Europe's Role in Iran's New Conundrum

Roozonline:

In his first press conference after being elected Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the most extreme of Iranian's conservatives, was asked about Iran’s nuclear program. He responded by taking a hardline position that does not bode well for those hoping to resolve the standoff between Iran and the West over the issue. Mr. Ahmadinejad's position is exactly what was to be expected of him.

He came into power with the support of certain military elements of the conservative party which from the beginning have clearly opposed cooperation with the West on the nuclear issue, and in fact attacking such efforts with harsh criticisms. Hence, the new president's stance on this issue is not surprising. But what is interesting to consider is Europe's share of responsibility for Mr. Ahmadinejad's positions. READ MORE

Let us not forget that in the beginning of its negotiations, the three European powers listed human rights and democracy as part of their nuclear program discussion with Iran. Down the road, the Europeans backed down on the "humanitarian" issues, ceding ground on the human rights and democracy issues in return for nuclear safeguards from Iran.

The natural consequence was that during last year, even during the most egregious violations of human rights and democracy in Iran, we did not witness any decisive reaction from the E.U. During that period, parliamentary elections brought forward an undemocratic vetting process that rejected an unprecedented number of candidates critical of conservatives. We also witnessed harsh and cruel treatment of journalists, bloggers, and women in general.

In the face of all this, the Europeans refrained from any serious reaction, clinging to the false hope of closing the "big deal" with the Iranian government. This behavior sent the clearest signal to Iranian conservatives regarding the European position on recent presidential elections. The conservatives fully understood that the E.U. would not be concerned with how the elections were held, as long as the process produced a "strongman" who could negotiate a deal on nuclear safeguards.

The Iranian presidential elections were in fact held in a manner that didn't meet any of the international standards used to measure free, fair and competitive elections. As a result, now a representative of the most conservative faction of Iran in his first press conference called human rights concerns "redundant and disgusting" and in regards to the nuclear issue took an uncompromising position. We can expect the same uncompromising approach to repeat itself in other areas of strategic importance to Europe.

In other words, the E.U. should now understand that by focusing on its strategic interests while looking the other way on democracy and human rights concerns, it has directly contributed to the ascendance of a president who from the beginning has shown inflexibility on those same strategic interests. The election of this president presents an instructive lesson for those European politicians who have no reservations about negotiating away values such as democracy and human rights. Of course in Iran's case, these politicians can expect to see other lessons coming down the pike. ____________________________________________________________

Farah Karimi is an Iranian born politician and elected member of the Dutch Parliament. She is a frequent contributor to Rooz.

Well said.