Sovereignty and Accountability

Prime Minister Gordon Brown stepped up his public criticism. “We are with others, including the whole of the EU unanimously today, in condemning the use of violence, in condemning media suppression,” he told a news conference after a European Union summit in Brussels. He said it was up to Iran to show the world that the elections were fair and that “the repression and the brutality that we have seen in these last few days is not something that is going to be repeated.” (From NY Times)

What a righteous voice for GB to stand up for the people of Iran! Or at least some of them, or at least whom GB believed to have shared western values. Anyway, those on the streets of Tehran. It is so natural for the West to criticize the stupic Iranian government which quickly declared victory after the election and soon found itself in trouble. Election fraud, opposition protest, civil conflict and sporatic bloodshed, forced recount, government respond, sounds familiar? Yes, everywhere in democratic countries. But wait, why Iran is required to show the world that the elections were fair and since when did a sovereign country accountable not to its people but to the West's public opinion?

Regardless whether Iran is a democratic or free country, GB's word revealed a condescending imperialism disguised by subtle discourse of human rights and universal democratic principles. That's what I call "imperial human rights" practice. Under such a beautiful face, modern communication technologies, such as twitters, and so called NGOs were utilized to penetrate state boundaries and to undermine sovereignties. How can the West let this golden opportunity slip away? If the Iranian government loose, the "moderate" opposition will probably favor a pro-west policy; if the Iranian government recourse to coercion, the world opinion could be turn upon it and therefore a solid popular back for more sanctions; even if Ahmadinejad remain in power, he will be crippled by the fact that the country is split, which will severly limit his policy options. Meanwhile, and more importantly Khamenei will be weakened and his imagine tainted. So no matter what, making current crisis a huge event is such a win-win situation for the politically, militarily and economicly depressed British and American government that Obama can even afford to keep low-key for the moment.

Ultimately, the Iranians will sustain all the losses. At the end of the day, this unequal world system is demanding them to show courage, sacrifice, and proof of a "true democracy", while they cannot ask the same from the British or the Americans.

P.S. In order to show the technological superority, "the BBC announced that it was using two extra satellites — Nilesat and Eutelsat W2M — to broadcast its Persian-language service into Iran to restore the signal after days of jamming by Iranian authorities." What a splendid illustration of this one way broadcasting dominance! What would happen if western voters pursue elective justice out side of the legal channel? As you can imagine.