Do not covet your neighbor’s oil! 3-8-2021

 

8, March 2021                     Do not covet your neighbor’s oil!

Prior to 1953, Iranians were pro American and pro-British. Scores of bright students ventured abroad to seek advanced degrees in some of the most elite colleges in the UK and US.

I was living in UK at the time and remember the “UK tabloids mocked and denigrated Mosaddeq as the “weeping” PM.

All that changed in 1953 when Britain’s super spy agency, MI6 sought the help of the CIA to overthrow the burgeoning democracy of Premier Mohammad Mosaddeq and replaced him with the Shah of Iran. The Shah quickly consolidated power and imposed a blanket of self-censorship with the aid of his dreaded secret police, the Savak. Thousands of activists were jailed or “disappeared.” America’s stooge was finally removed with the return of Ayatollah Khomeini who quickly established a theocracy.

Iranians expressed their solidarity with the Palestinians in Israel who retaliated  by killing a number of their prominent nuclear scientists. . The British, the US and the European Union remained silent in complete solidarity with the Israeli  killers. Fast forward to the historic nuclear accord signed in 2015. Sadly, a big bad American wolf was waiting to destroy the accord. On a pique of self-importance he withdrew US support much to the   chagrin of the signatures to  the agreement. Boasting he could force a regime change, Trump introduced crippling sanctions which hurt the most vulnerable, - the women of Iran who have been working for reform for decades.

The sanctions restricted oil sales and access to the global banking system, and pushed the economy into a deep recession.

 

Since 2018, the Iranian Rial has lost 68 percent of its value. In March 2020, inflation soared around 41 percent; today it hovers around 30 percent The decimation of Iran’s economy is impacting the lives of the very constituency that has been working for reform and liberalization. The slump is tearing away at their fragile gains in employment, upper management positions and leadership roles in the arts and higher education, while reducing their capacity to seek legal reforms and protections. No, Mr. Trump you have intensified anti-American sentiments and especially hurt marginalized Iranian women who were desperately trying to survive and seek a better life.

Sanctions, regime change, and covert operations are all part of the American playbook. Excessively cruel and antithetical to Christ’s teaching.  Shame on America and the UK.  Don’t. you ever read the Bible? Deuteronomy 5:21 21"You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor INCLUDING OIL!."