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TEHRAN, Nov 3_Iran has an extremely robust internal economy and Iran is capable of manufacturing virtually everything it needs, including food, technology and building materials.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club(YJC)_A professor of anthropology at the University of Minnesota praised Iran has an extremely robust internal economy and Iran is capable of manufacturing virtually everything it needs, including food, technology and building materials.
William O Beeman is an internationally known expert on the Middle East and the Islamic World, particularly Iran, the Persian Gulf Region and Central Asia. He has also conducted research in Japan, India, Nepal, China and Europe. Beeman is also an actor, author, and singer.
The following is the full text of the interview:
1)Young Journalists Club: Despite Washington’s policy of “maximum pressure” and its most severe sanctions against Tehran, the Islamic Republic has been able to control prices and inflation in the country through adopting certain financial strategies which are in line with the policy of “resistance economy”. What is your take on that? Do you think that the resistance will work in the future?
Despite what leaders in Washington say, Iran has an extremely robust internal economy. I hesitate to suggest this, but weaning Iran off of petroleum production as a dominant source of income may be beneficial in the future in diversifying the economy further. Iran is capable of manufacturing virtually everything it needs, including food, technology and building materials. I refer to the excellent research by Dr. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani who points out that employment in Iran is increasing, inflation is reducing and restructuring inside Iran is reducing the effect of sanctions. Dr. Salehi-Isfahani, trained at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, is the premier expert on Iran's economy. For more, please see his blog at https://djavadsalehi.com/
2)Young Journalists Club: Since October 17, the Lebanese in Beirut and other cities have been taking to the streets to express their strong discontent with the government’s failure to find solutions to the country’s economic crisis. What are the main reasons behind the ongoing anti-government demonstrations?Can you please name some of the main achievements of the protests so far?
This unrest in Lebanon is the result of an economic crisis resulting in a backlash against Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who has since resigned. His father, former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assassinated. Saad Hariri was the Sunni prime minister in a country that is majority Shi'a, He is the fourth richest man in Lebanon. The unrest is due to the concentration of wealth in the Maronite Christian and Sunni elite communities. Hezbollah, which is the guardian of Shi'a interests in Lebanon, has now become much more powerful in Lebanon having taken 13 seats in the Lebanese parliament. However, Hezbollah and Amal (headed by Shi'a leader Nabih) together now have 29 seats. The French-imposed constitution reserves half of the Parliamentary seats for Christians, despite the fact that the Maronite population is estimated at about 15% of the total population of Lebanon. According to this constitution The President, is always a Maronite Christian. The Speaker of the Parliament, a Shi'a Muslim. The Prime Minister, is always a Sunni Muslim.The huge change in Leabanese politics is that a number of Christian, Sunni and Druze parties have allied themselves with Hezbollah, and all these Hezbollah-affiliated parties as of the last election now make up 70 of the 128 seats in parliament.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-election-parliament-factbox/factbox-hezbollah-and-allies-gain-sway-in-lebanon-parliament-idUSKCN1IN1OJ
The majority Shi'a population is gradually understanding that they are continually disadvantaged by the political structure of Lebanon, and without serious political reform, and probably a change in the Lebanese Constitution, they will be unable to rise to controlling power.
The unrest in Lebanon is due to this shifting political balance and its disconnect with the Constitutionally mandated structure of political leadership and the parliament, coupled of course, with the current economic crisis in the country.
3) Young Journalists Club: US President Donald Trump declared Sunday that Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead after a US military raid in northwest Syria over the weekend. In reaction, the spokesman for Iran’s administration, Ali Rabiei, shrugged off the US president’s announcement and said Washington’s policies are the main reason for the emergence of Daesh, adding that the death of Baghdadi does not mean that Takfiri terrorism or “Daeshism” has ended. Do you think the killing of the Daesh leader would play a major role in the fight against terrorism in the region or bring an end to the phenomenon given its root causes?
Donald Trump is a very simple-minded and rather stupid leader.He is unable to see the broader patterns in foreign affairs, and he never reads anything or listens to any advice. He has shown again and again that he is totally ignorant of Middle Eastern history, culture, politics and economics. Trump thinks that the killing al-Baghdadi means the end of Daesh/ISIS/ISIL.
4) Young Journalists Club:The US claims that it has started the withdrawal of its troops from Syria and says its forces shouldn’t be there. What was the main reason behind the US military operation? What do you think about the developments behind the scenes?
It is widely believed that Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of US troops at the request of President Erdogan of Turkey as the result of a single phone call from Ankara. Mr. Trump has large economic interests in Turkey, and he tends to favor dictatorial leaders. His order to withdraw the US troops was a complete and total surprise to US military leaders, the intelligence community, and foreign affairs specialists. It was clearly a personal decision. Moreover, the troops didn't leave the region at all. They were sent to Iraq. President Erdogan views the Kurds in Iraq and Syria as dangerous, because of their alliances with Kurds in Turkey that threaten his regime. So he wanted to remove them as a threat. Additionally, this move was favored by Russia, which will now have a much larger presence in Syria, and will replace the United States as the most influential neo-colonial power. Mr. Trump is widely thought to be doing everything possible to help Vladimir Putin, and this was something that Putin desired.
5) Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov has blasted Washington’s oilfield operation as “state-sponsored banditry,” saying the US was stationing its troops in northeastern Syria to pave the way for smugglers to pillage Syrian resources. Do you believe so?
It may be true. Trump complained for a long time before he was elected that the United States should have seized the oil fields in Northern Iraq during the U.S. Iraq invasion in 2003. He has said that U.S. oil companies should have the opportunity to develop Middle Eastern oil resources, so this is a start. The curious aspect of this is that Syria really doesn't have a lot of oil, so seizing the Syrian oil fields doesn't seem to be a very interesting proposition from an economic point of view. But Trump is, as I said, very stupid. I doubt that he has any idea of what the Syrian oil reserves really are.
6)Young Journalists Club:What are your thoughts about the reason behind recent sporadic unrest in Iraq that has led to several casualties?
There is extreme discontent throughout the Middle East, much of it going back all the way to the Islamic movement of the 19th Century, the partition of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, and the post-World-War II domination of the region by the United States. Daesh is an extremist group, but it is only one of the groups that feel oppressed by their own leaders, and by the neo-colonial external powers that continue to try and dominate them. Daesh/ISIS/ISIL may seem to be defeated at this time, but it will return with a vengeance at a future date. That said, it is my personal opinion that the United States' presence in the region is one of the reasons that groups like Daesh continue to be strong, since they have a strong anti-colonial streak in their ideology, and the United States presence only makes that message stronger. I want to point out that Trump's account of al-Baghdadi's death was ridiculous. Al-Baghdadi was a terrible person, but Trump made up a story about him weeping and crying before he died, which has not been verified by anyone who was actually there, and could not have been witnessed remotely by Trump himself. Trump obviously thought that telling this nonsensical story would humiliate the memory of Al-Baghdadi. But since everyone knows that he was lying, it will have the opposite effect--it will increase the desire for revenge on the part of Daesh/ISIS/ISIL followers.
Interview by Maryam Sadat Ghavami
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