I wanted to begin this blog by discussing how effective US propaganda is in rallying public opinion against certain countries. In this case, I am focusing on Iran, which ofcourse, was one of Bush’s ‘axis of evil’ countries, the other two being Iraq and North Korea. In the US, where most of this propaganda against ‘rogue’ states is generated, there is a general consensus among the mainstream parties that the US presence in the Middle East is a good thing. It is the public that is moving away from US involvement in Iraq and in Afghanistan, as atrocities via airpower are killing civilians there daily, and soldiers are dying in daily attacks. However the US administration has convinced European countries and the general public in the US that Sanctions on Iran should be invoked because it is pursing nuclear weaponry. The first problem here is that historical context is taken out of the picture. There is no background information to judge current situations, so whatever is said now is all that is important..a key element of successful propaganda. But the past is as important as the present. Context is everything.
First a few facts: 1) Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as far back as 1968. It has been a member ever since. 2) Iran has the right to pursue nuclear research in the goal of using nuclear power for peaceful energy production. It can leave the NPT, giving 3 months notices, and with two US Occupations on both sides of its borders in Iraq and Afghanistan, it would appear that it may want to leave the NPT because of military pressures on it, but Iran has not left the NPT. 3) Iran is no stranger to nuclear research, since the US signed cooperation deals with the Shah of Iran under the Atoms for Peace program, going back to the fifties, and 4) India, Pakistan and Israel are nuclear weapons states that never signed the NPT, and finally, 5)unlike other countries, including Israel, Iran has not invaded another country.
You see the problem, in reference to point 4 above? The three countries that never signed the NPT above are the countries whose nuclear weapons programs are left alone…India has an estimated 100 weapons, Pakistan with 80, and Israel with somewhere between 200-400 nuclear weapons, whether warheads or individual systems is unknown. So..what deals were made with these nations in order to leave their programs alone? This can be covered later. But the point here is that without historical context, without more detailed information about a country, about past relations with that country, or without looking at how politics affects international regimes like the NPT, we can’t make good judgements about what’s going on in the present. So, what we’re left with is internalizing propaganda.
Obama says he wants to start a new dialogue with the Middle East, as he wants to do with Latin America. But is that for our consumption..the feel-good factor, or because he means it? I think it’s for our consumption, to ease us into false hopes that he is really open to listening to others and making real changes in US policy towards the world community… Meanwhile, the US prepares for further militarization. Notice that Iran is another major oil-producing country and that US sanctions against it are based on hurting its petroleum sector. It’s the oil again.
