Chief sponsor of terrorism found: Iran

Today’s US administration has achieved nothing considerable in the international arena to boast of. Even the global US-led anti-terrorism war, which secured the incredible popularity of President George W.Bush, is still a moot point, and we shouldn't mention that the several attempts of American diplomats to settle the Palestine – Israel conflict have failed each time.

However, at the same time, we can admit with great pleasure that the English vocabulary has a new term, “axis of evil” thanks to George W. Bush and his advisers. Indeed, the term is really very convenient (in fact it has nothing to do with geometry). The countries referred to as the “axis of evil” are scattered all over the planet, from the Caribbean Sea to the Far East. It seems that the White House decided to single out the most malicious country among those referred to as the “axis of evil.” As could be expected, Iran is called the most malicious country.

President Bush soon starts his visit to Moscow. It is not a secret that the White House is extremely dissatisfied with the cooperation between Russia and Iran. Washington continuously accuses Russia of supplying modern nuclear, missile, and other technologies to Iran. It looks as though US diplomacy thinks that criticism of the Russia – Iran cooperation is good manners. At that, Washington ignores the fact that with whom they should be friends.

Again, back to the problem of “chief sponsor of terrorism." The US administration has recently mentioned Sudan and Libya approvingly, although the countries originally belonged to the “axis of evil” as well. The annual report of the White House on global terrorism, as quoted by the Financial Times, says that the two above-mentioned above countries “are getting out of the terrorism business.” Nothing negative was said about Cuba as well. This can be explained by Jimmy Carter’s recent visit to the country.

Meanwhile, as the White House claims that Iran still remains the chief sponsor of terrorism, which supplies arms and finances and organizes training camps for terrorists. The report said that, while there was no evidence that Iran had sponsored the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, it remained a powerful force in international terror.

There is no reason to believe that Washington’s criticism directed against Iran will radically change Moscow – Teheran cooperation. It would take a lot of time for George Bush to persuade Vladimir Putin to give up the development of joint projects with Iran. Russia would give up cooperation with Iran only on the condition that George Bush guarantees the compensation of economic losses after the cessation of relations with Iran.

In fact, the situation is unlikely to develop this way, as billions of dollars would be needed. Is the White House ready to compensate for the losses of Russian companies? Does the USA expects that Moscow will give up its cooperation with Iran as a good will gesture just because Washington dislikes Iran?

Vasily Bubnov PRAVDA.Ru

Photo from NTVRU.com archives

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/05/22/41516.html