May 25, 2007
iranian.com

Once again talks about negotiation between Islamic government of Iran and American leadership have become a hot topic in both countries. Leaders of Islamic Republic, as always, are issuing all kinds of mixed messages through promises of helping Americans in Iraq and willingness to negotiate and also repeating same old rhetoric on issues like nuclear activities and presence of American troops in Persian Gulf region. From the other side, American policy makers have been tangled in a power struggle since last congressional election which has greatly influenced their ability to deal with non domestic issues.

Leaders of Islamic regime in Iran appear to believe that this divide among elements in American leadership is in their interest and openly try to capitalize on that in order to find a support in American government for trouble free extension of their system. This is not the first time and the only instance that, despite all rhetorical slogans in every Friday prayer, Islamic regime has made attempt to get closer to Americans. Islamic Republic government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars since more than a decade ago through institutions which were inherited from previous system in order to buy "friendship" of some Americans who show interest in getting close to Islamic regime of Iran.

Formation of institutions like AIC (American Iranian Council) with sponsorship and support of well known and influential figures and corporations in America about 10 years ago, to encourage "dialogue" between leaders of Islamic regime and United States, has been one of the methods that have been tried in this direction with help of some Iranian elements. It is obvious that those who were involved in creation of this organization could not have come up with the idea overnight and having corporations like Shell, Chevron and Exxon on their side to "encourage dialogue" with oil rich Iran is a clear indication that no charity work is involved either!

There is no doubt that "dialogue" in order to resolve an issue is the best option depending on how dialogue is to be handled and by whom. The issue is that "what problems" can be resolved through dialogue between American government and Islamic Republic regime of Iran which have not been resolved so far? Will this resolution have interests of Iranian people as a nation included or just a certain portion of society will benefit from it?

There is no question that friendly relation between the two nations have a lot of advantages for both under proper circumstances but letís see who benefited from "dialogue" and resolution of issues between Islamic government of Iran and others like European governments? Have the friendly relations between Islamic Republic regime in Iran and European governments, Japan and Russia along with their generous contracts with European and Russian companies had any positive effect inside Iran as far as conditions of economy and human rights for the public?

A glance into the day to day events in Iran shows the Islamic regime is always busy with brutal suppression of any kind of objections from working groups like, teachers, public transportation drivers and labors and also students in the name of "national security" and the answer to the above question is definitely "NO"! Despite constant increase in revenue of the Islamic government particularly from oil and gas sector, the quality of living for majority of Iranian population has been in decline and extreme poverty has resulted in opportunities for some disgraceful type of businesses to boom. This makes one wonder if "friendly" business relations of Islamic Republic with all western nations (except United States) and the rest of the world, has not helped to improve the quality of life for people of Iran in the past decades then how the friendly relations with American government and American oil corporations will be helpful to them?

The scandals of bribery with French and Belgian corporations in which associates of high ranking members of Islamic regimeís leadership were implicated is tip of the iceberg on how the business is conducted in Islamic Republic government. Coming of American corporations to Iran under current system will never help anyone but Islamic regime leaders and those who lobby for their own share from this big pie while majority of Iranian people who were robbed of their prosperity by this corrupt regime continue their struggle with poverty and suffer from extreme human right abuses under this brutal and barbaric system. Islamic government of Iran that has never shown any respect for humane values, by clinging to Islamic ideology as an excuse, has made it very clear through unorthodox behavior that it will not hold back of doing anything to protect itself against the will of Iranian people even if it is making a deal with devil himself!

Flood of petrodollars during the years after end of Iran-Iraq war has provided Islamic republic leaders with a big leverage to influence the affairs in the region and also attract many Iranians outside the country to work for the interests of their system. In a world that well reputed magazines and news paper sell their columns and pages to be filled with any kind of material that money can buy, lobbying for Islamic republic has become a very profitable business. Not surprisingly, some of highly educated Iranians have become actively involved in order to make it to the list of rich and famous, fast and with easy money!

Interestingly enough, Dr. Amirahmadi, a well known figure in one of these lobbying groups, in his website declares the source of all problems of Iranian society to be "lack of vision and leadership" while listing giant corporations like Shell, Exxon and Chevron as a sponsors of his lobby group to encourage "dialogue" with Islamic government in Iran! Apparently Total of France, Gazprom of Russia and Statoil of Belgium were not good in "encouraging anything" and we now need others to get working on this "innovative vision" to bring prosperity for some people and continuity for a brutal system which is barbarically suppressing the most basic rights and liberties of people in Iran! Comment