By Ramin Mazaheri cross-posted by special agreement with Press-TV
(Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for Press TV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. He is the author of “I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China”.)
The Western world has an unusual way of practicing diplomacy, and this was aptly summed up recently by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani:
“You sanction the foreign minister simultaneously with a request for talks,” he said, referring to Washington sanctions on Mohammad Javad Zarif.
“The White House is afflicted by mental disability and does not know what to do,” Rouhani continued.
Well, that might be an exaggeration – I’m not a doctor.
However, if it is true, then it’s clear that the governments of England and France suffer from the same affliction.
But before getting to that, we are forced to clear up the latest example of Western Mainstream Media propaganda designed to portray Iran as troglodytic savages: it has been falsely reported that Rouhani used the phrase “mentally retarded”.
This is a phrase which is no longer in vogue in the Anglophone world, though it was for many decades – it is now considered insensitive. The goal of the false translation is obvious: to portray Iran’s leadership as cruel and – in something so very, very important to the neo-imperialist, Islamophobic, warmongering West – “insensitive”. The West is fine with war, death and blockades, but nobody can come back from “insensitive” in the 21st century!
Firstly, “Political Correctness” is a fine, modern lens to view things through… but it is not the apex of political enlightenment and engagement. There should be much more anger over the disabled Iranians (and the disabled Koreans, Venezuelans, Cubans, etc.) who are victimised by Western sanctions on even humanitarian goods like medicine than over anyone’s failure to use “disabled” instead of “retarded”.
Countless Iranians have taken to Twitter and social media to testify that Rouhani did not use the word “retarded”, but the false claim will likely live on in manufactured infamy.
This is not the first time the Western media has done this – all Iranians know that the turmoil over Ahmadinejad’s alleged claim to “wipe Israel off the map” was another untrue, malicious translation created and avidly relayed by Iranophobic Western mainstream media. Retractions, not even tiny ones, are never forthcoming.
Whatever you call it – and I always give senior citizens leeway on not using the constantly-updating PC language – Rouhani’s exasperation was clearly justified.
On June 23 the UK Minister for the Middle East at the Foreign Office, Andrew Murrison, held talks in Tehran. He declared his mission was to call for “urgent de-escalation“. The Foreign Office declared, “…this visit is an opportunity for further open, frank and constructive engagement with the government of Iran.”
However, the very next day Jeremy Hunt, the leader of the Foreign Office and Murrison’s boss, fuelled speculation of imminent bloodshed by saying the UK would consider Washington’s requests for military support for war on Iran.
I imagine that the Iranian civil servants who had just played host to Murrison wondered: why did they waste our time? They likely threw their work into the garbage. Indeed, ever since the JCPOA has been signed there is a widespread feeling that Western diplomats are just “wasting Iran’s time”, and not implementing any of the actions they promised.
Does not Murrison get his orders from Hunt? How can the UK and Iran have “constructive engagement” when diplomatic efforts are torpedoed from above less than 24 hours after they occurred?
However, the next day Hunt walked back his comments, no doubt forcing many Iranian diplomats to rifle through their wastebasket! There is certainly evidence of instability, if not disability, at the UK Foreign Office.
The French, however, are exceptional diplomats. They likely watch the uncoordinated, tactless US and UK and roll their eyes. But the reality is that France exemplifies the same schizophrenia as their nuclear-armed allies.
Paris continues to do what they always do when it comes to the JCPOA – tell the truth, and then… do nothing to right the wrongs being committed against the rule of law and Iran. An anonymous leak to CNN from France’s defense department this week saying that there is “no signal the US is interested in dialogue” with Iran may be a subtle (and unaccountable) form of diplomacy, but subtlety is not always appropriate. Diplomacy is not a pose – it has life and death consequences, and Iranians are exasperated over the endless nothing which is the French-led special purpose vehicle INSTEX to finally enable trade.
These three nations have many things in common – neo-imperialism serving as their guide to foreign policy, current leaders who are devoted to the most right–wing form of economics (neoliberal capitalism), secret police which are given unparalleled invasiveness, massive military budgets which eagerly sell war to the highest (or any) bidder, an omnipresent yet detested mainstream media – but most of these are their own domestic issues.
The thing they have in common which affects Iranians, however, is that the leaders of these three governments are exceptionally notable in the way they are seemingly immune from incorporating democratic public opinion into their public policy.
A poll this week showed that just 5% of Americans want Washington to declare war on Iran… and yet the top leaders of their executive and legislative branches are uniformly and rabidly anti-Iranian. Certainly, 5% is a laughable figure in any democracy, and I imagine a poll in the US would also find 5% of respondents wanting Washington to declare war on France!
In France, public opinion is being violently repressed by police in a manner unseen anywhere in the 21st century. There has been seven months of guaranteed weekly state violence against the Yellow Vests, prison terms for several thousand anti-government protesters, and the total rejection of any of the Yellow Vests thoroughly un-radical demands.
Three years ago this week the UK had a democratic vote about staying in the European Union – they voted to exit. That decision has not been honored, and who knows if it ever will? Certainly, the UK’s 1% and upper-middle class want to remain – will they orchestrate a 2nd vote to do so? That would be a flagrant violation of democracy, because public opinion was already polled – will there be a 3rd vote if Remainers lose again? Why not a 4th or a 5th, then?
These are all issues which Iranians cannot resolve for Americans, the French or the British, of course. However, there is no lack of evidence that at their highest levels of civil service, these nations are incredibly dysfunctional.
The problem this poses to the world is that – due to the compound debt-accruing legacy of imperialism – these nations remain incredibly powerful. Their elite can wage murderous sanctions for decades on places like Iran, Cuba, Korea, as they did in the past on nations like China, the USSR and many others.
However, everyone knows – both inside Iran and outside – that the peoples of the US, France and the UK want genuine, lasting diplomacy with Iran. War with Iran will only create hardship and danger for them.
Iran has made massive, repeatedly-verified efforts to create peace, but where are the genuine diplomats in the West? “Dysfunctional”, “disabled”, “retarded” – the label is not as important as what is inside the jar!
If they continue to produce such poor top politicians, these nations need to consider that their systems are corrupted to the point of being incapable of preserving the welfare of its own citizens.
What worries Iran is that it might even get worse in the West! Indeed, a world with a “US leader worse than Trump”, or “France with a more Jupiterian president than Macron”, or “the UK preparing for its 9th Brexit vote”, is going to be a very dangerous world indeed.
That’s a diplomatic certainty which cannot be lost in translation.
This “mental disability” of the Western elite is part of the decline of the Western civilization due to the accelerated corruption in every aspect of this civilization (politically, socially, psychologically, economically, culturally, spiritually, etc.), with its main pillar being the global economic monetary system they setup in the first place.
It is a natural outcome of this corruption, and if you read history, you will see it has happened before.
The real question is where will this all lead to ? …..A gradual decline ?…. A sudden collapse of the economic system ?….A nuclear war ?
“A mans mental capacity is in proportion to the amount you pay him to parrot what you want to hear”, its fairly clear if you want to be in Western Politic’s, you must quack like a duck, and take orders from PM of Israel, even recently Trump reminded USA citizens(AIPAC) that the PM of Israel, was everybody’s PM, including the people of USA.
Not really a mental problem here, more of the BraveNewWorld model of alpha,beta, and gamma. The alpha’s course are in NYC/TEL-AVIV, and the beta’s are these politicians, and the gamma of course are fed opiates and pot, and don’t have a clue, nor do they care about anything other than Kardashian, or funding a sex-change.
I’m assuming that this site (‘thesaker’) is not really of the USA, or its colonys ( japan, taiwan, …), therefore people outside of Israel Control are not aware of the Indian like layers of western society, at least the lower level Indian that cleans a toilet is well aware of the elite who only shit in a toilet, but in the west, most people have never seen an elite, they may as well be an alien ( maybe that’s why conspiracy bs calls them greys? ), the gamma in say USA only see the BETA, and the beta only talk feel-good shit; Even Barrons doesn’t mention the true rich the Trillionaires, they simply don’t exist, only the lowly billionaire goy are discussed.
None of this is a mental problem, its not much different than missionary’s long ago traveling to the new-world and spreading the good-news, the natives either bit the bait, or they didn’t. Today in the West, because children are fed ‘shit’ on TV since birth, and now FB, the paradigm is locked in solid, hence majority of adolescent children take selfies of their genitals, which of course you have to imagine is by design by Tel-Aviv rulers, as selecting the best goy for sex, goes back to Michael Jacksons “Neverland”, who visited LA public schools and would invite the most attractive children back to Neverland. Now predators can just get live data from FB, or Instagram to select target, and pass their request on to the “Finders” (1950’s CIA Snatch OP), who can deliver, not unlike the Jesuits of past.
IMHO its all going to go down, for the simple reason that historically it doesn’t work in the long term, just like Putin saying “I will NOT tolerate the education children to be homosexuals”, that alone brings him the wrath of Tel-Aviv, but its guys like Putin that take a stand, and I think the majority of Russians know the score.
Get back to the Deagle Report, by 2025 USA to have a population of 70M, thats at 80% reduction from today, where do they go? Well according to Deagle ( Rockefeller Foundation 1950s’ ) the young migrate to jobs in Asia, and the old die of starvation, because the pension system collapses. Asia like Russia is NOT subject to the western bullshit, but lets go ahead and call it INSANITY, but it was a good ride while it lasted, it died with Hillary Clinton, and dTrumpf is their last hope. Next election say USA will be the greatest flow of wealth exiting this country has ever seen, and it will most likely be by Bitcoin or something similar that can’t be physically stolen by GOV.
In summary leave early, just like Nazi Germany, Jews who waited post 1938, didn’t find a new home, it will be the same in the future of USA, country’s have to put a cap on immigrants, which is already happening now, but soon it will be wealthy whites trying to escape. Even now in SE-ASIA its much harder to get a resident visa, than it used to be, and everywhere is much the same, most places are like Japan, and its in their interest not to destroy their homogeneity. Sure if you have money, and learn to speak the language, and can live the culture, then no problem you can live anywhere, sadly most Western people are too lazy to learn languages, or to adopt to new cultures.
The unavoidable problem with democracy is the need to deceive the citizens so that immoral and illegal actions that benefit none but the rulers, can be carried out.
This blissfully obvious fact is all you need to know. Except that it helps to remember that these people at the top are not honorable and trustworthy even among themselves. There are factions, and shifting alliances. Thus, there are multiple deceptive narratives.
Maintaining all these fictional narratives will make you act crazy, and will likely make you crazy. Keep in mind that even high level agents are not privy to the “real” story. So, the intelligent realize they are acting out a lie, but they cannot know the real truth.
Finally the realization dawns that there isn’t any truth in the international political arena. So, “to hell with it!” Grab everything you can and devil take the hindmost.
Everyone with any moral decency and intelligence was long purged from Austfailian public life. A number of filters have been erected over the years through which one must pass, or else. You MUST love our ‘Great and Powerful Friends’ in Washington-no questions asked. That would be ‘anti-Americanism’ and you’re out.
You MUST worship and adore Israel and the wonderful Jewish people, ALL OF THEM, every single one. This is a biggie, and concomitant with it you must hate the Palestinians, who are, every last one, ‘terrorists’. Complaining of a terror-bombing campaign against Gaza has ended careers in the media.
You must worship the glorious Free Market and neoliberal capitalism, which are infallible, so-called evidence to the contrary be damned. You must call union leaders ‘Bosses’ and the beloved business chiefs ‘leaders’. It goes on for quite a long while. Last, but most important these days, you must hate the Chinese ‘regime’ while taking their money, of course. To compare them to the Nazis is becoming de rigeur and of course, Tibet, ‘East Turkestan’, Inner Mongolia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the rest will one day be FREE, and we in the West know best what is good for the Chinese. Once you pass the political and media elites through these filters, you are left with a truly despicable, undifferentiated, brain dead, grey goo. Behold the Masters of the Universe in all their glory!
MM
What you say about oz political corruption also essentially applies to pindo political corruption. In spades…
ALL the West, without exception, only matters of degree.
Similar selection rules apply to germany. Mainstream politicians are firmly on usa’s globalist payroll.Same goes for the media.
Across all mainstream political parties if a bigger politicion fails he gets sent to the us for “repair” and goes back to the job.
Take von Guttenberg from the CDU or Cem Oezdemir from the greens.
The only party disturbing that model is the afd, a new party with a lot of professors and phd’s that tries to make fact-based decisions.
Those guys actually read what they vote for and are smeared and attscked in all possible ways by the mainstream.
Basically…..yes. Lots of good intentions at very local levels such as towns and councils in UK ….but thereafter the more these peopke become subsumed ny national politics….the worse it gets.
Thats b/c its been proved that politics and politicians are nothing more than the infinite study of human denial.
“That would be a flagrant violation of democracy”.
The French were forced into the EU by the Lisbon treaty in 2007, ratified by their parlement, after they voted against the EU Constitution in 2005. Now the Brits are prevented from leaving it. “Democracy” is not the proper definition for the Western representative political systems. As early as 1918, in his book ‘The Decline of the West’, Oswald Spengler defined “democracy” as the weapon of Money. Isn’t it time in 2019 to start defining the words we use accurately, lest we will never understand why, by voting one side or the other, the interests of the people are never taken into account.
Regarding the UK, Brexit has already felled two Prime Ministers (with the next Tory leader likely to be the third in short order).
And although the French lead the world in citizens action, the last time it came to Gilets Jaunes-style protests in UK – the Poll Tax riots in the late 80s – it also led to the end of the PM.
The current intransigence is only building appetite for genuine constitutional reform.
So, watch this space.
While I love Sprengler, he did write these books in 1917, well before hard-core establishment of FedRes(USA), and Israel post 1949. Today “Democracy” is defined as a colony controlled by Israel (AIPAC,ADL,JDL,SPLC,…Sheldon-Adelson), but lets not forget that modern Israel lobbyists are 1950’s Mafia, think Cuba pre-revolution, or later Las Vegas, now Macau ( Sheldon Adelson, who funds dTrumpf ). The main biz model is get the goy into debt, and turn their children into prostitutes.
So Democracy is a Kleptocracy, e.g. a government ran by common criminals, of course dTrumps wall is to contain the tax-cows aka goy, but its essential per “Brave New World”, that the goy not even know they live in a prison, but then history tells us that both Austrailia & USA began as prison colony’s which is why I prefer to call both “Failed prison colonys”.