With the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as French President several months ago, there is a smell in the air of renewed and stronger relationship with the West - which typically means US, Israel and Great Britain. Sarkozy has expressed antipathy towards Iran, vowed to stand with Israel and has opposed Russia’s tendency to control European politics by virtue of energy disruptions. He has also promised a bigger military role for France in Afghanistan and has taken a strong stance against Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities. All of this is good news for the US, with the exception for Bill O’Reilly who will lose some of his talking points about France. However, he is unlikely to suffer from drops in ratings, as Switzerland is likely heading towards the status France once had in his eyes - a country which values its own interests more than US’s.

On March 18th, 2008 Switzerland signed a gas contract with Iran estimated to be valued at $28 billion to $42 billion. In a predictable move, Israel and United States immediately denounced this deal, citing that it is “precisely the wrong message at a time when Iran continues to defy UN Security Council resolutions.” Interestingly, the statement adds, “Even if the deal does not violate the letter of UN sanctions, it violates the spirit of the sanctions”, as Haaretz reports.

In other words, the law is not really what matters for either Israel or the United States, as the statements implicitly admit, rather it’s the spirit that matters. More crucially, the presupposition that underlies these statements is that United States and Israel rule the world. Other countries are simply not allowed to discuss or sign any economic deals with a country that US/Israel doesn’t permit. It doesn’t much matter to the United States or Israel that other countries may have its own national interests, such as diversifying its energy suppliers; what’s really important is what’s at stake for the US and Israel.

The president of the World Jewish Congress Ronald S. Lauder criticized the deal citing that “the visit by the Swiss foreign minister was a propagandistic triumph for the mullahs”. I am curious, if the reverse happened and Switzerland simply took orders from Washington and Jerusalem and didn’t sign the deal, would it be a “propagandistic triumph” for the right-wingers and Neo-Cons in US and Israel? Does US and Israel believe that there are considerations for other countries outside of US/Israel based interests?

In a more sober analysis, Asia Times Online article examines and critically evaluates Iran’s position in the region amid the US and Israel’s implicit threats. While US and Israel continue to oppose any moves that seek to integrate Iran into world economy, Dr. Kaveh L Afrasiabi forecasts a brighter future for Iran. He says,

The Iranians see more and more nations, not only in the Third World, becoming convinced of the unfairness of the UN sanctions. The recent US$10-22 billion Iran-Swiss gas deal, raising the ire of US officials without a comparable negative backlash in Berlin and a number of other European capitals, points at frustration in the US’s policy of isolating Iran, a main energy hub for Europe. Signs of a discrete parting of the ways between the US and the European Union are already discernible in the controversy about this gas deal. This is bound to encourage similar deals between Iran and European gas and oil companies; the net of sanctions is wearing thin and gaping holes in it will soon be so huge as to make it irrelevant.

Perhaps he is right. It’s time to stop playing politics in an international arena demonizing countries that pose no serious threat to peace in order to stop their economic progress and gain political concessions. The US/Israel hegemony in the Middle East is edging closer and closer to a close.