Today the US Senate passed a bill [1] which will impose economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran. The plan is to “target companies that export gasoline to Iran or help expand the country’s oil-refining capacity by, in part, denying them loans and other assistance from U.S. financial institutions.”
I argued in a post I wrote last year [2] for my blog [3] that this is collective punishment, and is therefore immoral and shouldn’t be done. Despite our leaders’ hearts constantly weeping for the Iranian populace — “‘The situation in Iran is terrible and it’s worsening. People are dying in Iran as we speak,’ said Senator John McCain just before the Senate [sanctions] vote” — sanctions lower the standard of living for all Iranian civilians.
The counterargument is that the ends justify the means; not a very Kantian [4] ethical argument, but an argument nonetheless. Well, in that case, shouldn’t we use the same means to pressure Israel to abandon its occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights in Syria, and its aggressive stance [5] towards Lebanon? Proponents of sanctions and even military action against Iran feel that an Iranian nukes program is a threat to world peace. I respond, what [6] world [7] peace [8]? The reason that peace with the Arab world is not achievable right now is that the aforementioned territories plus Iraq and Afghanistan are all currently occupied by Western militaries. The Arab stance is, “no justice, no peace.” My claim is that Israeli aggression in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon is currently blocking peace, while Iranian nuclear weapons are not yet a reality. (Of course, our own War on Terror is also making world peace — tautologically — impossible. If only we could impose sanctions on the United States!)
So which should be a US priority? That’s easy. If our concern is our continued domination of the Middle East, we should prioritize the neutralization of Iran’s nuclear program — all the while framing our actions as “protecting world peace.” In reality, we are protecting our own immoral regional project which is threatened by an Iran willing to put nuclear money where its Holocaust-denying mouth is. But these sorts of punitive actions will likely just entrench Iran’s theocracy more, and probably increase public support there for nukes to boot. And round, round, round we go [9].
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Calvin Pollak [12]
Latest posts by Calvin Pollak (Posts [13])
- Against libertarian exceptionalism [14] - September 14, 2010
- 9/11/01 was the opposite of a sobering moment [15] - September 11, 2010
- Does internet freedom = political freedom? [16] - March 12, 2010
- One dude’s foreign policy views vis à vis his libertarian moral code [17] - February 12, 2010
- Senate approves more sanctions against Iran [18] - January 29, 2010