It was only yesterday that I came across a thought provoking article in one of the issues of The Speaking Tree from the Times of India and my thoughts on Iran issue crystallized! That the world needs an able international interlocutor to deal with Iran! Now, what should be the qualities of this interlocutor saddled with the immense responsibility to bring Iran to the table?
This international interlocutor should be a Taoist. That’s it! That this international interlocutor should have a comprehensive view of the world, his vision encompassing all possible facets of life. Sounds daunting? Well, no, if the international interlocutor is a Taoist!
International interlocution is an extremely difficult task in which chances of success – sustained success – is rare. We have witnessed many talks fail at the initial stages itself or go on till eternity without any probable solution on the horizon visible ever. Beyond a period the entire exercise starts resembling a time-pass job for the person(s) involved. And with time the matter gets erased from the world’s memory till the topic resurfaces later because of some ‘triggering factor’. And the whole mechanism is reignited… Welcome to the world of international interlocution!
The first UNO Secretary General had famously stated that it is better to jaw-jaw than war-war! He was in his own way defending the infamous state of the United Nations Organization’s reputation of being a place for perpetual talks, and no action! Well, if you take a closer look at the various wars fought in the contemporary times, majority was fought because of gross breakdown of communication between two countries. Though, the intention at the core of conflict predictably & primarily have been the never-satiable desire for wider global control but the igniting force was in almost all instances the breakdown of mutual talks. And if only, and I truly believe in my theory, that if the warring protagonists had decided to sit together and talk majority of the wars would not have taken place.
Now, if you are curiously waiting the unraveling of this much celebrated by now international interlocutor, then here I go, but I want you to simultaneously ponder over this issue.
As we know, international interlocution is an enormously challenging responsibility and the person involved has to be awfully tactful in negotiations. And because the discussions engage humans on both sides, the human angle(s) cannot be overlooked. This international interlocutor is concentrated upon finding a “way out” of the conflicting situation, and there comes the role of his Taoistic capabilities – to look for alternatives. Because while dealing with humans, you cannot afford rigid positions as nothing is black-or-white in life, including in international interlocution. Here comes the belief in Taoism handy as it is based on creating balance amidst imbalance, the latter stemming from the sense of disproportion. And you cannot also rest upon “one-sided” solution for all problems. The attitude of “my way or high way” ruins the process in the beginning itself.
The other aspect is sustenance of the solution reached upon. Because crumbling of peace is almost inevitable in most of the cases - soon after.
Humans, as we know for being one our self, is a complex being. Though all humans share the same DNA sequence but the genes are wired differently in every person. The human behavior and approach are shaped more by the environment and less by the genetic makeup. We see certain characteristics specific to people from a particular region or religion and all is determined by the surrounding ambience. As individuals we may be our own person but when it comes to ‘communities/countries’ we behave in a certain predictable pattern guided by the common belief and value systems – DNA of their country (!). There are cultural factors intertwined. Therefore, same lens cannot be used to diagnose the problem and thus arrive at the solution. The person acting as the international interlocutor has to have in-depth knowledge of the people involved and the historical-cultural background of the countries engaged in the conflict.
And, of course, the international interlocutor cannot have prejudices and biases and predetermined notional approach to the task. The talks have to be conducted in a balanced environment with equal weightage being accorded to both the communicating partners, irrespective of the status of the individual countries on the geopolitical index, keeping the cultural sensibilities of both the sides in view.
The case in point is Iran. So far the world diplomacy has failed to bring this strategically important country to the table. In fact the scenario has become worse and now it has come to the stage of a full blown conflict between both, Iran and the ‘rest of the world’ being positioned exactly opposite to each other. The ‘rest of the world’ – the West led by the US – has pushed Iran to the corner by sanctioning harsh economic and social embargoes and expectedly Iran has reacted by blocking oil supplies to 8 Eurozone countries. Iran has further gone ahead and stationed its missile warheads ready just in case …
Who is to be blamed in this unnecessarily provoked conflict situation? (All conflicts are unnecessary – if you analyze it critically.)
Iran is no saint nation. It has its own sets of problems – not for the ‘rest-of-the-world’ but ironically perpetrated upon its own people, the various manifestations of religious fundamentalists that life of an average Iranian is not something to be vied for. But Iran controls the second largest reserves of liquid gold – Oil! Oil, the life-line of today’s world and which is much more valuable than gold! Ask America and it will be readily willing to swap all its gold reserves for all of the world’s Oil – Saudi Arabia and Iran to start with! The kernel of the ongoing Iran conflict lies here – in the Oil!
Because Iran controls second largest reserves of Oil, therefore, the world – the US mainly – wants to control Iran! And this is no hypothesis. Otherwise, why will the world – the US – have duplicity in its diplomacy while dealing with various nations, many of them rouge and much more fundamentalists than Iran; nuclear arsenals is just one of the excuse to gain so-called legitimate access to Iran’s vast Oil reserves!
On Nuclear issue too, how can the US and other “nuclear” nations preach nuclear abstinence to Iran when they themselves are armed to teeth with nuclear warheads, with a combined capacity to destroy the complete world at least 15 times over? (Well, one can die only once, sadly!) What legitimacy does all these nuclear nations have which gives them the moral-or-immoral authority to curb an independent nation’s nuclear ambitions when it is repeatedly proclaiming its peaceful intents? Even if the fact that Iran fought with Iraq for almost a decade but that does not make it a global threat! And by the way, we all know that both these neighboring countries were pitched against each other to neutralize each other and create a conflict zone in the Middle East to suit global arms dealers’ desires. Both Iran and Iraq got used and abused by the West, including the US. The intention was only one: to gain forever access to their huge Oil reserves in order to satiate their ever growing energy demands. Saudi Arabia, the world knew, was never going to be easy to target, anyway, and that is the reason it has never been eyed so far in spite of being the largest Oil producer.
The argument that Iran is a terror sponsoring state is also hollow. The world knows the creators of Taliban and Al-Qaeda; stretching the reasoning a bit far, dictators like Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak and others, including financially supporting terror crucibles like Pakistan, are the playthings/grounds of the ‘rest-of-the world’ and not Iran. Thus, painting a purposefully bad picture of Iran and using the same against it in the global arena to garner support and buy legitimacy so as to corner it – for Oil, what else?! - is going to be highly detrimental for the world order.
The solution is to engage Iran in dialogue but with an honest intent and not with a prejudiced baggage. The international interlocutors involved have to have a clear picture of Iran as a nation in mind. They have to remember its ancient history and its evolution through the various historic and contemporary periods and its position in today’s world. Iran is the oldest civilized country of the world and it has a rich Persian heritage of which the Iranians are extremely proud of! Okay, it has gone wayward in modern times due to its now adopted fundamentalistic approach in politics and governance but still it does not get categorized as a rogue nation. Iran is an aggressive nation but its current posturing is more because of its international isolation post its West-fuelled decade long Iraq war – which also gave opportunity for the Islamic extremism to flourish further. Its decision to develop nuclear capabilities indigenously also stemmed from these set of problems.
And if the world wants to engage Iran honestly, then the international interlocutors have to have 360-degree knowledge of its history and culture and religion and its people and its heritage and legacy. This is pre-requisite to a successful interlocution between the ‘rest-of-the-world’ and Iran.
To talk absolutely naive, if Barack Obama picks up his Blackberry and calls up President Ahmadinejad, will not the latter agree to an across the table conversation? (Provided the White House warmongering hawks let the President take this initiative!) The venue may not be Washington or Tehran, but the UN Secretary General’s office can just be the best place to talk! Mr. Ban Ki Moon, are you listening?
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P.S: Iran-Iraq: conjoined neighbors?
The Iran-Iraq connection is divine in spite of the divide. Look at the history of both the neighboring nations and you would understand. The emergence of both the countries is ancient, both being the cradle of civilization. And both have shared similar fate in their evolution, as conjoined entities. Looking at the currently active events in the world of global politics and power, it would not be a prophecy to proclaim that it is the turn of Iran to get battered by the U.S. like its troubled neighbor Iraq…
