Critical Essay on A Nuclear Armed Iran: A Difficult but not Impossible Policy Problem

Orientalism, as termed by Edward Said, is meant to create awareness of a constellation of assumptions that underlie Western attitudes towards the Eastern societies. While some of these opinions show the cultures in a positive light, the majority of them are biased and emphasise on depicting negative aspects as perceived by strangers to the Eastern culture.

"Stereotyping of Arabs by the U.S. Ensures Years of Turmoil" Stereotyping of Arabs by the U.S. Ensures Years of Turmoil by Edward Said (1935-2003) is an argumentative article that illustrates Americans preconceived notions about the Arab population. Edward Said, a renowned Professor of Literature at Columbia University provides a background for this essay with his most famous work, Orientalism. Orientalism revolves around the concept of orientalist thinking and Said believes that the Americans portray this sort of thinking which entails generalizations and prejudices when it comes to the Arabs. The author provides a balanced view point within his article. Having been born in Jerusalem and having served as an advocate for the Palestinian cause, Said has been exposed to different viewpoints regarding Arab Stereotyping and thus strengthening the credibility of his article.

For example, what is presented in the western media may be completely different to that of eastern media. In relation to a reflective approach to representations, media representations may mirror the principles, ideologies and political/ cultural concerns of a certain historical event. A prime example of this is how western news organisations reported on 9/11 and how such news reports fuelled racial

The people of the United States view most things as specific as possible, basically they view one thing in a scenario and focuses on that one thing for the majority of the time. The Americans have similar views as the people in ancient Greece. They are exemplified as the people of the west, westerners, in this article. The westerners are analytical the focus on one thing at a time, there is no such thing as focusing on the characteristics of things around the object or any other background details that compliments the object. The westerners are narrow- minded, only focuses on one thing. On the other hand, in the neighborhood of Asia. The people of Asia, more likely from East Asia, view things significantly different than the views of the westerners. Their causal reasoning are more holistic than analytical. They have the same views as the people in ancient China. Instead of focusing on one object in an entire scenario for the entire time, they

The Iranian nuclear program has been one of the most challenging issues in the world for more than a decade. The struggle was mainly between Iran and six of the world’s most powerful countries, which included China, the U.S.A, the U.K, France, Germany and Russia. What’s really worth noting is that this controversy was not solely about Iran 's willingness to have a nuclear program, which to its own merits was completely peaceful, but it was about who got to have more influence and control in the Middle East as a whole. Both sides of the conflict took measures to further their goals. Iran put whatever resources needed into developing its nuclear program, and the world’s powers (P5+1)

The Iranian nuclear project has been certain since its inception with the new regime, and Iran has one specific objective to achieve, it is to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran 's leadership has fully convinced that the quest to build Iran as the leader at the regional level will not be achieved without having a military nuclear capability. Iran is considered to have a nuclear weapon is very important in Iranian strategy based on the adoption of the fierce policy of intervention in the affairs of the regional countries and expanding the circle of influence. The Shah 's dream before his fall is the same as the dream of velayat-e faqih at the current time, which the Iranian regime coveted in controlling over the most of the countries of the region. As a part of the Iranian strategy is launching public threats which confirms Iran 's diverse capabilities and potential to inflict great damages in any of the countries in the region that dare to threaten or challenge its interests. Iran used the media as an element of national power by continuous launching news of achieving big successes in the development of weapons and military equipment and the growth of military capabilities that will be used to punish enemies To spread fear and terror in the region. It turned out the Iranian regime continues to pursue an expansionist policy in the region after the completion of the nuclear agreement, Iran caused in escalating the

Orientalism, according to Edward Said, refers to the dominance and exaggeration of the Orient, the Eastern countries, by the West in terms of culture, ideologies, political etc. Orientalism originates from the British and French who controlled the Orient of biblical lands such as India through imperialism and authority, which has led to misrepresentations of the Orient. The West, including America, has been known illustrate myths and lies by “filtering into Western Consciousness” as a way to portray inaccuracies about the East as inferior, uncivilized, and hazardous. In American culture, such as movies and TV shows, we see a depiction of characters of Middle Eastern and Asian descent including Arabs, Asians, and Indians whom have been represented

I am interested in exploring Orientalism in the media and how it attempts to retrospectively justify decisions such as colonialism and the Vietnam War. I became interested in this topic after reading Edward Said’s Orientalism. In addition to that, I was also inspired by Dr. Burke’s point that we actively try to give historical events meaning through literature, film, and even our own interpretations of these events. I also became interested in this topic when I watched a recent movie, No Escape, in which an American family moves to a Southeast Asian country that is falling apart due to violent insurgencies. This seemed like a xenophobic film that blatantly characterizes Southeast Asians as “the other” who actively threaten the lives of Americans.

I want to research whether portrayals of Orientalism in the media are used to retroactively justify decisions such as imperialism or the Vietnam War. I chose this topic because I found Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism very thought-provoking and wondered if it can apply to contemporary society. In addition to that, I have not seen a lot of contemporary analysis on Orientalism of Southeast Asia. My initial inspiration was when I watched the film No Escape, which seemed blatantly racist and problematic. I narrowed and refined my topic by further researching the concepts of Orientalism and otherness, and considered how they could be applied to this film. Sources that have been key in defining my research topic include scholar articles on Orientalism

In the aftermath of 9/11, Orientalist depictions of an Islamic ‘Other’ have been highly visible within the Western world in both official rhetoric and the American press effectively legitimizing normative binaries. Notably, the US ‘War on Terror’ discourses promote imaginary geographies by way of two critical axioms centering around the idea of ‘West’ in opposition of ‘East’: the righteous campaign and Islam in direct opposition to Christianity. As a form of critical analysis, Orientalism provides an essential context in that it helps to unravel the ways in which “Eastern peoples, traditions, and cultures are depicted as irrational, backward, lazy and despotic in direct contrast to the West, which is seen as rational, moral and the pinnacle of civilization.”

At the same time, in the Iranian Majlis (parliament), there are enough skeptics opposed in principle to any agreements with America, the “Great Satan”. Not only because America is not trusted by Iranians, but also, part of the Iranian ruling circles believe that even minimal rapprochement with the United States will become a serious threat to their power, as absolute anti-Americanism is one of the pillars of the regime of the ayatollahs. Remarkably, the end of the international isolation of Iran, as a result of this agreement, is a great historic achievement. Rouhani has faced resistance from hardliners who claim that this policy will contribute to a demand for internal changes that could undermine the regime, which is dominated by supreme

Due to the Iranian Nuclear Test Crisis, issues on security have risen. First off, this crisis is not just a threat to the US, but also a threat to multiple countries in the Middle East as well as throughout the world. Choosing the best strategy is important because Iran may have up to six nuclear warheads that could be used with their ballistic missile fleet and Iran has already stated that "any US-led offensive would result in Iran retaliating accordingly."5 Even though the US has not prevented Iran from achieving

The reason why Iran is such an issue in today’s world is because we are not quite sure what their intentions are. For the past 20 or so years, politicians and international organizations have been saying that Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon, while they say that their only intentions are developing nuclear power to help power their country. Countries that see themselves as not really being allies with Iran feel threatened that they will develop a nuclear weapon and use it on them. Both the United States and Israel feel this way.

To a large extent Bush’s declaration of the War on Terror followed by the establishment of Guantanamo Bay is by far the largest reflection of Orientalism since it defines the ‘terrorist’. Bush’s speech on the War on Terror, not only defined the ‘terrorist’ but directly associated it with the East, creating the ‘other’ as the enemy. Orientalism can be seen by the Bush’s administration to define, and arguably create the ‘terrorist’ since he characterizes them through an orientalist perspective. It can be argued that the War on Terror was an orientalist instrument used to create the image for ‘knowing’ the Terrorist. This is crucial as knowing the terrorist, legitimizes any policy of action to eradicate the perceived terrorist. This can be seen most prominently in Bush’s speech on the War of Terror where he tactically separates the West from the East. Said’s book would support this argument as it can be perceived that the created an ‘imaginative geography in which the Occident and Orient are separated’. Therefore, Bush divides the US and the ‘others’ by labelling them as ‘evil’ and uncivilized beings that hate western values of freedom

Due to the severity and danger of nuclear weapons, it is very important for nations to have some sort of regulation with regard to the nuclear program and more specifically their nuclear weapons program. After the first nuclear bomb was created by the U.S. nations states that followed the U.S. with the creation of a nuclear bomb seek to justify their creation of the nuclear. There are many reasons why a nation state will create a nuclear bomb but the key issue here is why and how nations states should be regulated with regard to nuclear weapons development. If Iran is considered a potentially hostile regime based on the perspective of western allies it would be logical to attempt to negotiate with them so that their nuclear program can have some type of regulation rather than no regulation at all or striving to strong arm them from developing their nuclear program and possibly a nuclear weapons program.