THE
ROVING EYE 'Hitler' does New
York By Pepe Escobar
System (CBS)
was firing on all cylinders for a casus
belli - from "There's no doubt Iran is
providing the IEDs" (improvised explosive devices,
in Iraq) to "Why don't you just stop denying that
you're building a nuclear bomb?" Ahmadinejad was
bemused, to say the least. CNN for its part could
not resist proclaiming, "His state even sponsors
terrorism ... in some cases even against US troops
in Iraq."
Ahmadinejad succinctly unveiled
to the Associated Press the
reasons for so much
warmongering - in a way that even a kid would
understand: "I believe that some of the talk in
this regard arises first of all from anger.
Secondly, it serves the electoral purposes
domestically in this country. Third, it serves as
a cover for policy failures over Iraq."
An
even more appalling measure of Western arrogance -
also speaking volumes about "us" when confronted
with the incomprehensible "other" - is the
diatribe with which the president of Columbia
University, Lee Bollinger, chose to "greet" his
guest, a head of state. Bollinger, supposedly an
academic, spoke about confronting "the mind of
evil". His crass behavior got him 15 minutes of
fame. Were President Bush to be greeted in the
same manner in any university in the developing
world - and motives would abound also to qualify
him as a "cruel, petty dictator" - the Pentagon
would have instantly switched to
let's-bomb-them-with-democracy mode.
Ahmadinejad, to his credit, played it
cool. Stressing, in a quirky fashion, his
"academic" credentials, he unleashed a poetic rant
on "science as a divine gift" just to plunge once
again into the Palestinian tragedy. He stressed
how Iran "is friendly with the Jewish people" -
which is a fact (at least 30,000 Jews live
undisturbed in Iran). Then back to the key point:
Why are the Palestinians paying the price for
something they had nothing to do with? Iran has a
"humanitarian proposal" to solve the problem - a
referendum where Palestinians would choose their
own political destiny.
In the absence of
informed debate, Ahmadinejad stressed his points
the way he wanted to. Iran does not need a nuclear
bomb. Iran does not want to manufacture a nuclear
bomb. But telling other countries what they can
and cannot do is another matter entirely. He is
more than aware that the nuclear dossier is "a
political issue" - a question of "two or three
powers who think they can monopolize science and
knowledge". It's up to a sovereign Iran to decide
whether it needs nuclear fuel. "Why should we need
fuel from you? You don't even give us spare parts
for aircraft."
He also stressed that Iran
is a victim of terrorism - a reference to the
Mujahideen-e-Khalq, a micro-terrorist group by any
other name, formerly protected by Saddam, now
supported by the Bush administration; but he was
also referring to destabilizing black ops by US
special forces in the strategically crucial
provinces of Khuzestan and Balochistan.
Ahmadinejad was not questioned in detail
on internal repression, intimidation of
independent journalists, what his Interior
Ministry is up to, from a crackdown on women not
wearing the veil properly to more sinister,
unsubstantiated "collaboration with America"
charges. When executions were mentioned, he
quipped, "Don't you have capital punishment in the
US?" - and defended them on the ground that these
were drug smugglers.
Nobody questioned him
on his disastrous economic policies, on the
competence of his ministers, on an embryonic pact
between Iran and Saudi Arabia to prevent another
war in the Middle East, on the upcoming, pivotal
summit of the Caspian littoral states in Tehran
where Ahmadinejad, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei and President Vladimir Putin will discuss
what happens next - from technical aspects of
Iran's nuclear program to Bush's warmongering
impetus. Anyway, Ahmadinejad made it clear: Iran
is "ready to negotiate with all countries". The
same could not be said about the Bush White House.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would
have liked this UN General Assembly to discuss
seriously climate change and the looming water
wars. But nobody - not even diplomats - is really
paying attention. It's all about Bush against the
"new Hitler". Gaza is being collectively punished,
and Tony "invade Iraq" Blair bleats platitudes
about "peace". About 100,000 brave monks are in
the streets of Yangon defying Myanmar's military
junta - and the UN is not even listening ("Bring
democracy to the Burmese people," anyone?). It's
just war, war, war.
New Yorkers may have
shown the new "Hitler" a very ugly face, but at
least they should know the war remix's hard sell
is not dubbed in Farsi.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
