By Hassan Hanizadeh
Europe’s failure to win the confidence of the Iranian nation as well as the dubious attitude of the old continent to international political issues, particularly Iran’s nuclear dossier, compels Eastern countries to review their political relations with the European Union.
| Iran was, of course, under no obligation to win the confidence of Europe... |
Over the past four years since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the U.S. adopted a security attitude toward every single global issue. As a result, the world has experienced more tension than at any time in recent history, with horrific massacres in the Middle East and the West. The bombings in Britain and Spain, the rise in tension in occupied Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and various other terrorist attacks are all the result of the U.S. security attitude in the Middle East.
| Either that, or they're a vindication of the American position. It's our opinion that worse would have happened if we had not taken a "security attitude" toward global issues. Europe hasn't, and it's been Europe that's been boomed lately, Europe where there have been ricin plots, and Europe where Islamic heroes have been slaughtering people in the streets. |
Unfortunately, Old Europe, to borrow a phrase from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, has now truly become a tired and old continent. It has failed to formulate a specific strategy to respond to global crises and receives its orders from the other side of the Atlantic.
| Not that we've noticed from over here on the other side of the Atlantic. In fact, Europe's determination to take a contrarian attitude toward security affairs has been a sore point. |
The European Union’s blind acceptance of the U.S. security policies indicates that the EU has lost its ability to solve problems in the Middle East and is in the last years of its political life.
| First, there's been no blind acceptance. Second, Europe's approach to "solving problems" in the Middle East has resulted in the current stagnation and prevalent autocracies. |
Europe was once a major player in the Middle East during both the first and second world wars and never allowed the United States to interfere in important political issues, since it regarded the U.S. as a young, inexperienced country with no understanding of the subtleties of geostrategy.
| With the exception of Britain, there's no country in Europe that has the same continuity of government as the U.S., and precious few in the world. |
Until the international conferences of the 1940s, Europe used to make major political decisions without U.S. meddling. However, the international situation has changed, and now the United States makes global decisions unilaterally, while the European Union is only a tool for the implementation of U.S. policies. French President Jacques Chirac’s recent threat to refer Iran’s nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council is further proof of this fact.
| Counting on him not to do it, were you?Musta been a disappointment. |
Under pressure from both French Zionists and the international Zionist lobby, Chirac is neglecting the interests of France and Europe and only trying to mollify the United States and the Zionist regime.
| Do you get the impression the writer's wearing a set of blinders, like a draft horse? |
Iran and France, which have had political and cultural relations for centuries, are now drifting apart because the current French government seems to be unable to make its own decisions anymore.
| At least unable to make its down decisions to Iran's liking... |
Undoubtedly, if France, Germany, and Britain made use of all their abilities to help resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, they could regain their lost political influence in the Middle East. During the past two years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has focused all its efforts on proving its good faith and on gaining the world’s confidence about its nuclear program, but the ever increasing U.S. influence on the decisions of the EU big three has politicized the issue.
| Dear Gawd! International politix politicized? That's never happened before... |
Eastern nations, and particularly Muslim nations, will certainly never forget the EU’s unfair attitude toward Iran’s nuclear dossier. This will lead to Europe’s political isolation in the Middle East. Iran has now begun implementing its new policy wit the goal of finding new influential friends in the world and this new policy will certainly lead to the formation of a new regional and global bloc which can break the monopoly of the U.S. and the EU. Although Iran’s principled policy, which seeks to peacefully resolve the dispute over its nuclear program, does not challenge the EU, it is a new attitude which can be regarded as a political victory for Iran and a political failure for Europe.
| It can also be regarded as a delusion on Iran's part that it's a great power, rather than a cultural backwater with an attitude... |
This new attitude will certainly serve as a political model for other developing countries, particularly Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) states and OPEC members, and will enable them to make decisions without EU or U.S. meddling. Ironically, Rumsfeld’s remarks about Europe being an old continent are coming true due to Europe’s wrong decisions. |