IRAN DAILY'S EDITORIAL TODAY

I'm pasting in today's editorial from the Iran Daily so you can read it for yourself. The paper comes in PDF format with no archive (as far as I can tell). This editorial expresses the idea that the Iraq war has the potential for cutting against US interests if understood in terms of securing perpetual global military superiority. But pay attention to the democracy-promoting rhetoric at the end of the piece. One critical test for US foreign policy is going to be the ability to grit out teeth and bear harsh criticisms from democratic governments without succumbing to the temptation of seeing them as enemies. (I'm not saying that Iran is democratic right now; what I'm saying is that democrats are probably going to have more success as critics of the US than as open friends.)

NEW WORLD (DIS)ORDER, Nawan Khan, Brussels

It would not be any exaggeration to say that after 20 March, the day the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq started, the world will not be the same.

From the ravages and ruins of Baghdad a new world order, or perhaps disorder, will emerge.

Henceforth, much will depend on the free people's will to confront the American drive for golbal domination and create a multipolar world order in which the global decision-making process is no longer controlled by one superpower.

The war on Iraq, among other things, will force a change in the way many people see the new world order, from a view based on the supremacy of UN and international law to one that we must find our own solutions to our problems, uninhibited by the chains of international law or legitimacy.

The first lesson the US-UK invasion of Iraq has given to the world is a verification of the ancient adage that 'might makes right' which has almost made the UN irrelevant.

To say the least, the world body has suffered a major setback which could be partially checked depending on its role in post-war developments.

What fate awaits other equally-failed regional or international bodies like the Arab League, the OIC, NAM etc.? Have they become obsolete?

There should be no doubt that the US agenda goes much deeper than it appears and involves grandeur designs in the region than just controlling Iraq's oil or taking out Saddam Hussein.

Can assurances given by Washington officials that the US will not attack other countries in the region, be taken at face value?

A thorough soul-searching in the Arab-Islamic world is the need of the day. First and foremost, inter-Arab relations need [an] overhaul.

Could the Anglo-American invasion have taken place without the cooperation and help provided by certain Arab regimes in the Persian Gulf?

Talk about Arab brotherhood and solidarity has been blown to pieces by bombs on Iraq dropped by US planes flying from bases in Kuwait and other Arab states.

Demonstrators in the Arab streets are calling on their leaders to turn inaction, powerlessness and defeatism into action, power and victory through solidarity and unity.

A robust and genuine democratization process must be launched in the Arab-Muslim world to discourage the likes of Saddam from seizing power and impos[ing] havoc, suffering and humiliation [on] the whole region.

Relations between the Arab-Muslim world and Europe need[] to be re-examined in the wake of the blind support to the US by certain European countries.

Certainly, the war on Iraq has taken away the moral grounds from the US and Europe to preach to others about human rights, democracy and the rule of law.