In the aftermath of the brand-new interim deal concerning Iran’s Nuclear Enrichment Program, the world is left in an awkward position. Do we applaud an unexpected step towards de-nuclearizing? Or do we remain skeptical of a barebones 6-month interim agreement? The truth is: both are somewhat true. For the first time since 2003, the international community, specifically the P5+1 (the U.S., France, Britain, Russia, China, and Germany), has successfully managed to strike a deal with the previously uncooperative and hard-lining Tehran. But at the same time, the agreement requires Iran to dilute enriched-uranium and stall development of centrifuges and reactor facilities for a mere 6 months. In return, the UN agrees to relieve certain sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical exports and allow access to previously frozen bank accounts. However, Iran’s side of the deal seems oddly imbalanced. With an estimated relief of only $7 billion to Iran’s economy (a tiny fraction of their GDP) and with the brutal sanctions on Iran’s oil still in play, it’s hard to imagine Tehran smiling over the deal. Therefore, the agreement must lead us to believe that the interim deal is not a groundbreaking symbol of peace nor is it a frail foreign policy framework. But rather, the conclusion of the November 24th discussion indicates a mild, but prospective shift in Middle Eastern politics—one that the US and certainly disadvantaged Iran must recognize.
So what’s changing? Are Iran and the Middle East finally thawing out from the Mediterranean Cold War? Probably not. However, with the election of reformist Hassan Rouhani in June of 2013 and the fateful telephone conversation on September 27, between US President Barack Obama and Rouhani (the first conversation b...
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...ergy, it is a fundamental aspect of their economy. And until that is overcome, hopes of cooperation are limited.
And so, these nations must understand that this 6 month grace period is trying to open up another door—one of trust. Iran has honest incentives to work with the international community. If it hopes to improve its faltering economy as Rouhani has promised, it will need the cooperation of the rest of the world. And if the world wishes to maintain and promote peace in the Middle East, it will have to work with one of the region’s leading nations. And although it’s been a long time since 1957, when the US and Iran both signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement to promote research cooperation on peaceful nuclear energy uses, this deal and the coming 6 months will show the world, perhaps, that the step Iran is taking, is indeed in the right direction.
The documentary Obama’s Deal narrated by Jim Gilmore highlights the 44th Presidents’ endurance as he fought against a great resistance in reforming healthcare. This bill was the most complex bill in modern times says Gilmore. The Affordable Care Act eventually deemed Obama Care was a signature issue and Obama spent most of his first term focusing on this specific reformation. For the first African American President, the pushback was astronomical, and excuses were abundant, but he needed to prove that Washington could solve bigger problems so he relentlessly pursued every avenue he could explore to push this bill in the direction of reformation.
For decades, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East had depended on a friendly government in Iran. The newly appointed leader, the shah of Iran, began Westernizing the country and taking away power from the Ayatollah, powerful religious leaders. The United States poured millions of dollars into Iran’s economy and the shah’s armed forces, overlooking the rampant corruption in government and well-organized opposition. By early 1979, the Ayatollah had murdered the Shah and taken back power of the government. A group of students who took the American embassy hostage on November 4th, 1979, turned the embassy over to the religious leaders. Carter knew he must take action in order to regain the American embassy and the hostages, but with all of the military cutbacks, the rescue attempt was a complete failure and embarrassment. It took the United States 444 days to rescue the hostages. This was the final straw for many Americans, and enough to push them to the “right” side of the political spectrum, Republican.
America had begun to indulge in the unilateral environment afforded to it during the Cold War. As the Soviet Union began to collapse in the 1980s, the United States was on its way to becoming a solo super power. This acquisition of complete power would inevitably lead the country into new problems, including those foreign and domestic. One of the main issues that came around in the 1980s for the Unites States was the Iran-Contra Affair, which involved the Reagan Administration. With the United States readily inserting influence across the globe, the Iran-Contra Affair proved how foreign intervention can lead to scandal and disgrace in the modern world. Along with detrimental scandals, the Iran-Contra Affair showed how America’s imperialistic behavior in South America was beginning to catch up. In order to remain a dominant influence in South America, the United States had no choice but to topple governments that did not align with American ideology. Using guerillas like the Contras insinuates America’s cornerstone of doing what is necessary in order to satisfy foreign interest.
...th and early 20th centuries entwined a power struggle between Great Britain and Russia, which only intensified after the discovery of oil in Iran in 1901. Following this discovery, western nations systematically exploited Iran for its natural resources, and fought to install sympathetic governments in the hopes of acquiring better oil deals, culminating in 1953 with the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh by a combination of US and UK forces (Yergin). The continual fighting left Iran a political mess that was only rectified by Khomeini’s strong, Islamic government. Though he severely limited the power of the Iranian citizens, he increased the power of Iran within the Middle East, and world at large, as its strong military presence and large oil reserves empower the country to resist interference from countries that wish to take advantage of them.
November 4th, 1979 was a normal day for many people across the globe, however in Tehran, Iran a 444 day long journey had just begun for 60 plus Americans. Today this issue is better known as the Iranian Hostage Crisis. This plight started with the United States attempt to westernize Iran. Which resulted in severe backlash from Iran against the United States own citizens. This quickly became a crisis for the United States and a scurry to try and save American lives. Because of attempts to change Iran, the Iranians started to resent the United States for many reasons, which went beyond the 444 day long crisis. The crisis and the events that led up to it, still have lasting effects that create tensions between the two nations today. Through the
Thesis Statement: I want to show Iran’s dramatic change of regimes and the way its people were treated starting with Pahlavi’s authoritarian rule. I also want to discuss the turbulant realtionship bewteen Iran and the United States, and how this all makes the Iran Hostage Crisis.
which infers working towards a goal in harmony. The Maastricht Treaty sounds like an ideal proposal on paper, but in reality it can't work. In order to adopt the treaty several countries will have to make sacrifices. The sacrificial. Nobody likes to make sacrifices.
The Frontline documentary, Obama’s Deal, tracks the course of Obama’s healthcare reform and the steps taken by the administration to get the bill passed. Healthcare was, and remains, one of the biggest platforms of the Obama administration and one of our nation’s greatest challenges. The film starts with Obama’s election into the White House in 2009. Rahm Emanuel, who had worked for the Clinton administration, was brought in to advise Obama on the reform. To win, Emanuel knew that Obama would have to move quickly as his campaign would be strongest at the beginning. But his crucial flaw was having Obama take a back seat on his own political agenda. Emanuel tried to change his mistakes from the Clinton administration’s healthcare failure, and
For the past several months the United Nations’ Security Council has debated on whether or not to accept the U.S. proposal to force Iraq to comply the new and former resolutions. The new resolution calls for complete disarmament of Iraq and the re-entrance of weapons inspectors into Iraq. If Iraq fails to comply, then military force would be taken in order to disarm Iraq. This proposal met opposition from council members Russia, China, and France. They thought that the U.S. proposal was too aggressive and that the U.S. should not act alone without U.N. approval. For weeks they refused to believe that the only way to make Iraq disarm is through the threat of force and the fear of being wiped out.
Andersen, Roy, Robert F. Seibert, and Jon G. Wagner. Politics and change in the Middle East: sources of conflict and accommodation. 9th ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1982. Print.
huge part of the world order, and moreover it seems that there will always be
However, the structure and process of international relations, since the end of World War II, has been fundamentally impacted through an immense growth of a variety of factors at multiple levels, which leads to the liberalist theoretical perspective of global complex interdependency. The complex interdependency is constructed from the liberalist theoretical perspective emphasizing interdependence between states and substate actors as the key characteristics of the international system (Ray and Kaarbo 7), which means that cooperation can be made more te...
... part of the “axis of evil” in his State of the Union Address, this upset many Iranians. In 2005 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president in place of Khatami. Ahmadinejad brought back conservative policies. Under his presidency dress codes and persecution of minorities became stricter, many homosexuals were also hanged. Ahmadinejad refused to stop uranium enrichment as demanded by the United Nations. He was re-elected in 2009 in a suspiciously large victory. Opponents claimed obvious fraud and protestors took to the streets, but the government didn’t back down and killed at least 20 demonstrators. The Obama administration currently has a policy of engagement with Iran, but no results can be seen so far.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, formerly known as Iran or Persia, was crowded with a young generation looking for full freedom against the Shah. Persia, once as a powerful country with vast oil resources, soon became a vulnerable nation, ready to accept a new leader to guide them. The people were ready for change, but were the changes they got the changes they were looking for. The people wanted freedom against the shah, (For generations Iran was ruled by Kings) who allowed some freedoms, but it was somewhat limited. The people wanted freedom of speech, so that the press could freely publish their own opinions. They wanted to get rid of a law that made all eighteen-year-old males attend two years of military service unless they are accepted to a university, which would allow them attend the army later as a service worker. The shah was anti-religious, which was not ideal for many of the civilians in Iran. Savak (Secret organization of Iran) was accused of many anti – human rights actions, such as killing students who protested and immediately jailing press members for inappropriate conduct. A major problem was that the shah was a “puppet” of the United States many say, because the Shah would constantly confer with the U.S. of all of his decisions as ruler. The after affects of the revolution resulted in similar conditions, however. Human rights are horrible, the government limits all freedoms, the economy has suffered greatly, average salaries are hard to live with, most of the educated people in Iran fled to foreign countries, the quality of public schools is horrible, and the government still controls all television broadcasts and keeps a watchful eye on the newspapers. From bad to worse is what many people feel has become of Iran, but the people are ready for a real change.
... and tension will use the leverage gained from interdependence as a weapon as against each other. E.g., Russia is using its power as a main supplier of gas and oil to weaken the harsh international condemnation.