US to Blame for Sour US-Iran Relations

The United States largely has itself to blame for the history of tensions and animosity between itself and Iran.

It goes back to the 1950s when a democratically-elected government was ousted—this might have been one of countless instances where the US helped engineer the overthrow of a democratic government—and, in the aftermath, the US helped engineer the assumption of power by the Shah ('king'). The Shah turned out to be a hated ruler because he was tyrannical and despotic, and his secret police imprisoned and tortured dissenters.

Later, in the Iran-Iraq War, the US supported Iraq and in fact armed Sadaam Hussein's Iraq, on the theory that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." The Iranians don't want to forgive America for that because it was a bitter, bloody, and costly war.

Actually, suspicion of the US and of the West by Iranians goes back even further because of Western—perhaps more British than US—actions and intervention in the Middle East during and after World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. To a degree, in this case, Iran's animosity should perhaps be directed more toward Britain than toward the US because the former was the bigger player, doing much to advance its interests and secure its influence in the area at that time. (For one thing, Britain was looking to protect the Suez Canal, which was jointly operated by Britain and France, but also, as one of the superpowers of the time, may have been moving into a power vacuum).

Update, February 1, 2012
I should add that the overthrow of the Iranian government of Premier Mossadegh in 1953 was due to OIL (surprise, surprise). He had nationalized Iran's oil production, which did not sit well with the US.
Also, two other reasons why the Shah was disliked had to do with his lavish lifestyle and his having offended conservative Iranians by embracing the West and western things.

Copyright © 2012 by Richard Stein

The Decline of the West

One hundred or even fifty years ago, the world was a very different place. Fifty years ago the age of Colonialism was just coming to an end. Most of the European countries—Great Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands--had had colonies in Africa, Asia, and the New World; and 50 years ago the last of those countries were gaining their independence.

So the age of European nations dominating their colonies was not that long ago. At about that time I saw the handwriting on the wall and foresaw that the era of the dominance of the White Man (Europeans and Americans) would come to an end at some point, and maybe within my lifetime.

Well, there are signs that it is, at least in the economic view. The US and other western nations have transferred enormous sums of money to Middle Eastern countries as payment for oil. So the tallest buildings in the world are now in the Middle East and Asia, not in the US. And China is on track to surpass the US and become the world's largest economy.

If you haven't noticed how much of what you buy says "Made in China" on it, I suggest you look at one of those terminals where shipping containers are transferred from trains to trucks. Then you can get some idea of the amount of commerce we have (mainly importing) with China.

In a sense—aside from what we pay for imports—China owns the United States. That's because they buy our government's debt, and the US economy would collapse if China ever stopped buying or sold what it already owns.

The US and its stock markets still make up more than half of the world's equities. I think it's something like 52%. But the volume of all the foreign exchanges has been catching up.

What much of the world perceives as the arrogance of the US is going to be harder and harder to justify as we become less and less able to call the shots for all the rest of the world.

Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein