Iran opens to the West. Latin America raises the voice

There was great attention during the works of the United Nations General Assembly towards Iran’s new President. However the debate of the last week was not characterized just by the Middle East question.

Iran and Middle East

In contrast to Ahmadinejad, Iran’s President Hasan Rouhani doesn’t deny the Holocaust or predicts that Israel has to disappear from the Map. He has clearly made a break from his ultraconservative predecessor, and from his politics of confrontation and provocation.

His Iran will be an anchor of stability in a volatile region and he highlighted his commitment to resolve regional conflicts with diplomacy.

On the sides of the General Assembly in New York he called on Israel to acknowledge its nuclear arsenal and join the Non-Proliferation Treaty. He also criticized the country for being the only Middle East state to not sign onto the pact.

“Almost four decades of international efforts to establish a nuclear-​weapon-​free zone in the Middle East have regrettably failed. He added that all nuclear activities in the region should be subject to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections and nuclear safeguards.

“No nation should possess nuclear weapons, since there are no right hands for these wrong weapons,” he said. “As long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use, threat of use and proliferation persist. The only absolute guarantee is their total elimination.”

Latin America

The latin american countries drew the attention to the global network of electronic espionage, seeking more respect for their rights and their sovereignty. It was also proposed a reform of the United Nations Security Council.

Dilma Youssef highlighted that citizens’ personal data, corporate information and diplomatic information had been intercepted, as well as communications of the Office of the President.  “Tampering in such a manner in the affairs of other countries is a breach of international law and an affront to the principles that must guide relations among them, especially among friendly nations.”

“The right to safety of citizens of one country”, she said, “could never be guaranteed by violating fundamental human rights of citizens of another”. As many other Latin Americans, she had fought against authoritarianism and censorship, and she could not be defend the right to privacy — of individuals and the nation itself. In the absence of privacy, there could be no true freedom of expression and opinion, and therefore, no effective democracy. In the absence of respect for sovereignty, there was no basis for the relationship among nations. She demanded from the United States’ Government explanations, apologies and guarantees that such procedures would never be repeated.

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales said that much had been heard about democracy, respect and social justice during the debate. But, he asked, “What justice are they talking about? What democracy were they talking about when countries like the United States could spy even on their democratic allies? What peace could be discussed when there were so many unemployed in that country and yet billions of dollars went to military expenditure every year?”

He said terrorism was not to be fought with more military spending but with more democracy, more social justice and more education.

The West can maybe be happy for the the detente of its relations with a part of Middle East, but it has certainly to reconsider its behavior towards that part of the world who decided to get through several years of misery and oppression.