The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Iran for the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement to be held on 26-31 August. Non-aligned nations comprise two-thirds of all U.N. member states and it would be remiss of Mr Ban if he chose to ignore the event. Nevertheless, the USA and Israel are urging the Secretary General to boycott the event. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland complained that:
"Iran is going to manipulate this opportunity and the attendees to try to deflect attention from its own failings."
So? Is not that what most nations do? And certainly the US and Israel would be no exceptions. Seasoned politicians are aware of this and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is one of the best there is. Avoiding dialogue because one or more of the parties will try to get the upper hand would be like avoiding a marathon because other competitors are going to try to out race you. Boycotting the event would not only smack of arrogance or defeatism, it would also mean missing a golden opportunity for rapprochement with the government in Tehran.
"The Secretary-General looks forward to the Summit as an opportunity to work with the participating Heads of State and Government, including the host country, towards solutions on issues that are central to the global agenda including follow-up to the Rio+20 Conference on sustainable development, disarmament, conflict prevention, and support for countries in Transition.”
If the US and Israel wish to sit in their ivory towers, they should at least let others get on with their jobs.
No comments:
Post a Comment