by A. G. NOORANI
IMAGE/Yale Press
The Teheran Declaration brokered by Brazil and Turkey came to nought because Obama was not prepared for the reconciliation.
This book, published on January 24, could not have made a more timely appearance. It should provoke thought on how an educated lay person can grasp the truth behind today’s news reports. Events occur against a background. Not many columnists care to describe it. Most prefer instant comment, preferably on the idiot box with its loud-mouthed, ignorant anchors and equally talented panelists. Why does not any student from our colleges of journalism do a study of the insane contest among TV channels on who is to sink lowest in arousing chauvinistic emotions in the attempt to grab TRPs?
The Hindu published on January 22 President Barack Obama’s letter to Iran’s officials, through three different channels, during the crisis over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, replied publicly on January 19 that “America has to make clear that it has good intentions and should express that it is ready for talks without conditions”.
Iran has threatened to close the strait if the United States and its allies were to choke its oil exports. Salehi remarked: “Out in the open they show their muscles but behind the curtains they plead to us to sit down and talk. America has to pursue a safe and honest strategy so we can get the notion that America this time is serious and ready.”
On December 31, 2011, Obama signed into law extra measures to punish Iran, which has been under sanctions for over 30 years, whereupon Iran reacted with the threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.
On November 12 last year, a huge explosion destroyed a major missile-testing site near Teheran and killed General Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, the head of Iran’s missile programme. The U.S. and its partner Israel welcomed it as “a major setback for Iran’s most advanced long-range programme”. It entailed not only damage to property but also loss of expertise. That Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attended General Moghaddam’s funeral showed how central his work was to Iran’s endeavours.
The truth emerged in an article by Roger Cohen, a columnist in The New York Times. There is a new Obama Doctrine, conceived in private, executed in secrecy unlike the doctrines his predecessors publicly propounded in the past. He wrote: “The Obama administration has a doctrine. It’s called the doctrine of silence. A radical shift from President Bush’s war on terror, it has never been set out to the American people. There has seldom been so big a change in approach to U.S. strategic policy with so little explanation. I approve of the shift even as it makes me uneasy. One day, I suspect, there may be payback for this policy and this silence. President Obama has gone undercover.”
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