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 21^st 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

Source: L & H Mehdi" <hl_mehdi@hotmail.com>