IT is utterly uncivilised for the United States (US) and Israel to launch strikes on Iran despite ongoing talks between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran responded to Saturday’s attacks with missile and air strikes across the region, including in Israel, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.
It is obvious that Iran’s actions in striking US bases in the region could result in a regional war that would only divide the region further and strengthen US-Israel hegemony.
According to reports an Israeli strike has hit an elementary girls’ school in Minab, a city in the Hormozgan province of southern Iran, killing at least 53 people.
One wonders how concerned are US and Israel on the lives of civilians in Iran which they claim to defend when there was a recent uprising.
From the very beginning the so-called diplomatic negotiations were bound to fail because the US was conducting diplomacy by metaphorically pointing a gun at the heads of the Iranians.
They believed that issuing military threats through the press and marshalling war ships to the region would persuade Iran to accept solutions that would certainly violate its national sovereignty.
It was the same parallel cowboy diplomacy conducted with Venezuela that led to the recent invasion and the kidnapping of its president.
The United Nations, which is supposed to prevent wars through diplomatic engagement, has been helpless in both crises because the US cowboy culture of “might is right” has trumped every decent and civilised diplomacy that could have avoided war and civilian casualties.
Authentic diplomacy works through an approach of win-win solutions guided by the principles of human solidarity and common good.
What the US and Israel represent is the law of the jungle that makes it difficult for dignified and civilised nations to accept its terms.
Therefore the Association for Welfare, Community and Dialogue (ACID) appeals for the cessation of all hostilities among warring parties and to get back to the negotiating table and work for the common good.
These can only be done by creating favorable conditions to alleviate the suffering of the people of West Asia.
There is a need to refrain from cowboy diplomacy and negotiate in good faith so that West Asia could be free from hegemonic designs that creates conditions for resistance.
Ronald Benjamin is a human resources practitioner based in Ipoh. He is currently secretary of the Association for Community and Dialogue.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
- Focus Malaysia
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