Could
Iran Redefine
Euro-American Relations?
By Pablo Ouziel
01 November, 2007
Countercurrents.org
As
European officials express concern about the fact that the Bush administration's
designation of Iranian agencies and firms as supporters of terrorism
could block relations with Tehran for years to come, President Vladimir
Putin's description of these new U.S. sanctions, as America "running
around like a madman with a razor blade in his hand," seems appropriate
and worrisome.
The problem is that Europe
has been enchanted by America's spread of dollar-democracy and through
it has become America's closest 'ally'. Europe's formal political figures
no longer represent the voice of the people but the interests of the
ruling elites, all of whom are currently courteous to the American Empire.
Without being aware, people on the streets in Europe are not really
discussing their role in the international arena, but are merely reacting
to America's global expectations.
Meanwhile in America, the
US air force has just asked Congress for $88m to equip B2 stealth bombers
with racks strong enough carry Big Blu bombs referred to as 'the Mother
of All Bombs', and the US military is building a forward base in Iraq
called Combat Outpost Shocker, just five miles from the Iranian border.
About this, Robert Byrd, a Democrat member of the Senate armed services
committee is saying that action taken by the Bush administration, "raises
the spectre of an intensified effort to make the case for an invasion
of Iran”.
As all this is taking place,
European governments are exchanging the baton of support and deference
from America's ways towards Iran through many representative meetings,
but ultimately Europe is always moving in block following the direction
'implied' by the US 'Decider'.
In John Bolton's soon to
be released book 'Surrender is Not An Option: Defending America at the
United Nations and Abroad', one is able to see the extent to which America
is pushing towards gaining control of all global relations. By explaining
how President Bush specifically asked Ban Ki-Moon, the incoming UN Secretary-General
to “get rid of (Lord) Malloch-Brown" as the UN’s deputy
Secretary-General, Bolton is able to depict perfectly the inefficiency
of having the UN as an impartial global regulatory body. Lord Malloch-Brown
was accused of being "anti-American," after he created friction
in July by declaring that Britain should distance itself from the United
States.
Despite all this, European
governments continue to promote the impartiality of the United Nations
and its strengths, while the people on the street continue to accept
it. Through the UN, Europe is able to support 'indirectly' America's
wars for the globalization of democracy, get a stake in the game and
have the benefit of being protected by the United States Army. However
I am confident we are reaching a turning point in the relationships
between European governments and America's global quest.
Although at this juncture
in human history, it is important for European people to remain respectful
of American people, as Europeans we can no longer afford to be unconditional
allies to America's global adventures. Sadly the world's current political
arena resembles a playground in a school. America politically moves
around the globe like the big bully, Europe just nods to everything
the bully does laughing at his jokes, while the most bullied kids in
the class are currently the Muslim people. At one point the European
people must realize that by being friends with the bully, they are going
to end up without any other friends.
So as America's situation
gets grimmer in Iraq and at home - in Iraq, having to implement a diplomatic
draft for its new 6000 post embassy in Baghdad, and at home with tens
of thousands of people across America demonstrating against the war
in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle; Europeans
should begin to question the ways of America's globalization.
While long-time activists
like Michael Dixon, who in the late 1960s formed the Seattle branch
of the Black Panthers, have come out to the streets of America to say;
"Young people are the force that can stop this… What you
do or don't do will determine the future of the United States,"
and veteran investors like Jim Rogers who predicted the 1999 commodities
rally, are moving out of America by switching their investments to Chinese
yuan, Japanese yen and Swiss francs and are acknowledging that the US
economy is in recession and "many parts of industry are actually
in a state worse than recession"; European people should begin
to truly reject the support of their governments to America's foreign
policy, for the United States is behaving like all empires have behaved
just before falling.
In his new book, John Bolton
writes; “Many Brits believed that their role in life was to play
Athens to America’s Rome, lending us the benefit of their superior
suaveness, and smoothing off our regrettable colonial rough edges.”
From my perspective this statement from a former US ambassador to the
United Nations clearly exemplifies the way this world is being governed,
and I hope European people can see this and avoid becoming once again
the support platform from which the US can launch an attack, this time
on the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Pablo Ouziel is an activist and a freelance writer based in Spain. His
work has appeared in many progressive media including Znet, Palestine
Chronicle, Thomas Paine’s Corner and Atlantic Free Press.
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