JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMERICA’S LACK OF RESPECT FOR LAW – WE HAVE NO INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS CAPABLE OF DEFENDING OR ENFORCING INTERNATIONAL LAW – AMERICA’S LONG HISTORY AS A SCOFFLAW AT HOME AND ABROAD – FINE WORDS OF FOUNDING DOCUMENTS NEVER TREATED AS UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES – ATTACKING INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND TREATIES – EUROPE’S INEFFECTUAL CHARACTER AFTER 75 YEARS OF OCCUPATION – CHINA RUSSIA AND IRAN MUST WORK TOGETHER UNDER THE ASSUMPTION OF THE UNITED STATES BEING UNFRIENDLY TO THEIR VITAL INTERESTS

John Chuckman


EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MOHAMMAD ZARIF IN GLOBAL TIMES

 “International community must stop US destroying the world of laws”


I agree completely with Foreign Minister Zarif. He is a very sympathetic and intelligent spokesman.

But the ugly truth is that America has never been a nation with much regard for laws.

Its entire history is a long parade of wars and conquests and contempt for others. Native Americans, Mexico, Spain, Cuba, South America, the Philippines, Hawaii, and on into much of the rest of the world after WWII.

The fine words of America’s founding documents have never been treated as universal principles. They are reserved for application only to Americans, and, in fact even a great many Americans have been, and are, excluded.

In America’s own domestic affairs, there is often contempt for the rule of law.

That's why America has so many guns in private hands. Contempt for rule of law has a great deal to do with America’s fanatical gun culture.

I like Zarif's appeal, but who is there to defend or enforce international law?

America has manipulated and terribly weakened the UN and other great international organizations. Right now, it owes about two billion dollars in past dues set by treaty obligations. As well, it has quit several vital UN agencies and stopped all support, as with UNESCO and the WHO.

It has corrupted and bent other international organizations to do its will, as it did with the OPCW to enable America to bomb Syria without cause.

Europe, after seventy-five years of occupation, has demonstrated how ineffectual it is in the face of America’s demands. Instead of resisting America’s terrible destruction in the Middle East, it accepted the consequences of millions of desperate refugees nearly destabilizing its societies, refugees largely the result of American bombing.

And just look at the contempt for treaties today by the US. The Iran nuclear agreement (JCPOA) arbitrarily ripped up. The INF Treaty ripped up. The Open Skies Treaty ripped up. Even the Start Treaty is in question.  Every one of these American actions throws away immense amounts of past careful work by intelligent and dedicated people and makes the world a more dangerous place.

We see American lawlessness in Iran, in Venezuela, in Cuba, in Bolivia, in Brazil, in Ukraine, in Syria, in Yemen, in Iraq, and in still other places. America uses acts of war, like blockades, it uses illegal sanctions, it uses covert dirty tricks, it steals national assets, and it even murders leaders sometimes. Hard to imagine a less law-abiding set of behaviors, short of outright wars of aggression.

I do think major states like China and Russia and Iran must work together under the clear assumption that the US is not going to be at all friendly to their vital interests over the foreseeable future. It is an unfortunate thing to have to say, but I think it is just the truth.

“None are so blind as those who will not see” perfectly describes America’s power establishment today.