Iran And The West
By Kashoo Tawseef
24 February, 2010
Countercurrents.org
Everyone has a right to express his or her views whether critical or constructive towards any government in the world, as it is freedom of speech and expression that allows anyone to express their observations. But the views expressed should be pragmatic and rather dogmatic to just unnecessary criticize for the sake of criticism without exploring all the ground veracity.
There is a lot of debate going on in different circles of the world societies about the post election unrest in Iran. Well, revolution in Iran 31 years ago at first over through 2500-year-old monarch rule in Persian Gulf and Iran became the only country in the Middle East to have elections and elected government. So, it is but usual that there must be difference of opinions among the people who cast their votes and that is a affirmative sign of any democratic government in the world. In this way, any political development in Iran hardly makes any difference for the religious doctrine and establishment over there.
Moreover the protests in Iran need not to be exaggerated as it happens in any political process and there is always difference of views. All the people in Iran do not necessarily vote or like the policies of Iranian President, Mr Mahmoud Ahmadenijad, but that does not mean they are anti-national. As mentioned above, Iran is the only country in the Middle East where there are elections and for a democratic health, difference in the ideas is a good sign; this shows the political maturity of the people of the particular nation, be it anyone. If there is a Obama-led Democrat government in United States that does not mean that all the people have voted for Democratic party or like the policies of Mr Obama. There must be a good number of people who voted for Republicans also and that also doest not mean they are anti-states.
Furthermore, there is a lot of talk about the freedom of expression in Iran, I would like to ask them, how did CNN, BBC, FoxNews, Reuters managed to get the coverage of post election scenario. Some of the news outlets even copied the footage of Iran’s PressTv to cover the events. Also different world news papers including Guardian, Independent, Washington Post managed to get pictures of the protest that were published by them, so there must be some one that too Iranian working with different news agencies, who captured the events and send it to their agencies and then those got published in many news papers of the world, is not this a sign of freedom of expression.
As a matter of fact, Iran is the only country that openly challenges the wrong policies of the west viz-a-viz Muslim world, and it is out of such stiff resistance, Iran is being subjected to continuous sanctions since revolution back in 1979. I wonder that if it had been the case with the booming economic country like India where thousands live below poverty line, what would have been the situation.
And we must not forget to name about the groups that are working against Iran, and it is a hard reality and the groups are based in the west and its ally countries and are funded by the west. So, it is but evident that the media in Iran would broadcast any news related to their activities, which you won’t find in the mainstream western media as that is going to harm their image and rhetoric slogans of bringing peace to the world which everyone knows how much they did to destabilize the world by imposing the wars on different sovereign countries in the world.
Any criticism would be interesting read if it would explore the both sides of the state of affairs but unfortunately the pro-government rallies in which millions participated to sow solidarity with the nation find a either no mention or a single line mention in the world media including the western media.
Why this prejudiced approach towards a sovereign country like Iran that has its own constitution and way of administering its own affairs. Threats and sanctions are going to prove counterproductive and are going to destabilize the whole Middle East and especially the self-reliant state of Iran. Problems and challenges are everywhere almost in every country including the developed ones. So why to point the finger at Iran only, which has been under sanctions from last thirty years and still manages to live up to the expectations of its people. What it means when a country is under sanctions, it means that its people are going to suffer at last and if the people of Iran are suffering in any way it is because of the sanction imposed by the western powers who do not want an autonomous country to survive freely and prosperous independently.
One needs to understand that Iran is not a mundane country but a nation of rich civilization, rich values, rich resources, and fertile brains. Today west need Iran more than Iran needs the west because of its strategic geographic position in the Middle East vis-à-vis the ongoing imposed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as both share boarders with Iran.
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