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Page added on November 7, 2014
On Iran Policy, America Is Not ‘the World’
Sometimes it’s the little things that say a lot. And when PBS NewsHour anchor Gwen Ifill and correspondent Margaret Warner (11/5/14) were discussing various consequences of the midterm elections, this part caught my ear:
IFILL: OK, second area, hot spot, Iran, where there’s been long ongoing discussion about sanctions and that coming to a head as well.
WARNER: Absolutely, November 24. Secretary Kerry and his Iranian counterpart have been working for nearly a year now. November 24 is the deadline to come up with a deal that would restrict Iran’s nuclear program, persuade the world it wasn’t going to get weapons, in return for lifting sanctions.
There is not a disagreement between Iran and “the world.” A small number of countries–the United States being the most powerful one–have made a variety of claims for the past several years about Iran possibly concealing a weapons program. There is no public evidence to support the most extreme accusation, but it doesn’t seem to matter; Iran is under stiff sanctions, and US lawmakers want to hit them even harder.
The actual “world”–if you think the word means most of the people living on the planet, or at least the governments that represent them–has a very different view of the nuclear negotiations. They support Iran’s right to enrich uranium.
This is reminiscent of the time NBC‘s David Gregory declared (FAIR Blog, 7/14/14) that Iran’s enrichment program was an issue that unites the world:
The international community is divided about a lot of things. They’re actually not divided about one thing. They think Iran is up to no good and wants to build a nuclear weapon.
His guest, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, tried to clarify: “It’s not the international community. It’s a few countries that have concerns.”
Or last year, when PBS reporter Ray Suarez remarked (FAIR Blog, 10/18/13) remarked that the “rest of the world” was sending a message to Iraq that we “don’t want you to enrich” uranium.
As FAIR noted then:
The Non-Aligned Movement–an organization representing 120 countries and more than half the world’s population–has consistently backed Iran’s right to enrich uranium for a civilian nuclear program (Antiwar.com, 8/31/12).
It’s a small but revealing glimpse at elite media’s worldview when it comes to US foreign policy: The “world” is what we make it.
9 Comments on "On Iran Policy, America Is Not ‘the World’"
Plantagenet on Fri, 7th Nov 2014 7:09 pm
Why would anyone support the Islamic Republic’s right to enrich Uranium and move towards nuclear weapons? The US is already at war with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria—-surely we don’t want to drop the ball and allow the Islamic Republic to become a nuclear power at the exact same moment we are battling the Islamic State?
GregT on Fri, 7th Nov 2014 8:28 pm
Plant,
The ‘Islamic State’ is a result of US destabilization in the Middle East, and US support for the FSA in an attempt to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria. The latest boogeyman to keep the never ending ‘War on Terror’ alive.
Let Iran develop nuclear weapons, she has a right to defend herself. A nuclear Iran is not a threat to the world. If she ever used nukes pre-emptively she would be vaporized in minutes, and Iran knows this.
Nothing more than the bankster’s desire to take over the Iranian Central Bank.
Norm on Fri, 7th Nov 2014 9:09 pm
I think Plant is right. Somebody explain to me, why you would want an ISIS with nukular capability?
GregT on Fri, 7th Nov 2014 9:17 pm
Somebody explain to ME, why the US continues to take out ‘dictators’ that have kept radical Islamic fundamentalists at bay.
Makati1 on Fri, 7th Nov 2014 11:25 pm
GregT, you are correct. Iran has as much of a right to nukes as any of the current nuke countries. But it is the ability to block the US Empires grab of resources and central banking in Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea, that is the real reason for the Wars of Chaos that the US is igniting all over the world.
henriksson on Sat, 8th Nov 2014 8:16 am
Er, where was ISIS mentioned, Norm?
JuanP on Sat, 8th Nov 2014 12:04 pm
I support the right of Iran to enrich Uranium. I believe the vast majority of people in most places of the world do. As far as I know only a handful of Western governments and Israel want to deny Iran its legal right to enrich Uranium.
The international law is indisputably clear in this matter. Iran has the legal right to enrich all the Uranium it wants.
Davy on Sat, 8th Nov 2014 12:28 pm
Juan, sure, but do we really need more Nuk waste and melt down potential in this world? This is especially true in a region so volatile.
JuanP on Sat, 8th Nov 2014 12:37 pm
Davy, I am afraid of what will happen with the hundreds of nuclear reactors in the world. We have sucked at retiring them and their used fuel and other radioactive waste on a global scale. This will not end well. While I am against nuclear energy in principle, in practice I am for it. This is a matter of equal rights between countries and international law from my perpective.