We are living in an exceptional moment of human history. Starting from a period in which it was divided into Ancient, Medieval, Modern and Contemporary History. Not the history we were studying in school 75 years ago but the history brilliantly described by Karl Marx as Pre-history. That would be the result of the incredible growth of productive forces, with contributions by science and technology, and its impact on the conscience and material life of our species.
But science and technology also brought with them an unimaginable destructive capacity.
José Martí, our Apostle and National Hero, in his struggle against Spanish colonialism …which more than 500 years earlier had annexed the island to its country situated thousands of miles away on the Old Continent, exterminated its population and imposed a new culture and the mixing of races … saw the future as the fruit of the development of ideas and the need for justice and equality among human beings.
The great founders of our hopes and dreams, to which they devoted their lives, who got to know the entrails of the imperialist monster and in regards to Iberian-American peoples, the “giant in seven-league boots”, very little was missing to live the terrible dilemma of extreme tragedy or shining hope that today envelops our globalized planet.
Fortunately, our country had a Revolution. Everybody learned to read and write, enjoyed excellent health services and even shared them with other peoples, learned to be patriotic and at the same time internationalist; it is prepared for a world of justice, without exploiters and the exploited, it will be able to contribute to the search for new formulae that will make human life possible on earth. I am coming out of the conviction that imperialism will disappear because its existence is incompatible with human life on the planet. Throughout 88 days, the elements of judgement to explain what is happening to the readers have been pulled together. I shall be using two Reflections.
On June 1st, 8 days before Resolution 1929 of the UN Security Council will be passed, press agencies printed five dispatches. EFE news agency reported in three different dispatches: one stated that Iran today branded as …repetitive and partial’ the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about the Iranian nuclear program and it showed itself to be …surprised’ by the lack of mention of the tripartite agreement signed with Turkey and Brazil on uranium exchange.
It went on to say that the Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki today heard tough criticism in the European parliament where the deputies were condemning him for the human rights situation in his country and for the nuclear program being promoted by his government.
Today the White House said that the latest report of the IAEA reveals that Iran continues to violate its international obligations and refuses to cooperate with UN inspectors, so the dispatch continued.
ANSA reports that Meir Dagan, chief of Mossad, the Israeli secret service, today thought that the agreement between Iran, Brazil and Turkey for the exchange of nuclear material is a ruse being set up by Teheran in order to divide in the international community.
June 2:
AFP states that the United States hopes that the UN Security Council makes a statement about a resolution promoting new sanctions against Iran, at the latest by June 21st, as declared this Wednesday by the State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley.
According to EFE, the Central Bank of Iran has set a plan in motion that will transform 45 billions of its reserves in Euros into dollars and gold bars due to the crisis in the single currency as informed today by state television in English, PressTV.
June 4:
EFE reports that hundreds of thousands of people today celebrated the twenty-first anniversary of the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomenei, in a ceremony in which supreme leader, the Ayatollah Alí Jameneí and President Mahmud Ahmadineyad, threatened the opposition and attacked the US and Israel.
ANSA states that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad today warned that an attack against his country by Israel would be “the death of the Zionist regime”.
In Reuters we read that Russia and China are against rushing the vote in the UN Security Council about greater sanctions against Iran, said the Russian Foreign Relations Minister Sergei Lavrov in a quote on Friday.
June 6:
ANSA says that the leader of the Iranian opposition Mir Hossein Mussavi today accused the government of carrying out “deceiving, dark and damaging policies” that “provide a golden opportunity for the United States and Israel”.
June 7:
EFE reports that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadineyad will travel this week to China to discuss the nuclear problem and the proposal of exchange of fuel as agreed with Brazil and Turkey, as announced today on state TV.
AFP talks about the IAEA continuing to wait for an official answer from the US, France and Russia about the agreement to exchange uranium done by Iran with Turkey and Brazil, as pointed out this Monday in Vienna by the director of this UN agency, Yukiya Amano.
Meanwhile DPA reports that the Iranian government today reported it was pleased that the IAEA would include Israel’s supposed nuclear arms program in talks it would have in Vienna throughout this week.
EFE reports that Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Russian Nuclear Agency (Rosatom), today denied that the imposing of sanctions on Teheran could affect construction of the Nuclear Generator in Bushehr, Iran, by Russian engineers.
EFE goes on to say that the UN Security Council might vote on Wednesday to decide whether to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran for refusing to stop the enrichment of uranium, according to diplomatic sources.
AFP reports said that on Monday night Iranian television broadcast the interview of a man introduced as Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear physicist who disappeared in 2009 in Saudi Arabia, stating that he had been kidnapped by US and Saudi secret services and taken to the United States.
June 8:
AFP reports that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad warned that his country will not be participating in new negotiations about their nuclear program if it is submitted to new sanctions; US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates hopes that this will occur “very soon”.
Reuters states that UN sanctions against Iran as a result of their disputed nuclear program have been “completely agreed upon” as reported on Tuesday by a Russian source close to the Security Council’s discussions.
EFE states that the UN Security Council will vote this Wednesday whether it will impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to stop enrichment of uranium despite efforts of Brazil and Turkey to give more time to the negotiations with Teheran.
According to EFE, Iranian Parliament will reconsider its country’s cooperation with the IAEA if the UN Security Council approves the new package of sanctions promoted by the US.
Reuters reports that on Tuesday Iran called in the Swiss ambassador in Teheran for talks and gave him documents that, apparently, reveal that an Iranian nuclear scientist was kidnapped by the US, as reported by the official IRNA news agency.
The greatest number of cable dispatches occurred on June 9th. That day will go down in history as the day the United States crossed the Rubicon when it committed to take measures of force against Iran if it did not allow its merchant ships to be inspected in international waters. I shall indicate them all in the order in which they came out:
EFE: Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadineyad today denounced that while in some parts of the world the shortage of water has become a critical factor, developed countries used more water than what they need.
EFE: The UN Security Council today passed a new and tougher regime of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to stop their nuclear program; this was received with sarcasm by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadineyad who described the measure as a bunch of “pesky flies”.
EFE: President Lula da Silva of Brazil which voted today against sanctions against Iran passed in the UN Security Council stated that the new punishment was imposed by “those who believe in force” and not in dialogue.
AFP: The United States respects Brazil and Turkey’s “different point of view” about the new sanctions against Iran even though both countries should explain why they voted against the Security Council as stated this Wednesday by the spokesperson for the State Department Philip Crowley.
EFE: Shortly before passing a new round of sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council, the EU and the USA, during a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, today strongly condemned the Iranian lack of cooperation in regards to its controversial nuclear program.
AFP: On Wednesday, the US, France and Russia expressed their reservations about the agreement between Iran and Brazil and Turkey for the exchange of Iranian uranium, a few hours before the UN Security Council met to vote on a new series of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
ANSA: A new resolution with sanctions in the UN Security Council against Iran “will not solve the matter” of the nuclear disagreement facing Teheran was indicated today in an editorial in one of the Syrian government newspapers.
EFE: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today urged Iran to fulfil its international obligations after the body’s Security Council imposed a new group of sanctions because they were continuing with their nuclear program.
AFP: On Wednesday, Iran stated that the new sanctions passed against them by the UN Security Council “are only used handkerchiefs and should be thrown into the garbage” and it repeated its willingness carry on, come what may, with its controversial nuclear program.
AFP: The UN Security Council Resolution that imposes new sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program is a “Pyrrhic victory”, so said Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva this Wednesday: Brazil, a non-permanent member of the body, voted against the measure.
Reuters: On Wednesday, a Democrat legislator forecast that the US Congress will pass more sanctions for Iran this month: he pointed out that the new measures passed by the UN Security Council would be a key step while at the same time urging stronger measures.
A total of 11 new dispatches informed the world about what happened at the UN Security Council.
This was followed on the 10th by another 9 dispatches on the subject. I shall mention some of them:
AFP: This Thursday Iran threatened to decrease its relations with the IAEA on the day after the UN would vote new sanctions and after Russia, its traditional ally, would freeze the sale of missiles to the Islamic Republic.
Notimex: Iranian Parliamentary President Ali Larijani today stated that the US is unfortunately playing “an innocent game” about Teheran’s controversial nuclear program, pressured by what he called the “Zionist lobby”.
EFE: The Venezuelan government said today that it “would absolutely reject” the UN Security Council resolution on new political and economic sanctions against Iran, one day after President Hugo Chávez demanded “respect” for Iran.
EFE: Today Russia declared that the new international sanctions against Iran passed last night by the UN Security Council do not prevent it from fulfilling the sales contract for anti-air battery systems with S-300 missiles with Teheran.
ANSA: The US considers the nay vote by Brazil and Turkey on Wednesday in the UN Security Council for implementing the new group of sanctions against Iran to be “disappointing”, as stated by the White House spokesperson, Robert Gibbs.
Next, I include isolated dispatches referring to the topic, none of which show even the slightest change of nuance. Like two trains barrelling along at full speed on the same track, heading towards each other.
AFP: Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad launched into a diatribe on Friday against the United States and Israel, 48 hours after new UN Security Council sanctions were passed against his country which is found to be ever more increasingly internationally isolated.
Reuters: Iran will be capable of developing nuclear weapons in a lapse of one to three years, said US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday, adding that there is still time to put the pressure on Teheran.
EFE: Iran will restrict its cooperation with the IAEA to the limits imposed by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and will continue the enrichment of uranium, so indicated the Iranian ambassador to the UN, Alí Asghar Soltanieh.”
EFE: The director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, today pointed out to the West to stop putting itself into a blind alley and to accept the exchange formula for nuclear fuel with Iran.
ANSA: Saudi Arabia conceded use of its air space to Israel for an eventual attack on nuclear plants in Iran, after new sanctions decided on against the Islamic Republic by the UN Security Council. The British newspaper, The Times, today revealed this, citing sources from Defence in the Persian Gulf which requested to remain anonymous.
Sources said that Riad conceded a narrow air corridor to Israel in the northern part of their country in order to shorten the distance between the Jewish state and the Islamic Republic.
EFE: Last week, Iranian secret agents detained thirteen supposed members of an anti-revolutionary terrorist group at various sites in the country; they appeared to be preparing for an attack as informed today by the Ministry of Intelligence public relations office.
June 15:
AFP: On Tuesday, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim thought it to be good news that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad declared the agreement for exchange of uranium signed by his country with Brazil and Turkey to be still in force despite the new sanctions of the Security Council.
AFP: On Tuesday Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim stated that the time had come to listen to emerging countries on serious matters such as the Iranian nuclear program after the powers ignored an initiative backed by Turkey and Brazil to inactivate tensions.
The minister wrote in the French newspaper Le Figaro that it is time for serious matters of peace and war to be listened to from emerging countries -Turkey and Brazil, as well as other countries such as India, South Africa, Egypt and Indonesia.
June16:
EFE: Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadineyad today warned that starting now it would be his country that would be setting up the conditions for an eventual dialogue about the nuclear controversy.
ANSA: Today Iran announced the construction of a new nuclear reactor for scientific purposes and warned that it would return to negotiations in the dispute for its atomic plans only after imposing punishment on the powers that approved the sanctions in the UN Security Council.
EFE: Tomorrow the Summit of European Union leaders will back the passing of sanctions against Iran that go further than those imposed by the UN Security Council, including measures in the sector of oil and gas.
EFE: The Revolutionary Guard, an elite corps of Iranian security forces, has begun to deploy along the Iraqi border facing the presence of the United States and Israel in the area, so stated one of its commanders today.
“Mehdi Moini, brigadier general and commander of this body in the north-western province of West-Azerbaijan, accused these and other countries of wanting to provoke an ethnic conflict in the region, according to English-language state television …Press TV’.
“…The presence of US and Israeli forces along the border is the reason for military movements from Iran in the province, Moini explained.
June 17:
AFP: On Thursday, EU leaders decided to impose sanctions tougher than those agreed by the UN on Iran because of its nuclear program; these were directed towards the national key sector of gas and oil and this has angered Russia.
DPA: Today Russia severely criticized both increases in sanctions on Iran agreed by the United States and the European Union.
We are deeply disappointed that neither the US nor the EU have followed our request to give up determinate measures.
AFP: Iran is capable of launching an attack against Europe using dozens or even hundreds of missiles and thus the US has reviewed its antimissile defence system, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates stated this Thursday.
June 18:
Reuters: On Friday, Iran described the UN sanctions against its nuclear program as illegal and blamed the US, the principal defender of the measures, of the spread of atomic weapons throughout the entire world.
June 20:
EFE: US Secretary of the Defense Robert Gates today said that the new sanctions against Iran had a reasonable possibility of functioning and forcing the Teheran government to end its nuclear program.
AP: On Sunday, a special US envoy warned the Pakistani government to abstain from implementing an agreement for the gas pipeline that was recently signed with Iran since this might unchain new sanctions that Congress was drafting.
To be continued tomorrow.
Fidel Castro Ruz
August 27, 2010
6:12 p.m.