1 Report for

(1)

Daily Report for Wednesday, December 13, 2017

1 Report for

Wednesday,

December 13, 2017 Azar 22, 1396

* Highlights and Quote. Page 2

* News Briefs. Page 3

* Why relocate American Embassy? Page 3

* Unresponsive government. Page 4

* Trump’s Embassy move pushes first domino of destruction. Page 5

* Korean news corner. Page 8

(2)

2 Highlights

 Trump’s motives may be trivial, rooted in predicaments created by his

campaign’s promises and transgressions, but the consequences of his actions are certainly tremendous, destructive, and long term. (See Page 5)

Quote

Official statements and commentaries in Iran indicate that it is seeking to exploit the aftermath of Trump’s announcement on the status of Jerusalem. As analyst Saadollah Zaraei wrote in IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, Tehran hopes that Washington’s decision would help Iran’s efforts to further strengthen the “resistance front” in the region to fight Israel.

(3)

3 Briefs

* Farsi-language Iranian Students’

News Agency (ISNA) reports that speaking at Majlis on Wednesday about last night’s 5.1 Richter Scale earthquake in Kerman Province, MP Shahbaz Hassanpor said that one million [in the province] were roaming in the streets all night until morning out of fear. He criticized Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi for not doing anything about the fact the residents’ mobile phones were cut and they had no way of communicating with anyone. He said that there had at least 20 aftershocks in the province.

* Farsi-language Iranian Students’

News Agency (ISNA) reports that MP and deputy chairman of parliament’s Health Committee Homayun Yusefi said that Iran’s health sector needs structural reform, and budget for this sector has been increased in next year’s budget in order to increase resources for this sector.

* Farsi-language Mehr News Agency reports that MP and chairman of Iran- Russia Parliamentary Friendship Group Ramazanali Sobhanifar said on Wednesday that a joint working group of Iranian and Russian parliaments will meet every two months to discuss ways of facilitating improvement of relations between the two countries.

* Farsi-language Fars News Agency reports that students gathered today morning in front of Swiss Embassy in Tehran to protest against President Trump’s decision to relocate American embassy in Israel. They shouted “Death to America” and

“Death to Israel” among other slogans.

One of the the students read out a statement criticizing and condemning the decision, while predicting that Israel would not exist in 25 years.

Why relocate American Embassy?

Analyst Mohammad Reza Naghdi writes in the Farsi- language hardline conservative newspaper Javan writes:

The reality is that for a long time, the US regime has been confused and disconnected in its important decisions. It has been making decisions regardless of the rational logic and even against its own domineering goals. Some might mistakenly see this as America adopting carrot and stick policy. But that’s not the case.

Some may look for the root of these errors and contradictions in the personality of President Trump, which is also incorrect.

When someone openly oppresses the humble servants of God and the oppression becomes intolerable, then God engages in war against the oppressor. Amir al-Momenin [Imam Ali] says: When God is hostile and in war and with someone, then all reason and wisdom is taken away from that someone. Therefore, discussions and treaties with this troubled person will be useless.

Any relationship with this entity, which is spiraling downwards, will lead to nothing but humiliation and disgrace. Negotiations and concessions to European countries led by such a regime [America] are as unpardonable and negotiations with Bakhtiar after the escape of the traitorous Shah.

[Shapour Bakhtiar was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Bakhtiar and his secretary were murdered in his home in Suresnes, near Paris, allegedly Islamic Republic’s agents. He held talks with the late Imam Khomeini and his supporters. Ultimately, late Imam Khomeini rejected all of his proposals, denouncing the premier as a traitor for siding with the Shah, labeling his government “illegitimate” and

“illegal”.]

(4)

4

The oppressors are undoubtedly the winners. However, this victory has a condition, as Imam Ali has once said. The victory will be achieved only if there is continued resistance to the tyranny.

Unresponsive government

Farsi-language reformist newspaper Bahar writes that in the record of the government of moderation [Rouhani’s administration], as well as other governments before Rouhani, one can find both strengths and weaknesses. But what is happening is that, despite the fact that even though only a short period of time has passed since twelfth [current] government started working, the volume of protests and criticisms is increasing day by day. Most of these criticisms come from Rouhani’s own supporters. Hopelessness has overcome hope [hope is one of Rouhani’s slogans].

To find the reason behind this, we have go back to the election days. We have to be reminded of the fact that Rouhani and his media team contributed to the voters developing much expectations from Rouhani and his government.

We can also be reminded of the sociological analysis of the Iranian people’s demeanor; we can see these criticisms and disappointments as a result of the personality traits of the Iranian people: They get cold by just unripe grapes, and they get hot by just raisin.

Or we can point out the weaknesses of the president and his appointees in these few months to understand the reason behind these protests.

Or we can recall President Rouhani’s retreats [in the face of conservative pressure by appointing conservative figures to his cabinet and his other places].

On the other hand, we can see the behind- the-scene hands of the opponents of President Rouhani behind some of the criticisms. These individuals are constantly engaged in either downplaying Rouhani’s achievements or distorting the truth through use of various outlets at their disposal.

However, there could be yet another reason behind the climate of discontent in the society towards the government: the

government’s weakness in

“accountability”. If we were to compare the few months of Rouhani’s second and current term with his first term, we realize that perhaps the some of the ministers and officials [perhaps it is referring to the conservative officials] have not given sufficient importance to being accountable and transparent to the people. Of course, we have to keep in mind and recall that even during President Rouhani’s first term, his media team did not perform strongly enough. The media team has not performed strongly enough so far in the second term. The president’s current media team has not made even the half- hearted attempt to make the government at least appear to be accountable and transparent.

(5)

5 Trump’s Embassy move pushes

first domino of destruction

Profiling of the kind is a ploy ordinarily used by the political police to repress

opponents and dissidents in undemocratic, authoritarian regimes, where judiciary has little power, with its independence spoiled in many ways.

The westernized Russia of the 1990s was accepted by the seven industrial powers but dismissed from the G8 after the Crimea crisis and Putin’s authoritarian moves in the international scene.

US foreign policy after the Cold War has relied unprecedentedly on a kind of

Schmittian reconstruction that highlights the ultimate use of power politics to expand national power.

This approach to international issues means they respect international norms and rules, only when in their own interest.

The US administration’s decision to move its embassy to Bayt al-Maqdis, against all international law norms and UN resolutions, is a clear example of Schmitt’s theory on decisions of the ruling side in extraordinary situations.

Cases like the Kashmir conflict, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kirkuk, and tens of other examples can be ended by power politics, which does not mean a final settlement but further complication of the security enigma in international relations.

IRDiplomacy news website: Senior CIA analyst John Nixon’s Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein is an extraordinary book recently translated in Persian. It is not only a memoir but also a telltale document about motives, goals, and functions of what is probably the biggest unilateral US intervention in the Middle East over the past decade.

An interesting part of the book gives an account of the time CIA executives summoned Nixon for an absurd mission: to read all of Saddam Hussein’s speeches in the past ten years thoroughly and try to find a clue to links with 9/11 attacks in parts he threatened the US.

(6)

6

The profiling job was not on an American citizen, but on the president of an independent country, a UN member. The mission ended up in the US and the UK’s invasion of Iraq, without UN permission.

Profiling of the kind is a ploy ordinarily used by the political police to repress opponents and dissidents in undemocratic, authoritarian regimes, where judiciary has little power, with its independence spoiled in many ways. The book tells us that these extralegal coercive measures can be extended into the international scene.

Viewed optimistically, the international system is a half-democratic regime. Despite its democratic appearances, several means and control levers are always ready to distort and repress the public will. On a smaller scale, the international order can be viewed as a slavery with masters as superordinates and masses as subordinates.

The norms and rules of the system are designed and implemented by a club of powerful countries, which rarely recruits new members. The westernized Russia of the 1990s was accepted by the seven industrial powers but dismissed from the G8 after the Crimea crisis and Putin’s authoritarian moves in the international scene.

Evil and rebel, terms invoked to label the states that refuse to conform, are familiar metaphors in international relations. Lists of sponsors of terrorism and violators of human rights, prepared with political considerations, are disciplinary tools in the hand of the “masters” to punish or reward other states.

US foreign policy after the Cold War has relied unprecedentedly on a kind of Schmittian reconstruction that highlights the ultimate use of power politics to expand national power. There is a Rightist, Schmittian ring to George W. Bush’s sentence in the wake of September 11: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists”.

This approach to international issues means they respect international norms and rules, only when in their own interest. The US administration’s decision to move its embassy to Bayt al-Maqdis, against all international law norms and UN resolutions, is a clear example of Schmitt’s theory on decisions of the ruling side in extraordinary situations. That is to draw a border amid an extraordinary situation, suspension of all the rules available, to determine the territory of the government, i.e. to fabricate a difference between the inside and the outside, insiders and outsiders, and ultimately friends and foes.

(7)

7

Let us return to our own example of utilitarian regimes. The suspension of law, this extraordinary situation, is actually a general principle. Law is respected only if its enforcement is in the interest of the ruler. The United States’ unilateralism in foreign policy extends this to the international sphere. Discrediting the UN and disregarding international cooperation upsets world security more than previously imagined.

However, the problem does not lie only in the fact that some Palestinian now view the US an enemy rather than an intermediary. The point is anomie becomes regulated.

Cases like the Kashmir conflict, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kirkuk, and tens of other examples can be ended by power politics, which does not mean a final settlement but further complication of the security enigma in international relations.

Repeated ignorance of international law, which happens to be Wstern in essence, by its founders has the latent potential to legitimize fanatics who undermine the very order.

Trump’s motives may be trivial, rooted in predicaments created by his campaign’s promises and transgressions, but the consequences of his actions are certainly tremendous, destructive, and long term.

(8)

8 Korean news corner

 Farsi-language Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reports that Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has announced that in 2016, South Korean arms exports rose by 20.6 percent.

Seoul is currently strengthening its defense capabilities in preparation for a possible conflict with North Korea. At the same time, South Korea has witnessed a huge economic gain due to the significant increase in its arms sales. SIPRI has said this about the arms sales market in 2016: South Korean arms producers continue to dominate the emerging producer category, with seven companies ranked in the top 100 for 2016. South Korea’s market share sits around 2.2 percent of the top 100 companies, alongside other ‘established producers’ such as Israel and Japan. PRI attributed the sales growth to rising threat perceptions in South Korea, which has accelerated the acquisition of military equipment. PRI attributed the sales growth to “rising threat perceptions in South Korea,” which has

“accelerated the acquisition of military equipment.” SIPRI researcher Siemon Wezeman said that South Korea is increasingly turning to its own arms industry to supply its demand for weapons. At the same time, South Korea is aiming to realize its goal of becoming a major arms exporter.

 Farsi-language Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reports that North Korean state news media report that Kim Jong-un said on Wednesday he is committed to rapidly developing nuclear arsenal for final defeat of the United States. He met with scientists and officials involved in

manufacturing Hwasong-15. During the meeting, he vowed to develop more nuclear weapons. Hwasong-15, which was test-launched on November 29, has been largely perceived by analysts and government officials to have a range that can reach the United States.