Now it’s not normal for me to have any political views whatsoever (unlike the plethora expressed on Sam’s blog, and to a lesser extent on Jim’s) but the treatment of Iran is really getting me worked up. I saw an article on the BBC News website today in which Blair and other UN leaders are threatening Iran because they have resumed nuclear research. This complacency by the UN seems remarkably similar to the cartel of countries threatening Germany after the Treaty of Versailles, and that, as we all know, lead to the second world war. Perhaps they are just looking for an excuse to invade Iran as they did to Iraq.
But more than this, it is totally hypocritical for some set of countries which have nuclear weapons (or the ability to get them from countries which do) to prevent other countries from trying to obtain similar technology, especially if it is for peaceful means as Iran claims (not that I really believe what Iran says anyway). Why do they have the right to say what country can research what area of science? How come they are the ones who will use the knowledge “sensibly” whereas anyone else will not? It is just bullying.
I guess this is just another example of abuse of empire which we see throughout history, and which the Bible warns against. Paul tells people to submit to the governing empire, but reminds all those in it that they are put in place by God and should act in accordance with that. History teaches us that empires rise and empires fall (for example, the Babylonian, Persian, Assrian, Egpytian, Roman and more recently the British Empire). There is nothing that the US or any other empire structure can do to preserve its status; eventually it will collapse as the tide of history moves onwards. To have the immense privilige of empire is to have a massive responsibility to those who are under you, and more importantly to those who are threatened by you. Surely, when the next world super-power comes along (probably China), the way in which the west has respected or threatened the rest of the world during its’ tenure of world domination will be reciprocated in a large degree by it.