their moral reputations, and yet they insultingly go about
mourning similar deaths that occurred decades ago in European wars and
genocides.
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| Empire: Britain |
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| Western Brute |
“
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| Empire: France |
Unable to see how their ideology is contradictory, Western
states have historically used blockades, sanctions and other punishments on
countries they disapprove of. However, the political outcome from such actions
is always destructive. Far from pressuring governments to change their views,
sanctions lead to a negative political culture by adding to a sense of crisis.
As a result, much of the rationale for Western sanctions against Iran amounts
to a circular argument.
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| Empire: United States |
“… If liberal states and citizens hostile to Iran could
entertain the possibility that they are not acting in accord with their own
liberal principles and are allowing prejudices to drive them, they would see
how to end confrontations with Iran.
“Lifting the sanctions on Iran would allow the political
culture in Iran to flourish and liberalize like never before, bringing an
appreciation of the West in Iran. This would finally allow the West to live up
to its own stated belief in equality. The alternative is for Iran to continue
to hold legitimate suspicions towards Western powers, and Western political
systems will fester in deepening confusion and hypocrisy.”
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| President of Iran Hassan Rouhani |
Iran’s new president en route to 68th UN General Assembly:
“Constructive interaction”
Elected and inaugurated in early August, the Islamic
Republic of Iran’s new president is an academic, cleric, lawyer, politician and
former diplomat. He holds baccalaureate and advanced degrees in law, is fluent
in Arabic, English and Persian, is a prolific writer, and holds the rank of
research professor at Iran’s Center for Strategic Research.
This is some of what President Hassan Rouhani had to say this
week en route to the United Nations. “We and our international counterparts
have spent a lot of time - perhaps too much time - discussing what we don’t
want rather than what we do want. This is not unique to Iran’s international
relations. In a climate where much of foreign policy is a direct function of
domestic politics, focusing on what one doesn’t want is an easy way out of
difficult conundrums for many world leaders. Expressing what one does want
requires more courage.
“After 10 years of back-and-forth, what all sides don’t want
in relation to our nuclear file is clear. The same dynamic is evident in the
rival approaches to Syria.
“This approach can be useful for efforts to prevent cold
conflicts from turning hot. But to move beyond impasses, whether in relation to
Syria, my country’s nuclear program or its relations with the United States, we
need to aim higher.
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Rather than focusing on how to prevent things from getting
worse, we need to think - and talk - about how to make things better. To do
that, we all need to muster the courage to start conveying what we want -
clearly, concisely and sincerely - and to back it up with the political will to
take necessary action. This is the essence of my approach to constructive
interaction.
“As I depart for New York for the opening of the UN General
Assembly, I urge my counterparts to seize the opportunity presented by Iran’s
recent election.
“
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I urge them to make the most of the mandate for prudent
engagement that my people have given me and to respond genuinely to my
government’s efforts to engage in constructive dialogue.
“Most of all, I urge them to look beyond the pines and be
brave enough to tell me what they see - if not for their national interests,
then for the sake of their legacies, and our children and future generations.”
Sources and notes
68th UN General Assembly, http://www.un.org/en/ga/
http://gadebate.un.org/
“Iran President Rouhani: ‘We Will Never Develop Nuclear
Weapons’”
(By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News), September 19,
2013,
http://sreaves32.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/exclusive-interview-with-iranian-president-hassan-rouhani/
“Progressive Islam faces colonial secularism in Egypt”:
Analyst (Dr. Amir Dabiri Mehr),
July 11, 2013, http://sachtimes.com/?a=content.id&id=9057&lang=en
Dr. Amir Dabiri Mehr is an Iranian political commentator
with more than a decade experience in mass communication and politics. He holds
a Ph.D. in political science.
“American rationally sidelined in dealings with Iran” (Dr. Amir Dabiri Mehr), September 20, 2013,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/20/325082/us-rationally-sidelined-in-iran-dealings/
“Equality requires Iran access to nuclear technology” (Harry
J. Bentham)
September 20, 2013,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/20/325024/equality-requires-iran-n-energy-access/
Harry J. Bentham is a British “political futurist writer” currently
on the advisory board of the Lifeboat Foundation think tank. His work, placing emphasis
on global economic disparities and the benefits of technology-driven social
change, can be found at a number of online publications, including the radical
newsletter Dissident Voice and the transhumanist publication h+ Magazine.
“Why Iran seeks constructive engagement,” September 20, 2013
(Originally published on Washington Post website then Press TV, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/20/325033/why-iran-seeks-constructive-engagement/
Hassan Rouhani
Academic, cleric, lawyer, politician and former diplomat, Hassan
Rouhani (b. November 12, 1948) is a member of the Assembly of Experts and the
Expediency Council and the Supreme National Security Council, head of the
Center for Strategic Research, and the 7th and current President of the Islamic
Republic of Iran.
Before his election to the presidency Rouhani was also
deputy speaker of the 4th and 5th terms of the Islamic Consultative Assembly
(Majlis - Iranian Parliament) and secretary of the Supreme National Security
Council (1989-2005). In the later capacity, he headed Iran's former nuclear
negotiating team and was the country’s top negotiator ─ with the European Union
three: the United Kingdom, France, and Germany – on Iran’s nuclear program.
Fluent in Persian, English and Arabic, Rouhani took his
academic credentials at the University of Tehran, Iran (B.A. in Judicial Law, 1972)
and Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland (M.Phil. in Law, 1995 and Ph.D. in
Constitutional Law, 1999). He holds the rank of research professor at Iran’s
Center for Strategic Research and is a prolific writer.
Hassan Rouhani was announced the winner of Iran’s Presidency
a day after the election and received his presidential precept from his
predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on August 3, 2013, and entered Sa’dabad
Palace in a private ceremony. Rouhani’s work as president officially began on
the same day. He was inaugurated as the seventh president of Iran in the
Parliament on August 4, 2013.
President Hassan Rouhani bio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Rouhani
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