American
Political Metaphysics
By
Dr. Haider Mehdi
Manouchehr
Mottaki, Iranian Foreign Minister, and his entire foreign policy
establishment, along with academics and experts at the Institute for
Political and International Studies, appear to be perplexed and amazed at
the global political behavior of the US and its allies. They also seem to
be baffled and agonized at the Security Council’s role in defying
international law and acting as an extended arm of American foreign
policy. In an international conference on Iran’s Peaceful Nuclear
Program and Activities held in Tehran on March 9, 2008, the Iranians put
their case before the world with remarkable skill and accuracy of
information and debated their perspective with precision, logic,
rationality and diplomatic assertiveness. The participants in the
conference were told that current Iranian cooperation with the IAEA was
unprecedented in history. Indeed, a 3000-hour investigation by the atomic
agency and Iran’s willing and full compliance with the agency
requirements say a million things about this nation’s honorable
intentions in upholding the rule of international law as well as about
world organizations that are supposed to act in a fair manner and treat
all nations equally, impartially and without bias or prejudice.
Iran,
as a nation, has deep roots in spiritual and religious discourse and faith
in humanity’s righteousness. Its poetry and literature are full of
metaphysical references to humankind’s sense of compassion, justice,
insights into human nature’s philosophical consciousness and adherence
to logic, reason and above all, the equality of all people and nations.
There is an overwhelming faith in global morality and an associated
conviction that all disputes between different countries can be resolved
by dialogue and appropriate adjudication.
On
the other hand, the American dogmatic global doctrine is fundamentally
based on the use of POWER, both political and military, in the promotion
of its capitalistic ideological enterprise and the expansion of its
authority worldwide. The Iranian world view and the American global
perspective are two diametrically opposed concepts. Hence, the Iranian
people have great difficulty in comprehending American political behavior
vis-à-vis Iran’s desire to acquire nuclear technology for
peaceful purposes. The Iranians will be well-advised to understand that
the US has, traditionally and historically, misused the UN and the
Security Council innumerable times as a tool and an extended arm of its
foreign policy adventurism by exerting pressures and other tactics on this
world body. In the conduct of global politics, the Americans conveniently
disregard the notion of morality when self-interest is at stake. The
Security Council’s role in slamming sanctions against Iran is a plan of
action deliberately orchestrated by the US and its Western European allies
to continue their power dominance of the region.
Added
to the US traditional imperialistic approach to global politics is another
dimension: the Bush administration’s unilateralism in international
relations has closed all doors to the possibilities of conflict-resolution
by dialogue and mutual understanding amongst nations or through
resolutions at the forum of an international organization. Ironically and
illogically, another contemporary development in the conduct of global
affairs promoted by the US is the notion of its political metaphysics: the
notion that America has the right to judge another nation by “assumed
intentions” -- the Americans have assumed that Iran’s desire for
nuclear technology is entirely for the purpose of acquiring nuclear
weapons. Mind it, this assumption has no basis in ground realities or
facts – the IAEA’s extensive and exhaustive investigation has no
substantial evidence to support this allegation (neither did Saddam’s
Iraq have WMDs!). And yet, the US and its allies insist that Iran must be
penalized – not because it actually intends to develop nuclear weapons,
but because in the view of the American metaphysical approach, Iran is
guilty of a crime that it has not committed, that it has not the power or
instruments or modalities to commit – but it must be held “guilty”
and “punished” because the US believes that an intended global crime
of the future has been conceived. Remarkably, this conceived crime of the
future has no substantiation in Iranian political behavior or policy
planning – it is an imaginary fabrication pushed to the limits of human
irrationality and illogical conclusion. And yet, the US persists on its
implausible, unreasoned and absurd view.
Iran
is faced with a dangerous adversary whose global political behavior has
become a matter of concern for all Muslim nations as well as the entire
South and Latin American developing countries. The fact of the matter is
that America has never reconciled to any revolutionary change anywhere in
the world: it did not reconcile to the Russian revolution, it
has not come to terms with the Chinese Communist Revolutions, it has not
accepted the Socialist Movements in South America and the Non-aligned
Movements in the Third World. “The problem is,” said Dr. Maqsood Noori,
a Pakistani delegate, “that the US is yet to reconcile to the Iranian
Islamic Revolution even after 30 years.” America is an ideological
monster that has no intellectual or philosophical strengths or abilities
to understand the dynamics of the Iranian Islamic Revolution – the
desire of a nation to live by its own history, values, culture and its
independent views of itself and the world in which it co-exists with other
nations. However, America stubbornly insists that the rest of the world
must submit to its military and political power.
That
is a mistake that the US has made historically and is making in the
contemporary global political system. Consequently, American global
behavior has turned the entire world into a conflict arena (global
conflicts help American acquire power and richness trough arms sales).
There is no end in sight to these American policies; blindness is an asset
when one does not wish to see the world as it is.
Iran
has limited options in confronting its main adversary. It cannot abandon
its legitimate right to nuclear technology, nor should it even consider
such a course under the Security Council’s pressure and the US-Western
promoted sanctions. Iran must go on a massive diplomatic offensive
targeted at the public-at-large in all Muslim nations and the rest of the
world highlighting its absolute cooperation with IAEA and its exemplary
role in upholding international law. Iran must assume a global leadership
role to meet head-on the American-Western ideological morass by exposing
the glaring contradictions that are incompatible with the 21st
century public political consciousness. The Iranians need to be the
voice of humanity in bringing about a transformation in contemporary
global politics from that which is based solely on power to one founded on
the equality of nations – incorporating fairness, justice, logic,
rationality and humanitarian values.
“Ahmadinejad
has a message,” recently wrote Dr. Abdullah Al Shayji, a professor of
political science at Kuwait University, “which is that politics and
strategy can achieve much more than war.”
But
the question is: Will Americans and their allies listen to reason? Will
they respond positively to the humanity’s contemporary consciousness in
global affairs? Will they finally come to terms with equality of nations?
Will they finally dump their imperialistic thinking? Will they respect
others’ wishes as they expect theirs to be respected by others? Will
they honor and admire other values and cultures the way they do their own?
I,
for one, am not so optimistic! We must go on awakening America and the
West…!
It
is another global war against Western colonialism – may that be physical
occupation or an irrational attempt to have control over minds.
The
present Iranian struggle is to win over the American and Western European
political mindset…and triumph over their irrationality!
Dr.
Mehdi was a participant at the International Conference on Iran’s
Peaceful Nuclear Program and Activities: Modality of Cooperation with the
IAEA in Tehran, March 9, 2008.
The
Nation, March 20, 2008
