How is this an American problem? How is the Biden administration guilty of ignoring and giving legitimacy to the Iranian regime? Asks the writer of this post. We can set aside and forget that the U.S. played a hand in deposing the Shah. But we should not forget what life was like previously, especially for women. They want that life back.
Iran 1970s Photos Before Revolution
Mustang gives us his thoughts:
Writer Majid Rafizadeh recently opined that the Biden Administration’s inaction gives legitimacy to Iran’s brutality. He bases his concerns on an Oslo-based non-governmental organization (NGO) calling itself Iran Human Rights. The NGO claims that in a recent round of anti-government protests, 326 people have died and 15,000 others have been arrested — and executions have already begun.
People run for cover as Iranian police open fire during protest at Tehran metro station 5 days ago.
Yesterday reported:
Iran protesters set fire to Khomeini’s ancestral home
Footage circulating on social media appears to show a fire raging at the ancestral home of the late founder of the Islamic republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, with activists saying it was torched by protesters.
Rafizadeh quotes Churchill in his piece, “I never worry about action, but only about inaction.”
Well, okay. I am sitting in my living room and wondering, what am I supposed to do about these abuses in a faraway land? I’ve been over to the United Nations website to see what they say about human rights abuses, and I came across a 72-page booklet of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — which is far too much for a journal post, so let me break it down just a bit.
In 2015, Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, penned the following as an introduction to this 72-page booklet.
“In perhaps the most resonant and beautiful words of any international agreement, “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” The commitments made by all States in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are in themselves a mighty achievement, discrediting the tyranny, discrimination, and contempt for human beings that have marked human history.
“The Universal Declaration promises all the economic, social, political, cultural, and civic rights that underpin a life free from want and fear. They are not a reward for good behaviour. They are not country-specific or particular to a certain era or social group. They are the inalienable entitlements of all people, at all times, and in all places — people of every colour, from every race and ethnic group; whether or not they are disabled; citizens or migrants; no matter their sex, their class, their caste, their creed, their age, or sexual orientation.
“Human rights abuses did not end when the Universal Declaration was adopted. But since then, countless people have gained greater freedom. Violations have been prevented; independence and autonomy have been attained. Many people – though not all – have been able to secure freedom from torture, unjustified imprisonment, summary execution, enforced disappearance, persecution, and unjust discrimination, as well as fair access to education, economic opportunities, and adequate resources and health-care. They have obtained justice for wrongs, and national and international protection for their rights, through the strong architecture of the international human rights legal system.
“The power of the Universal Declaration is the power of ideas to change the world. It inspires us to continue working to ensure that all people can gain freedom, equality, and dignity. One vital aspect of this task is to empower people to demand what should be guaranteed: their human rights. This booklet constitutes a modest but significant contribution to that work.”
Let’s assume that the Oslo-based NGO has offered us a truthful view of human rights abuses in Iran. Let us assume that reports of nearly 400 people murdered by the government and another 15,000 incarcerated are entirely unembellished. How is this an American problem? How is the Biden administration guilty of ignoring and giving legitimacy to the Iranian regime?
So, is this problem an American/Biden Administration issue, or is this a problem that falls under the purview of the United Nations?
The United Nations peace-keeping budget for 2022-23 is $6.5 billion. The amount was allocated to ten peace-keeping missions, one support operation, three logistics bases, and one somewhat large headquarters element. The allocation amounts to an increase of $74 million over the previous fiscal year.
What would Mr. Rafizadeh have Mr. Biden (or the American taxpayer) do? What does the Oslo-based human rights organization prefer? Shall we, for example, invade Iran? When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, the justification for that invasion included concerns about Saddam Hussein’s oppressive treatment of his people — mass murder of an unbelievable scale. We were told in 2003, as many as 10,000 Iraqis were. During U.S. military operations ending in 2011, more than 207,000 Iraqi civilians were killed by armed violence.
I would ask — how brutal was that?
During the long and short of it, there aren’t many options for any country. As we’ve all seen over the past 40 years, economic sanctions promote American objectives more than international goals — and don’t work. While initially agreeing to support U.S. (or U.N.) economic sanctions, the international community finds ways to violate those sanctions over time when it is in their economic interests to do so. In the end, evil regimes aren’t squeezed into civilized behavior or made to stop genocide, avoid armed violence genocide, or limit the importation of lethal armaments.
Mr. Rafizadeh may be correct about the Biden administration — imposing so many sanctions worldwide, only to be laughed at by almost everyone and then not seeing any positive result. But Mr. Rafizadeh is wrong to assume this business in Iran is an American problem.
Maybe it would be best if John Kerry and his family were not in bed with “the enemy,” and perhaps it would be better if the American people had a lucid president — but in any event, there is nothing anyone can do about the genocide in Iran. Nothing that works, in any case — and I certainly could not justify even more pain and suffering while trying to save the people.
But if anyone was going to stop it, then shouldn’t that burden fall upon the United Nations? Isn’t that what Mr. Al-Hassan promised? I don’t question any of the information provided by the Oslo-Human Rights Group. I also don’t doubt Mr. Rafizadeh’s outrage. I only ask why he is not demanding that the United Nations do its job.
Mustang has blogs called Fix Bayonets and Thoughts From Afar
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