As more and more countries in the world recognise that Swaziland is not a democracy and that a small ruling elite is milking the majority of people, the kingdom has to go to extreme lengths to find friends in the international community.
Now news is emerging that Swazi Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini has met with officials in Iran to establish economic ties.
The Iran news agency FARS reported that Dlamini met with Iran’s Foreign Ministry Deputy for African Affairs, Ali Bagheri. FARS said Swaziland was interested in establishing new ties with Iran in regard to building power plants and sanitary cooperation.
I don’t need to tell you how the international community views Iran at the moment (think ‘axis of evil’). It all goes to show how desperate Swaziland has become.
Surprised to see you slip into the neo-con line of thinking so easily. Iran has above-board business/development/cooperation dealings with just about every major nation on earth, the Germans (Siemans) are actually involved in its nuclear program, the South Africans purchase and refine some of their oil, and you can check the British Iranian Business Association website (http://www1.bibauk.com/) to see just how much moves between London and Tehran. It is only the present US administration that continuously warns everyone else against doing business with Iran, truth is even their closest allies (UK) take no notice. Swaziland has nothing to fear from Iran or any relationship it may build with it. The vast majority of your daily anaylsis of the goings on in the Kingdom is spot on, this is a cheap shot and the kind of irrational anti-Iranian sentiment that has only intensified Iran's isolation. I look forward to this cycle being broken by the Obama administration which coupled with the possible defeat of Ahmadinejad in the election next year, will have everyone coming out of the closet as 'friends of Iran'. Good on SD for getting in there early I say.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Swazisoc, here’s an extract from a report by Human Rights Watch that looks at what was going on in Iran in 2007. For more go to this link
ReplyDeletehttp://hrw.org/englishwr2k8/docs/2008/01/31/iran17597.htm
Respect for basic human rights in Iran, especially freedom of expression and assembly, continued to deteriorate in 2007. The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad routinely detains people solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association, and regularly tortures and mistreats those detained. The Judiciary, which is accountable to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is responsible for many serious human rights violations. The government increasingly cites “national security” as a pretext for silencing expressions of dissent or calls for reform.
Freedom of Expression
Iranian authorities systematically suppress freedom of expression and opinion by imprisoning journalists and editors and strictly controlling publishing and academic freedom. The few independent dailies that remain heavily self-censor. The government has fired dissident university professors or forced them into early retirement. Many writers and intellectuals who have evaded imprisonment have left the country or have ceased to be critical. The Ministry of Culture and Guidance increasingly denies publication permits to publishing houses, including republication permits for books previously in circulation.
In 2007 the authorities also targeted student and internet journalists in an effort to prevent the independent dissemination of news and information. The government systematically blocks websites inside Iran and abroad that carry political news and analysis.
Juvenile Death Penalty
Iran leads the world in the number of death sentences handed down to defendants for crimes they committed under age 18. At least 70 juvenile offenders are presently on death row, and at this writing Iran has executed two juvenile offenders in 2007.
Richard
Agreed, Iran's human rights record is deplorable, as is that of Saudi Arabia, China, Libya, the current administration in Iraq and many others that all continue to do plenty of business with the US, Britain, the EU et al. To suggest that no one else should be doing so on account of this appalling record is to apply double standards. More to the point, the neo-con discourse that coined the term 'axis of evil', told us there were WMDs in Iraq that could be launched at British military bases in Cyprus in 45 minutes, and somehow linked Al-Qaeda with Saddam Hussain's regime, has finally been rejected in the nation it was formented. As I said, the hope is this will be followed by the removal of Ahmadinejad (...not straight forward, granted). Swaziland needs all the help it can get and until such a time as the rest of the world stops doing business with the likes of say Libya, who paid some blood money and handed over a scape-goat to rot in a Scottish jail to get the Pan Am bombing sanctions dropped, who are we to question their judgement? One thing is for sure however, in this new spirit of 'engagement', versus the old 'axis of evil/us and them/we won't talk' stance, the likes of Mugabe and Mswati will have nowhere left to hide, no matter who they're doing business with.
ReplyDelete-BTW: I withdraw the earlier 'irrational anti-Iranian sentiment' comment. To take a dim view of the current Iranian regime in view of the situation on the ground in that country is both rational and very reasonable. Trouble is I know quite a number of Iranians and their biggest battle/frustration is they are lumped in with the 'axis of evil' view of Iran and the increasingly irrational utterances of their president.
ReplyDelete