By Debbie Menon

Obama victory offers best chance in decades of direct Iran talks –AP report

I think this AP report reflects to some degree the height of fear and the depth of hopelessness to which eight years of the Bush Administration has driven the world and the American nation of people. We need to move beyond the fear mongering rhetoric.  

How many countries besides US/Israel has Ahmadinejad confronted verbally?

The only two who really matter and who might have the transnational clout to bring down the opprobrium of his own business people upon him.

This report, sounds like the meddling and peddling of fear and influence I had in mind when I wrote of the Dulles brothers and The United Fruit Company last week (read the article).

Iran, and the "Iranian" threat are, as we well know, a Bush/Cheney/Neocon inspired threat, a bogeyman created to provide "justification" for further illegal activity in pursuit of their hegemonistic goals in the Middle East, and in support of the Israeli agenda of a Eretz Israel, home, promised Land of the Mensch, from Great River to Great river.

Whatever actual threat Iran may actually pose to anyone today is undoubtedly magnified completely out of proportion to its reality and, is without doubt, the product and direct consequence of such fear mongering, aggressive accusations, provocation and saber-rattling on the part of the Bush/Cheney/Zionist/Neocon cabal.

So, an article like this which touts the bare possibility of hope for even the opening of a discussion with Iran, is a measure of how far we have been sunken in despair, that even the hope of a chance to see the light is greeted with the elation which we might expect when the lights actually come on.

Yes, Obama has indicated that he may open talks with Iran.  Whether this is pre-election campaign hype is yet to be seen when the door opens.

Even so, it is a far cry above and beyond anything we have heard from the Bush Administration who has steadfastly even refused to consider the possibility of a dialogue.  So far above and beyond, that even the reporting of "the possibility of dialogue," is received as if it has already been accomplished.

Talks are important.  We know that.  But, talk is still cheap and ineffective until we see what is said, what is agreed to, and the degree of sincerity with which those agreements, if any, are followed up; or whether they are merely used, as Israel uses such failed dialogues, as justification for even further persecution, invasion, abuse and criminal threat and attack on a powerless neighbor.

Rahm Emanuel's selection to be White House chief of staff is a very bad portend, for these reasons:

1. In the US system, the White House chief of staff is de facto a deputy president, the second most powerful person in the government, far more powerful than almost any Vice President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, or Cabinet secretary. As one put it, "In his new job, Mr. Emanuel will be at the epicenter of every major move the Obama administration makes." He is the last person a president sees, and the last person whose words he hears, before making any policy decision.
    

2. Emanuel is the son of an Irgun terrorist and a fanatical (some would be kind and say "strictly observant") Orthodox Jew,  who personally volunteered service with the IDF (not the US Army) during the first Gulf War, and habitually spends his free time in Tel Aviv, and whose father gave an interview following his appointment, in the Jerusalem Post in which he stated bluntly that his son "did not go to the White House to do the floors," (his phrase) will definitely encourage Obama to be strongly pro-Israeli. AIPAC in its published statements agrees. And they are both correct.
    
3. The Jewish neo-conservatives certainly have their major nest in the Republican Party. But the Democratic Party has always been the home of the large majority of Jews (up to 90% in some states register as Democrats), and therefore the home of most of their money. That is reflected in the Congress, where almost all of the Jewish members of the House and Senate are Democrats. Policy follows people and money, and they have definitely captured the high ground in the Obama administration-to-be, even more than in the Bush administration. About the only thing it will be difficult for them to push, is a new war, because the Democrats as a party have never gotten over the savaging their party took during and after Vietnam, and are not generally inclined to go to war without enormous provocation. So that may work to the benefit of (e.g.) Iran and Syria, but as for the Palestinians? Forget it, absolutely nothing will change.

Israel's fear of Iran is their fear of peace. Iran is a reservoir of resources and of self-confidence, which can be contagious.

The Israeli militarists hate and fear the possibility of peace. It means they will have territorial limits. It means they have to comply with law. It means they cannot do unlimited injustices to others. Hence the enmity towards Iran.

 
It never ceases to amaze me that Israelis seem not to understand their own self-interests in this.  Imagine the country and the region, if from 1948 the Israelis had placed justice and equality as their highest principle, instead of theft and racism.  It would now be a prosperous and harmonious region, from Syria, through Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, to Egypt.  A kind of Mediterranean California, with high-tech, big banks, and rich agriculture.

Hope is like credit...I suggest that we not spend too much of it until the check has arrived and cleared the bank, and we can deal with it as a fait accompli.  Let us see what actually is said when, and if they ever do, "sit at a table and talk." 

Until then, it is remains a mere tragic-comedy production which sells newspapers and TV advertising time. 

And, that is all it is!

We should also bear in mind that any Iranian response to any proposals or actions on the part of the US and its ME Satellite Israel, will be fuelled by and also incorporate their reaction to 54 years of oppressive subjugation and domination by a US supported Pahlavi dynasty exploitation and hundreds of betrayals and failed promises, on the part of the government of the United States. 

They have been taught distrust at the hand of the Master Deceiver, who approaches them to negotiate in the interests of an ancient and arch enemy, of one who sits, thinly veiled, as his guiding counselor and advisor.

About the author: Debbie Menon is an independent writer. She can be reached at debbiemenon@gmail.com.

... Payvand News - 11/17/08 ...

Bookmark/Share this post with:
Delicious | Digg | Facebook | Furl | Google | Magnolia | Newsvine | Reddit | Yahoo