Every politician subscribes to the doctrine of US exceptionalism

By Charles Dunaway

President Rouhani is absolutely correct that the next US president should respect international treaties and law.  However, since World War II, no US president has respected international law. US politicians, diplomats, think tanks, and academics often speak of the “rules-based international order”, but they are not referring to established, treaty-based international law.  

The Rand Corporation, a major US think tank, has admitted that “Primarily, the United States has viewed mechanisms of order as tools to achieve narrow US self-interests.” The international rules that the US government continually talks about are the rules imposed by the US on other nations, not those it follows.  The US sees itself as the enforcer of the international order rather than one of many nations agreeing to abide by mutually acceptable rules.  

A nation that intends to remain sovereign, to organize its political and economic life in a way that benefits its citizens, cannot submit to the so-called international order imposed by the US.  That liberal international order requires other nations to adopt a trade regime that permits Western corporations to control their resources, and join military alliances dominated by the US. Any nation that refuses to abrogate its sovereignty in these ways becomes a target for regime change.

Imposing its will is and will continue to be the chief objective of US foreign policy, regardless of the outcome of the current election. US diplomacy will continue to consist of demanding that other nations submit, rather than negotiating to achieve mutually acceptable solutions to common problems.  

The stark and irreconcilable divide in US politics means that just as treaties negotiated by the Obama regime were cast aside by the Trump regime, so any treaties negotiated by the Biden regime will last only until the US government changes hands.  

The American people largely ignore their government’s foreign policy because they have no possible way to affect it.  US media will not publish the views of anyone who does not support US global hegemony. Every politician, regardless of party, subscribes to the doctrine of US exceptionalism, and all but a courageous few fully support the Zionist occupation of Palestine.

The fact that Iran has no intention of building a nuclear bomb and has not and does not pose a threat to the United States is unknown to the American people and the politicians and media intend to keep it that way.

As President Rouhani indicates, the first step in any negotiation is mutual respect. The next is a commitment by all parties to obey treaty-based international law.  The US seems unable to do either.

President Rouhani: Next US administration should submit to Iranian nation's will

Iran’s President Rouhani says regardless of who becomes the US president, the next US administration will have to submit to the Iranian nation.

*Charles Dunaway is an American political commentator in Oregon. He is a retired computer systems consultant who has been producing and hosting a radio program called Wider View for the last 4 years. The program is distributed nationally by the Pacifica Network and is available as a podcast at widerviewradio.podbean.com.  The program focuses on the United States' imperialist role in the world and the political stagnation in the nation that helps maintain that role.

Dunaway recorded this article for Press TV website.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk