If only Jed Babbin knew what is escaping him, he would have written a smarter column. Apparently, he is unaware that in the long history concerning the development of Civilization, the relationships that existed between the various ethnic groups were different from what began to change around two centuries ago.
Let's begin by
acknowledging that from the ancient empires to the struggling nations of modern
times, the only moment that cultures came together in what may be considered a
political alliance aimed at excluding or rebuffing someone else, is when a
number of small powers formed the Non-Aligned Movement in the middle of the
twentieth century.
Even then, the
five nations of the movement did not come together to stand against the two
existing superpowers; they came together to declare their independence of them,
and practice a foreign policy that was compatible with their philosophy. The
reason why no anti-someone grouping happened throughout much of history, is
that the necessary ingredient for coming together to exclude someone and oppose
them, was unknown to humanity. That ingredient is what we now call racism.
Nevertheless, it
must be said that the idea of racism in the sense that an ethnic group thinks
of itself as superior to others, began with the Hebrews who justified the
killing and robbing of their neighbors as being a right given to them by God
who made them his favorite children. The Romans picked up the practice to justify
starting the institution of slavery, but the idea of racial superiority had not
yet taken firm roots in their culture. True racism did not begin to happen
until the advent of the European Renaissance when some groups started to think
of themselves as genetically superior to others.
This is when
groups came together and formed larger groups we might call “protection
rackets.” Their aim initially was to defend against real and imagined
“barbarians at the gate.” This stance evolved to become a firm belief that some
people owned possessions to which they had no natural right. This being the
case, they were game to be robbed of what they possessed. It did not take long
after that for the practice to become full blown colonialism. Thus, Africans
had no right to their Africa, Asians had no right to their Asia, the indigenous
of the newly discovered worlds had no right to their continents, and more
recently, the Palestinians have no right to their Palestine.
This brings us to
the article of Jed Babin which he wrote under the title: “Joe Biden: Iran's
economic savior,” and the subtitle: “An economically-recovered Iran has no
reason to stop its nuclear weapons development.” It was published on November
21, 2020 in The Washington Times.
Babbin began his
discussion by quoting a tweet of Iran's Javad Zarif, and falsely interpreting
it to mean that Zarif was calling for the establishment of a gangster-like
protection racket with the Arab nations. In fact, forming an Arab pact that
would “protect” its members was attempted by the British, and later by the
Americans. Both attempts failed because the Arabs would never team up with one
to stand against another. Whereas this is true, the real protection rackets
that threaten the world today are NATO, which is headed by America, and the
Israeli-American alliance, which is headed by World Jewry.
The reason why Jed
Babbin came up with that cockamamie interpretation, is to warn that Iran will
so benefit from the election of Joe Biden to the presidency of the United
States, the World Jewry's protection racket will dissolve and Iran will have
the field to itself. Of course, Babbin did not admit that the relationship
between America and Israel is fundamentally a protection racket. In addition,
he made the false assertion that absent America's persecution of Iran, the
latter will grow in strength and swallow the entire region.
Here, in condensed
form, is how Jed Babbin expressed his fears:
“The first thing
Mr. Biden intends to do as president is rejoin the Iran nuclear deal. He will
abandon Trump's maximum pressure campaign of economic sanctions, which has
delivered Iran's economy to the trash heap. As a result, Iran's economy will
recover quickly. Iran will never give up its nuclear weapons ambition as a
result of diplomatic pressure or international agreements. Mr. Biden said that
the nuclear weapons deal with Iran was working, and said he wanted to get Iran
back into the agreement. None of the other signatories will cooperate to force
Iran to do anything. Iran, probably slowed its nuclear weapons development
because of the expense it entails. An economically-recovered Iran has no reason
to slow or stop its development of nuclear weapons. Iran's struggle is against
the West and the Sunni Arab states. Its ideology compels it to obtain nuclear
weapons. So what, Mr. Biden, are you prepared to do?”
Jed Babbin may or
may not have exaggerated Iran's potential to grow, let alone become a threat to
its neighbors. But the fact remains that Iran is a resilient society that has
every right to take its place under the sun. As to Iran becoming a threat to
its neighbors, there is nothing in Javad Zarif's quote to suggest this is the
language of gangsters, like says Jed Babbin. See for yourself. Here is Zarif's
tweet:
“We extend our
hand to our neighbors for dialog to resolve differences. Only together can we
build a better future for all”.
By contrast, here
is what Jed Babbin is saying on behalf of the Trump administration:
“Mr. Trump's
'maximum pressure' campaign of economic sanctions against Iran, has delivered
Iran's economy to the trash heap”.
Which of the two would you say talks like a gangster?