Iranian President Links Security Cooperation to Lifting of Sanctions
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a
searing indictment of Western and Arab states, blamed them for sowing the seeds
of extremism in the Middle East, which he said have given rise to the creation
of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Rouhani made the comments in his annual
speech at UN General Assembly on Thursday.
Note: Rouhani did not discuss any
contributions by the Islamic Republic and its allies to the spread of extremism and terrorism
in the region in the past 35 years.
President Rouhani also addressed the
ongoing nuclear negotiations, implying that successful outcome in the talks and
lifting of sanctions could lead to Iran’s willingness to cooperate with the
West on security issues.
“The people of Iran, who have been
subjected to pressures especially in the last three years as a result of
continued sanctions, cannot place trust in any security cooperation between
their government and those who have imposed sanctions and created obstacles in
the way of satisfying even their primary needs, such as food and medicine,”
Rouhani said.
Photo credit: Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani addressing the UN General Assembly; 25 September 2014 (IRNA)
Rouhani referred to Western/Arab "blunders" that generated extremism such as ISIL, with the Iranian foreign Ministry consistently pointing to OIF, U.S. support for regime change in Syria and GCC backing for the form of Islam and resident financial donorship to ISIL and JAN as results of these "blunders." That the US and GCC are now active belligerents against these forces supports Rouhani's contention that these are indeed "blunders." Similarly, NATO intervention on behalf of armed groups in Libya is now seen by Western powers as being a "bunder."
ReplyDeleteFor Rouhani to discuss Iranian "contributions" toward extremism in the context of "blunders," this would necessitate Rouhani and Iran to consider LH, Badr, AAH, Peace Brigades, Houthis, etc. as "blunders," and now be actively engaged in armed conflict against any or all of these groups. Such is definitely not the case.
Perhaps the bigger takeaway from this is that Iran's regional allies are more reliable.
Mark my response is too long I have to break it up into two or more parts.
DeleteThe reason we are in the middle east right now is because of Sept 11th 2001. Firstly, Please remember that the attack caused us grievous harm in terms of lives lost as a direct result; not to mention, the slow down of our economy, and the trillions of dollars spent on wars (Still continuing as of today) that we can not afford to pay back. We have literally mortgaged our great grandchildren's futures in this stupid endeavour. I will explain why stupid in a bit.
Secondly, and most heinously, the loss of our freedom and our moral compass as a result of 9-1-1 in the name of national security and the patriot act. We now feel it's ok to have backscatter scanners in airports that show us and our loved ones of any age buck naked to people we don't know. We allow security personnel to pull down the underpants of our 2 and 6 year old boys and girls in the same airports so they could be checked in the name of national security and the war on terror.
We allow airlines to deny entry and free travel to 6 month old American born children because their first name, or last name is on a secret government list that says they are a threat to national security and you can not complain or get their name off.
The following Arab nationalities committed this cowardly act:
15 Saudi Arabian Wahhabi Muslims
2 Citizens of UAE Wahhabi Muslims
1 Egyptian Wahhabi Muslim
1 Lebanese Wahhabi Muslim (Was unclear if he was Jordanian or Lebanese at first.)
Who did we attack after 9-1-1? Iraq and Afghanistan? Why? If we were serious about payback it would have been the Saudis and the rest mentioned above. In all fairness the Saudi desert should be a giant glass mirror right now as a "teaching moment" to any others that would contemplate attacking the US in the future.
Even if we really were at fault and deserved it in that hypothetical future; the though of what happened to the Saudis should make those future terrorists think twice on not infinitely about actually attacking the US soil. So what happened to the Saudis? Oh nothing. They are our Allies in the War on Terror?! They Along with UAE, and Egypt and Jordan are our bestest best buddies ever! We love these little Wahabbi making factories :) Just love em :) Gag :P
What in the world is a Wahhabi? It's a person that adheres to the Saudi Royal Family's personal house brand of Islam. They are the originators of this religion and are the main proselytizers and funders of this version of Islam.
Again, my point is that Wahhabi-ism is directly connected to the Saudi government and it's royal family. Why? You are NOT a part of the Saudi government unless you are a Saudi family member or are related to the saudi family by business ties or blood.
We allied ourselves with these lovely people because they helped the British overthrow the Turks after WW1 and then agreed to sell Oil to the West for whatever price they asked as long as they were kept in power. The US "inherited" Saudi Arabia after WW2 when we decided the world was our oyster and literally sat with a Map and a ruler and divided the world up between the "Allies" left standing.
End of Part 1
Mark, here is the rest of my response
DeleteBegin Part 2
Much later we helped create Al Qaeda by training bin Laden's top operations people over here in the old "School of the Americas" over by DC and sent them military advisers and then trained them in Saudi funded schools in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and then sicked them on the Russians in Afganistan all in the name of Cold war. We probably said glib things like hell it's better than a nuclear war and they may be SOBs but they are our SOBs. We probably congratulated ourselves about our bloodless war and how awesomely it was all working out.
When Russia suddenly imploded we dropped these Wahhabi indoctrinated Muslims; (now called the Mujahedin, who would later became the Taliban) like hot potatoes and forgot all about them.
Their Saudi handlers like Bin Laden and others did not forget them and continued to nurture and indoctrinate them in Wahhabism; and then, and after a few years ... Well you know the rest of that story. We had 9-11-1.
If you don't call that a blunder I don't know what your definition of "blunder" is! Everything that has happened in West Asia (AKA middle east) is a direct result of Blunders and interference by the British, Dutch, and American powers from the late 1800s up until now.
This is all a mater of public record and none of it is secret or controversial. I just summarized 200 years into a few paragraphs. It's didn't take a genius; just a little fairness and knowledge.
As far as Mr. Rouhani goes. Even a broken watch is right at least twice a day (I hope you are old enough to remember the old analog watches and understand my reference :))
Whatever other delusion Mr. Rouhani is suffering from he is right about the western blunders that are continuing today. Offically for democracy, but the reality is it's all about oil, natural resources, and security for Israel.
Even Israel is a western blunder. If the Europeans didn't go out of their way to ethnically cleanse their Jewish populations every few hundred years and forcibly try to convert them to Christianity starting around 1000AD and continuing until today. Today you ask? Yes, I just read about the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany in 2014.
Mark response part 3,
DeleteLast part I hope,
The Jewish people would not have left Europe to look for a place where they could be safe if it wasn't for western blunders in their treatment of their religious minorities. They would not have elected to settled on some of the most arid, and inhospitable land on the planet. Let's face it, Israel is NOT Hawaii nobody would move there if they didn't have to.
The Jewish people felt compelled to Aliyah (return to Israel) as early as 1897 thanks to their lovely western neighbours. This is LONG before national socialism and Hitler.
Western blunders have caused all of this misery for Jews, for Arabs, for Indians, for Pakistanis, for Hutus, for tutsis, for Zulus, for Congolese, for the thousands of Malaysians and Indonesians murdered by the Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
Yes, indeed the roots of today's instabilities around the world lie in Western and American blunders; both past and present because the blunders continue today as we speak. Today's regime changes and global exporting of "democracy" via cruise missiles are creating tomorrows terrorists as I'm typing right now.
In 10, 20, ... 50 years when our Karma catches up to us, we will wonder why? Because we are conditioned to not remember the past and disregard history. Why would we want to remember history? We have a black president and it's inconvenient to remember that 60 short years ago we use to lynch a black teenager for smiling at a white girl. No, We won't know why they hate us. After all, 30 or 60 years ago is ancient history and who remember that stuff anyway? Unfortunately some people do. Until we acknowledge our blunders and at least apologize; if not make reparations for our blunders, I fear the past will continue becoming the future.
I sincerely hope that I'm wrong. That I'm a fool, and that this never happens; because, if it does the cycle will continue, we will spend even more money we don't have,on wars we can't afford and lose even more freedoms that we don't value enough.
Kind Regards,
Yours truly.
P.S. Karma is not some hocus pocus new age term. It simply means your actions today; dictate your future tomorrow. For example: If you kick and abuse you little puppy today; everyday, don't be surprised if he grows up into a 200 lbs bullmastiff tomorrow and rips your guts out. Your actions today made that future happen tomorrow. No magic was involved.
Nader, or Moderator: Please feel free to edit, modify, or concatenate my response it in anyway you see fit ... errr to make it fit you have my blessing :).
Mark,
DeleteRouhani was clearly discussing the roots of extremism in the region. He is the president of a country which has been involved in so many state-sponsored terrorist attacks for so many years. It is the height of hypocrisy and cynicism to lecture the world body on the roots of extremism when one's own country is a major cause of it.
@10:18, 10:20, 10:25
DeleteIf you want to write an article on the subject discussed here, you can submit it vis email to the authors of the blog. In the past we have published guest authors. The comment section is meant for shorter, more focused and coherent "comments'" not articles. Please follow our policy in future.
But thanks for taking time to air your views on the subject of the post and many other topics of interest.
Nader Jaan this is Anon@10:18, 10:20, 10:25 aka Yours Truly,
DeleteI couldn't find your email on the site. I would like to occasionally do what you suggested to submit an article on a topic, or rebut an argument. How do I do that? Where is the contact info?
Kind Regards,
Yours Truly
nuskowi@gmail.com
DeleteNader UskowiSeptember 25, 2014 at 11:03 PM
DeleteThere is scarcely any comparison at all to be made between the wests nearly century long history of meddling,treachery and blunder after blunder in the region and irans actions many of which were taken as a result of things the west either did or supported,the present situation in syria is a perfect example of the wests miscalculations and meddling,had it not supported the terror groups in syria it would not now have to face isis in iraq and syria.To say iran is a "major cause" of the terror and instability that is threatening the region is not only plain wrong it is deeply offensive
Of course it is deeply offensive, their record that is. Blowing up barracks and towers and killing hundreds in terrorist attacks, assassinating their own country's opposition leaders and murdering dissidents in groups, providing barrel bombs to drop on Syrian civilians, involvement with terrorist attacks and plots across the globe, and such activities must be deeply offensive to all progressive people.
DeleteExtremism inside the country and terrorism abroad were not what the people of Iran fought for when they overthrew the Shah's regime. And blaming the West for Islamic Republic's terrorist attacks and extremism is becoming a convenient way for the regime and its supporters to justify these heinous acts. It should not be. Even the supporters of this regime should oppose it, it weakens and not strengthens the regime.
many of the people of Iran are among those especially gifted at pointing out the shortcomings of others and never understanding how great are their own shortcomings.
ReplyDeleteKhomeini's Iran is as extremist, is as active in supporting terrorism, and has hands as stained by the blood of innocents as the other scabrous and squalid and petty nations of the Gulf.
in comparison to the West, Iran under the reactionary Khomeini theocratic dictatorship is a cesspit of intolerance and error.,,, and sending Rouhani to deliver a speech crafted by his masters does nothing to hide the facts.