A swipe waiting to happen

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the UN, raises her hand during a Security Council meeting, indicating her vote against resolution 1929 (2010).

© UN Photo/John Mcilwaine

On Tuesday, June 8, I wrote at noon time the Reflection “On the Brink of Tragedy.” Later, I watched Randy Alonso’s TV program Roundtable, usually aired at 6:30 pm.

That day, outstanding and prestigious Cuban intellectuals taking part in the program answered the pointed questions raised by the moderator with eloquent words that showed great respect for my views, but they did not think there was any reason for Iran to reject the likely decision –already known—that would be adopted by the Security Council in New York in the morning of June 9, undoubtedly concerted by the leaders of the five powers with the right of veto: the United States, France and the United Kingdom, with those of Russia and China.

At that moment, I said to close people who usually keep me company: “I so much regret that I did not conclude my Reflection by saying how I wished to be wrong!” But it was too late. I could not delay sending it to the website CubaDebate and to Granma.

The following day, at 10:00 am, knowing that the meeting had been scheduled for that morning, I decided to watch CNN in Spanish, which would certainly carry news of the Security Council debate. Thus, I could listen to the words of the chairman of the Security Council as he introduced the Draft Resolution promoted a few days before by the United States with the support of France, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Various representatives of the major members involved with the Draft spoke, too. The US representative explained why her country endorsed it, arguing the well known pretext that Iran deserved the sanctions for its violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. On the other hand, the representative of Turkey, —the country whose ship was the victim of the brutal attack launched by the Israeli elite troops transported in helicopters to assault, in the morning of May 31, the flotilla that was taking food to the one and a half million Palestinians besieged in a portion of their own homeland—expressed his government’s intention to oppose new sanctions on Iran.

The CNN showed in it news segment various images of hands raised as the representatives explained their positions with noticeable gestures. These included the representative of Lebanon, a country that would abstain from voting.

The calm manner of the Security Council members who voted against the Resolution was manifest in the firm right hand of a woman, the representative of Brazil, who had previously exposed with a steady rhythm her Homeland’s reasons to oppose the agreement.

There would still be masses of news on the issue. I turned on the TV to watch Telesur, which for hours pleased the indescribable need for information.

President Lula da Silva said at the city of Natal, in the northeast of the country, two categorical phrases. He said that the approved sanctions were imposed “by those who believe in force and not in dialogue,” and that the Security Council meeting “could have been used to discuss the disarmament of those who have nuclear weapons.”

It would not be surprising that both Israel and the United States, —and its close allies with the right of veto in the Security Council, France and the United Kingdom—try to avail themselves of the enormous interest aroused by the World Football contest to appease the international public irritated over the criminal behavior of the Israeli elite troops in front of the Gaza Strip.

Therefore, it is likely that the swipe is postponed for a few weeks, and that it is even forgotten by most of the people in the warmest days of the boreal summer. You’d only need to observe the cynicism with which the Israeli leaders respond to the press interviews in the coming days as they are bombarded with questions. Opportunely, they will keep rising the severity of their demands before pulling the trigger. They are eager to repeat the story of Mossadegh in 1953, or take Iran back to the Stone Age, an attractive scenario for the powerful empire in its dealings with Pakistan.

The hatred felt by the State of Israel against the Palestinians is such that they would not hesitate to send the one and a half million men, women and children of that country to the crematorium where millions of Jews of all ages were exterminated by the Nazi.

It would seem that the Fuhrer’s swastika is today Israel’s banner. This view is not the result of hatred. It comes from the sentiments of a country that offered solidarity and shelter to the Jews when in the tough days of World War II, Batista’s pro-Yankee government tried to send back from Cuba a ship full of them who were escaping from Nazi persecution in France, Belgium and Holland.

After the victory of the Revolution I met many members of the large Jewish Community in Cuba. I visited them and we talked several times. We never expelled them from our country. The differences with many of them were related to the revolutionary laws that affected economic interests. On the other hand, the consumer society attracted many of them in view of the sacrifices that the Revolution entailed. Others decided to stay in our Homeland, and have paid valuable services to Cuba.

A new and gloomy stage is opening for the world.

Yesterday, at 12:44 pm, Obama spoke on the agreement reached by the Security Council.

I am including some phrases the President said as reported by CNN in Spanish.

“Today, the United Nations Security Council voted overwhelmingly to sanction Iran for its continued failure to live up to its obligations.”

“This resolution will put in place the toughest sanctions ever faced by the Iranian government, and it sends an unmistakable message about the international community’s commitment to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.”

“For years, the Iranian government has failed to live up to its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

“While Iran’s leaders hide behind outlandish rhetoric, their actions have been deeply troubling.”

“Indeed, when I took office just over 16 months ago, Iranian intransigence was well-established.”

“We offered the opportunity of a better future if they lived up to their international obligations.”

“There is no double standard at play here.”

“Iran further violated its own obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions to suspend uranium enrichment.”

“That’s the reason for these severe measures.”

“These are the most rigorous sanctions that Iran has faced.”

“This shows the united view that a nuclear arms race in the Middle East is in nobody’s interest.”

These phrases I have taken from his short speech suffice to prove how weak, frail and unjustifiable is the policy of the powerful empire.

Obama himself admitted in his speech at the Islamic University of Al-Azhar in El Cairo that “In the midst of the Cold War, the United States played a role in overthrowing a democratically elected Iranian government,” although he neither said when it happened nor what were the intentions. It’s very likely that he did not even remember how it was done against Mossadegh in 1953 to install in the govrnment the Reza Pahlevi dynasty, the Iranian Shah, whom they armed to the teeth as it fits their main gendarme in that Middle East region, where the satrap accumulated a huge fortune derived from the country’s oil wealth.

At that time, the State of Israel did not have one single nuclear weapon. The empire had an enormous and incomparable nuclear power. It was then that the United States came up with the adventurous idea of turning Israel into a Middle East gendarme, the same that today threatens a considerable portion of the world population and is capable of acting with its characteristic independence and bigotry.