US Losing the World’s Respect Due to its Hypocrisy in the Middle East

“Only the world’s international pressure is going to bring about a resolution, which would have to be favorable to Iran since Iran has done nothing wrong.”–James Fetzer

by James Fetzer and Press TV

 http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/10/15/us-losing-the-worlds-respect-due-to-its-hypocrisy-in-the-middle-east/

Press TV has conducted an interview with James Fetzer, professor at University of Minnesota, about talks over Iran’s nuclear program and the statement made by US Secretary of State John Kerry that Israel’s interests will always be kept in mind in this regard.

To view, click here: “US losing the world’s respect due to its hypocrisy in Middle East”

The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.

Press TV: What do you make of Kerry’s remarks in the sense of how will it be translated when the time for talks come? He is making these comments to AIPAC, as we mentioned the most powerful pro-Israel lobby in the US – and also trying to placate Israel’s fears. What do you make of that? Fetzer: John F. Kennedy thought that AIPAC should be qualified as a foreign agent – that it should be registered as a foreign agent.I’m afraid that all the NSA information this massive surveillance is acquiring is being sent directly to Israel, which means Israel knows exactly what weaknesses it can use to exploit, to extort, to blackmail members of the American Congress up to and including the president, alas.John Kerry’s remarks clearly appear to be intended to dissuade Israeli concerns, but they’re ill-founded in the first place. Benjamin Netanyahu has been claiming that Iran was about to get the bomb for the last 30 years.American intelligence agencies concluded in 2007 that Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapons program, a conclusion it reaffirmed in 2011.

So it is ridiculous for America to be pursuing policies that are based on the presumption that Iran is pursuing a program it is not pursuing and that its own intelligence agencies have confirmed.

Press TV: What do you see in the coming days when the talks do happen? The Iranian side has said that they don’t want to hold talks for just talk’s sake – they want a win-win solution to this stand-off between Iran and the five permanent members of UN Security Council plus Germany? Fetzer: Well, Iran could agree to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and to allow inspectors, except it’s already done that. It would be very appropriate to have Israel sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and to allow inspectors, which it has not done. Iran has no nuclear weapons. The policy of the nation is ‘nuclear energy for all, nuclear weapons for none’.

Israel, however, has a massive stockpile of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons it has never declared. American hypocrisy in the Middle East has never been more conspicuous and it is causing the United States to lose the respect of the world.

Press TV: So you would say that the US doesn’t really intend to have this stand-off resolved? Fetzer: Well, it would be very desirable. I certainly do believe that the phone call between Obama and Rouhani was a move in the right direction. But what could they expect to have from Iran that Iran hasn’t already given. It seems to me this is window dressing – a staged performance. It would be very nice if something were to come out of it, but I myself have no confidence in either John Kerry or Barack Obama at this point in time. Only the world’s international pressure is going to bring about a resolution, which would have to be favorable to Iran since Iran has done nothing wrong.

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Jim Fetzer, a former Marine Corps officer, is McKnight Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth.