Last week I wrote about an article I read by Lee Harris concerning the resurgence of socialist thought in Latin America. In it, Harris discussed Carl Marx's belief that "the would-be revolutionary had to learn to be patient; he had to wait until the capitalist system had failed on its own account, and only then would he be able to play out his historical role." Apparently, according to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that day has arrived. The New York Times reports on a charming communication from Iran's leader, to President Bush, sent through the Swiss embassy in Tehran.
Iran's president declared in a letter to President Bush that democracy had failed worldwide and lamented ''an ever-increasing global hatred'' of the U.S. government. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice swiftly rejected the letter, saying it didn't resolve questions about Tehran's suspect nuclear program.
The letter coincides with negotiations currently underway in the U.N. Security Council regarding Iran's nuclear program, which Iran insists is only for producing electricity, despite its enormous reserves of oil and natural gas. The U.S. and its European allies are looking to "restrain Tehran's nuclear ambitions." China and Russia are resisting movement toward sanctions or threat of force to "send a message to Iran that its pursuit of uranium enrichment must be suspended to allay international concerns that it is pursuing nuclear weapons." Instead, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Tuesday, "We hope relevant sides can show flexibility, restraint and calmness in order to create favorable conditions for the resumption of talks." The letter from Ahmadinejad looks likely to be used by the Chinese and Russians to support their position. Needless to say, it doesn't look like the talks in the Security Council will be wrapping up any time soon.
The Times article also contains some of the text of the unofficially released letter to President Bush. (Let's call a spade a spade here. It was leaked.) The letter largely ignores the nuclear issue, focusing for the most part on the various perceived failings and flaws of democratic America, including the standard declarations that the U.S. is a Zionist puppet. The part of the letter that would probably be of most interest to Marx is its conclusion that democracy has reached its expiration date.
I'm sure Marx would be pleased to see there are those in the Middle East who are taking up his banner, although I doubt a theocracy is what he had in mind to replace liberal democracy. Satirist Scott Ott of Scrappleface has his own translation of the letter from Iran's president. It includes a list of things the U.S. can do to help ease the tensions with the Iranian regime.Liberalism and Western-style democracy ''have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity,'' according to the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press late Monday from diplomats who declined to be identified because the text had not formally been made public.
''Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the Liberal democratic systems,'' it read.
Ahmadinejad also suggests that Bush should look inward, saying hatred is increasing worldwide of the United States, and history shows how ''repressive and cruel governments do not survive.''
5) Wipe Israel off the face of the map. Replace with goat ranch.
4) U.S. buys Iranian oil. I make threatening statements causing uncertainty in petroleum markets. We use the windfall profits to pay Russia to help us make nuclear devices, and to pay China to stop U.N. sanctions. U.S. continues to buy Iranian oil.
3) Get U.N. to adopt ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy regarding uranium enrichment.
2) Put Zionists in boxcars. Send back to Europe. Replace Israel with goat ranch.
1) U.S. joins global Muslim Caliphate, ensuring peace and bountiful supplies of enriched uranium for all of Allah’s people.
The New York Times article may be a bit more factually accurate than Scrappleface, reporting what the letter actually said. However, I'd be willing to bet that Scott Ott's translation hits closer to what the letter meant.
Update: May 10, 2006 My apologies. Yesterdays NYT article appears to have become fishwrap, even online. I tried to hunt it down, but can't find the same article in their archives. The link seems to be lost at Scrappleface as well. I'm not sure if this is a consistent NYT thing, that their links don't stay linked, but I'll have to keep that in mind in the future when referencing their articles.
Update II: Michael Rosen, at TCS Daily, has a good summary of the letter, and what it reveals about the regime in Iran.
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