New «Axis of Evil»?

"Axis of evil" is a term used to stigmatize countries against which the U.S. considers launching military conflicts in the near future.

In his State of the Union Address in January 2002, President George W. Bush labeled Iran, North Korea and Iraq as part of an "axis of evil".

"States like these (Iran, North Korea and Iraq), and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.  By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger.  They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred.  They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States.  In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic."

Well, unconsciously Bush was describing the acts and policies carried out by his administration in the four years following his historic speech.

It's the U.S. who threatened and continues to threaten the world peace by launching two illegal wars, one in Afghanistan and another in Iraq, and supporting a third one against Palestinians.

And regarding the threat of weapons of mass destruction, the U.S.'s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction is believed to be one of the largest in the world along with Russia's. Also Israel is widely believed to possess a substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons and has intermediate-range ballistic missiles to deliver them. It's also believed to be developing chemical and biological weapons programs, but refuses to admit or deny that it has a nuclear weapon program. Instead, it follows a policy of deliberate ambiguity, arguing that even if it was proven that it possesses such weapons it wouldn't be the first to "introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East".

But the U.S. doesn't fear Israeli WMD, it was concerned about Iraq's never found WMD and now about Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program.

And about world's stability, it's the U.S. who has created the world's most serious catastrophes and bloodiest conflicts in decades.

Who should be labeled as members of Axis of Evil?

Yesterday, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused the United States, Britain and Israel of constituting an "axis of evil" and being responsible for the current tension between Muslim Shias and Sunnis, which broke out in Iraq and threatens to spill over into the entire Middle East region and the Arab world.

"America, Britain and the Zionist regime (Israel) are an axis of evil against the Islamic world and the whole of humanity," Iran's student news agency ISNA quoted Guards Commander-in-Chief Yahya Rahim Safavi as saying.

"They are trying to make enmity among Islamic countries and to make divisions among Shias and Sunnis."

Rahim's remarks echoed earlier comments by other Iranian officials who blamed Washington for the bloody sectarian conflict in Iraq that has led to the death of scores of Iraqis and continues to claim more civilian lives everyday.

In a May 2002 speech titled "Beyond the Axis of Evil", the U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton, added Cuba, Libya and Syria to the nations that the U.S. believes are trying to obtain chemical or biological weapons.

Bolton also suggested that the U.S. might engage in military confrontation with those countries.

The use of the term "axis" brings back memories of the "Axis powers" of World War II (Germany, Italy and Japan) and functions to prepare the public for acceptance of war against nations that are included in this axis. But the U.S.'s use of it is misleading, as it refers to an alliance of certain states that pose a threat to the world, simply because they oppose Mighty America's policies.

Ironically, Iran and Iraq, whom the U.S. tied in one alliance have been bitter foes for decades, and there was never a pattern of collaboration between North Korea and those two states.

Source: AJP