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polly7

(20,582 posts)
Fri Apr 12, 2013, 02:14 PM Apr 2013

Iranians Have Memories Too

Last edited Thu Jan 15, 2015, 02:19 PM - Edit history (1)

By Ted Snider

Thursday, April 11, 2013

In 1988, Iran acquired 23 kilograms of enriched uranium for medical isotopes used in the imaging and treating of cancer. Those 23 kilograms are now nearly used up. But when Iran went to the International Atomic Energy Association to request help in purchasing a new batch of 19.5% enriched uranium so she could keep her hospitals functioning, which, as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, she has every legal right to do, the U.S. and Europe prevented her from making the legal purchase. With that avenue blocked, Iran then, on a number of occasions, agreed to a nuclear swap in which she would send her 3.5% enriched uranium out of the country to be enriched into fuel rods for the medical reactor and sent back to Iran. Most recently, when Brazil and Turkey brokered a uranium swap deal, Iran agreed, but the U.S. and her allies not only ignored it, but reprimanded meddlesome Brazil and Turkey and pushed ahead, instead, with more sanctions on Iran.

This isolation and abandonment by the international community, which left Iran with no option but to enrich her own 19.5% uranium, must be a terrifying reminder of the dangers of international abandonment. In 1982, when the Iraqis, who had invaded Iran, began using chemical weapons, Iran went to the Security Council begging for help. But help never came. Fact-finding mission after fact-finding mission confirmed Iraq’s use of chemical weapons, but, for several years, the Security Council left Iranians to die. And 10,000 of them did. As many as 90,000 more soldiers and civilians were victims of chemical attacks that America and the world knew about.

So when the international community abandons Iran in her legal quest for medical isotopes to treat cancer patients in her hospitals, it may be a discreet, unemotional event in the west. But Iranians remember what happens when the international community leaves you on your own, and they have learned to be self sufficient. Hence, the--from their perspective--historically learned and rational decision to enrich their own.


Since North Americans see the current set of negotiations as the only set of negotiations, existing discreetly without historical context, they do not recognize the pattern or, therefore, the conclusion. For Iranians, who may see the current set of negotiations, not as historical creationists, but as people with a historical memory, because it is their history they are remembering, recognizing the historical pattern may just lead them to the same conclusion arrived at by the former head of the IAEA: that, as was the case for Mossadeq, the intent of deception and impossibility in negotiations is not, as with international abandonment, foreign support for internal attacks, sanctions and being portrayed as irrational, an agreement with the Iranian regime, but a replacement of the Iranian regime.


Full Article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/iranians-have-memories-too-by-ted-snider/
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Aristus

(66,096 posts)
2. Yet another of many, many examples of the way we make enemies of countries
Fri Apr 12, 2013, 03:24 PM
Apr 2013

we should be cultivating as allies. If the CIA hadn't engineered a coup against Iran's democratically elected leader in 1951 and replaced him with Shah Palavi, Iran would still be a friend and ally of the US to this day, and the Islamic Revolution would never have happened.

Iran is a potential ally we desperately need right now. The people are highly cosmopolitan, despite the stereotype of wild-eyed revolutionaries, and highly educated. The young people, at least, are strongly pro-Western and pro-US. Except for the ayatollahs, most of the people want renewed relations with the US.

People are always talking about how we need a strong Islamic ally in the Middle East. Iran is it; or should be.

But we've spent so long demonizing them, and B*sh with his stupid fucking "Axis Of Evil" bullshit, that it's hard to see why we need them as much as they need us.

Aristus

(66,096 posts)
4. I've been yearning for improved relations with Iran since Clinton was President.
Fri Apr 12, 2013, 06:50 PM
Apr 2013

Then, about five years ago, I became friends with an Iranian musician who has taught me so much about this beautiful, fascinating country, and its amazing people. I hope to visit there someday.

When considering the current state of relations (or lack thereof) with Iran, I'm reminded of a line from Billy Joel's song "Leningrad'":

"We never knew what friends we had..."

StevieM

(10,499 posts)
6. You should read "The Persian Puzzle" by Ken Pollack. It is a terrific book that does a good job of
Sat Apr 13, 2013, 05:24 AM
Apr 2013

explaining the history of Iran and its people.

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