Are the Western powers now the "revolutionaries"?

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jan 13, 2018 at 02:43

Before listening to this audio, let me paste an excerpt from President Trump's statement concerning certification of Iranian compliance with the "deal" on nuclear weapons:

"And crucially, we are calling on all nations to lend similar support to the Iranian people, who are suffering under a regime that is stifling basic freedoms and denying its citizens the opportunity to build better lives for their families—an opportunity that is every human being's God-given right."

For a US President to say this sort of thing, and it seems every president since Ford has either spoken or practiced these Ideas, is a departure from hundreds of years of world order and a violation of the UN charter. According to that charter, saying that the UN

"invites all states to reject any support for or encouragement of any form of intervention or interference in the internal or external affairs of sates for any reason whatsoever and to refuse recognition of situations brought about by the threat or use of force"

Until President Carter took office, American dealings with foreign countries was 9so far as we admitted0 strictly on the basis of treaties and obligations between us and them; it had nothing to do with the internal workings of those countries. We supported the dictatorship in South Vietnam, for instance, regardless of the fact that SVN was flaky on human rights and, in fact, ruled by the Roman Catholic minority. This might turn liberal heads nowadays, but it is the way nations have dealt with one another for hundreds of years; and these principles were enshrined in the UN Charter. When our CIA secretly led to the assasination of the unpopular ruler, and engineered his overthrow, our involvement was kept secret.

Under President Carter, the US began gauging its support of foreign governments on the basis of "human rights". Under this new policy, we found ourselves supporting the overthrow of former friends, like South Africa and Rhodesia; and our CIA became involved in a kaleidescope of changing relations. We supported workers' uprisings in Poland, and created Jihadist groups like Al Qaeda, and subversive groups such as the Contras, to overthrow governments of UN members.

In the late 90s, under President Clinton, we blatantly violated the sovereignty of Yugoslavia -- first in Croatia, then in Bosnia, then in Kosovo -- without seeking UN authorization. Ditto in Libya, where our actions led to the lynching of the President. These are things we used to do in secret; but now we were doing them openly, as a part of official policy During the Vietnam War, the Russians and Chinese backed "revolutionaries" as part of their official Communist doctrine; and the US stood adamantly against such activity. Beginning with Carter, though, we have been backing so-called revolutionaries, openly, as part of our doctrine.

Now, let me hear what Dr. Pipes and Mr. Gaffney said...

I don't disagree with anything that was said there. I expected the audio would be more on the topic of aiding the Iranian rebels, for them to get what Trump called their "God-given right". Neither of the speakers went there.

Dr. Pipes noted how "rickety" the Iranian regime is. My comment is that rickety or not, totalitarianism is on the rise in the main countries of the world: China, Russia, Turkey, the Philippines, North Korea, many Afreican states and Venezuela are examples. Those countries represent half of humanity. I don't expect them to yield, one after the other, to a tide of democracy. With or without American support, I expect totalitarianism to continue to rise, then come to a thremonuclear climax.

Some might call my outlook "pessimistic". I don't Because human nature is the way it is, ironically, peace is more wicked and dangerous than war, as odd as that might seem. During WWI, Germany and the other major powers suffered tremendous casualties and destruction; but it was during peacetime that Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler came to power. It was while the streetcars were running and the factories were humming, that the stage was set for the holocaust, and that millions died of famine in the Soviet Union. We are certainly headed toward a disastrous world war; but without that war, we are actually headed for something far worse.

I think it"s futile, to get all worked up about what is happening in Iran. Something will certainly happen there, and I expect the Ayatollah will probably fall. Then I expect Turkey's Erdogan to replace him as the region's top troublemaker. That will not necessarily be a "better" situation, but it's what I expect to happen.

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