march 3, 2012

US Imperialism Targeting Iran

The deceit and self-serving logic of US imperialism is once again driving west Asia to the brink of war.

he United States (US) and Israels unrelenting hostility towards Iran is driving west Asia to the brink of war. Following a string of United Nations (UN) resolutions proposing sanctions against the Iranian regime for refusing to halt its nuclear programme and other stringent economic penalties, including an oil embargo imposed by the US and its European allies, tensions have escalated to a point where the Iranian regime now talks about pre-emptive strikes against threatening nations to defend itself. The situation could never have reached this far if the US and its allies had not insisted on harsh and hostile manoeuvres against Iran and had heeded the diplomatic efforts by other nations Brazil and Turkey to engage more diplomatically with Irans nuclear programme. Instead, the consequences of the measures taken against Iran have resulted in both sides mouthing hawkish military rhetoric and signs of a war seem to be unmistakable. A bipartisan resolution introduced in the US Senate by 32 senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties in midFebruary shows that the powerful Israel lobby is pushing for military strikes against Iran. This has followed rabid statements from Israel about strikes at Iranian nuclear establishments, many recent sinister assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists and officials, ostensibly by the notorious Israeli secret services, and computer virus attacks on its research facilities. The US moves for denuclearisation of Iran contrasts sharply with those permitting Israel carte blanche as far as its nuclear weapons programme is concerned. Iran has consistently argued that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. Being a signatory to the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty (NPT), it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Recently, after the failure of proposed deals brokered by Turkey and Brazil in 2010 for a fuel swap between Russia, France and Iran to replenish depleted enriched uranium stocks used in the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR), domestically manufactured fuel rods were loaded into the TRR. The Iranian regime has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation to the imposition of an oil embargo and is refusing to halt its nuclear programme even as the sanctions have created economic difficulties, severe inflation in particular. Tehran is trying to use fissures in the international community to ease
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some of its trade-related concerns because of the sanctions. It has decided to transact directly with other nations such as India and China, bypassing the use of financial instruments provided by European or American entities or through links with financial agencies in countries such as Turkey. It is in this context that the bomb attacks which took place recently in the capitals of India, Thailand and Georgia have to be seen, blame for which was quickly put at the doorstep of Tehran by Tel Aviv. It defies belief that the Iranians would want to launch covert measures against Israeli diplomats in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists on friendly territory, at least in India and Thailand. It seems more likely that these attacks were launched to sabotage growing trade ties between India and Iran. But one never knows what is afoot with these covert games of one-upmanship. A de-escalation of the war of words between Iran and Israel and prevention of a nuclear arms race between them must consider the nuclear disarmament of Israel and a positive engagement with Iran instead of repeated sanctions meant to disrupt its oil trade and financial transactions. China and Russia had also played along with the US bid to impose sanctions against Iran through the UN in order to prevent any Israeli military attack on Irans nuclear facilities. But there is little enthusiasm for war in west Asia and that seems to drive the basis for continued supplies of oil from Iran to China, disregarding the economic sanctions by the Atlantic powers. Regrettably, India had also gone against its own non-aligned policy to vote against Iran in the International Atomic Energy Agency meetings in 2005 and 2006 to take Irans case to the nuclear permanent-five dominated by the UN Security Council. The pressure from the US and conditions attached for the successful culmination of the Indo-US nuclear deal were responsible for Indias actions then. It must be mentioned that India has still not moved forward on the proposed India-PakistanIran natural gas pipeline, even though this had the potential of addressing a large chunk of the countrys energy needs, again ostensibly due to US pressure. Economic imperatives and the dependency on Iran for oil supplies (12% of total oil imports come from that country) have meant that India has not quite fallen entirely in line with western moves to isolate Iran. India has recently pledged to broaden its 7

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EDITORIALS

economic ties with Iran but its ruling classes do not want to weaken its strategic ties with the US. Recent statements emanating from diplomatic personnel indicate that India is seeking US help to diversify its oil imports away from Iran. Meanwhile, will the US heed wise counsel from nations such as Brazil and Turkey on the means of engagement with Iran on the nuclear issue? The answer seems to be negative as war drums continue to get noisier in Washington. The more basic questions that need to be asked are about why Israel, which has

not signed the NPT and is in possession of a stockpile of nuclear weapons, is not facing any of the kinds of punitive actions that Iran is being subjected to. And, of course, why the US, which has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, and is the only nation to have used nuclear bombs, has the right, that too, considered legitimate by the so-called international community, to keep the other nations of the world under its control on nuclear matters. The nuclear policing of Tehran at the behest of Washington is part of the deceit and self-serving logic of US imperialism.

The Politics of Rape

Mamata Banerjee cynically casts aspersions on a rape victim to further her political agenda.

hen rape becomes a political power game, every woman, not just a rape survivor, has reason to be afraid. What this suggests is that, for people in the political battlefield, the seriousness of this violent crime and the increasing incidence of rape in our towns and villages are of no concern. This has become evident in Kolkata following the gang rape at gunpoint of a 37-year-old woman after midnight on 6 February. The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees response was unconscionable. Instead of sympathising with the woman and urging the police to move on the case, Banerjee turned around and accused the rape survivor of concocting the story and being part of a conspiracy to malign the state government. For the chief minister to have said this assumes significance not just because she is a woman, and hence expected to understand that few women will cry rape without reason, but because she herself has championed cases where women have been victims of violent assault. However, given her response in this case, it would appear that the West Bengal chief minister chooses the victims whose cases she champions according to political compulsions. This particular case is still being played out as the police in Kolkata investigates it. But it brings to attention several important facts in cases of sexual assaults against women. First, when the incident of an individual rape gets embroiled in politics, the victim is forgotten as well as the horrifying nature of the crime. This is not the first time this has happened in West Bengal. When the Left Front government was in power, the roles were reversed in cases around rapes during the Singur and Nandigram agitations. Second, when a middle class urban woman is raped, the trajectory follows a predictable course. The victim is always asked to explain her behaviour. In this case, the woman was asked why she was at a nightclub when she is the mother of two children. The fact that she had separated from her husband was disclosed. That she is an Anglo-Indian was repeated as if that had a special significance. Why is any of this relevant, including what she wore that night or whether she drank alcohol or not? Yet, a minister in Mamata Banerjees government felt no sense of embarrassment in asking such questions. Third, we need to examine the role of the police. When the rape survivor first went to the police, she was mocked and asked 8

embarrassing and lurid details about the rape. The policemen at the station would not take her seriously. Nor did they follow the clearly laid down procedure when recording rape cases. It took her several days to get a first information report (FIR) registered. If this can happen in a police station located in the heart of the West Bengal capital, one can well imagine the situation elsewhere in this country. That the Kolkata police managed to crack the case and have arrested three of the five men allegedly involved speaks more to the commitment and efficiency of a few senior police officers, including a woman, than the beat cops at the police station where the crime was registered, or for that matter the police commissioner who first dismissed the case as fabricated. What confidence does such a reaction imbue in women living in Kolkata if both the chief minister and the police commissioner pass judgment on a case even before it has been investigated? If an articulate, educated middle class woman is not taken seriously when she reports rape, what hope is there for poor women who are subjected to sexual assault? Mamata Banerjees insensitive response to the Kolkata rape survivor is completely unacceptable. If she has any interest in reassuring women in West Bengal that they should not fear for their safety, the least she can do is publicly apologise to the woman. As a further gesture, she needs to reprimand the member of her cabinet who questioned the womans character as well as the police commissioner who was only too ready to dismiss the case. The Kolkata rape case might disappear from the news in a short while but the reality of the violence that women in India face every day of their lives will not. The latest data from the National Crimes Record Bureau for 2010 records 22,172 cases of rape; the corresponding conviction rate is only 26.6%. Amongst states, Madhya Pradesh has the highest incidence (3,136) followed by West Bengal (2,311). Amongst cities, Delhi has the highest rate (414) followed by Mumbai (201). These figures only represent the reported cases. For every woman who picks up the courage to go to the police to register a case, there are scores who do not dare to approach our law-enforcers. And when lawmakers turn around and cynically use the sexual assault on a woman to further a political agenda, the crime is compounded several times over.
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