Where one wall falls, another will be unceremoniously built in its place. As the University community partakes in a week-long series of events commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new ideological wall is taking form. The chief perpetrator: Iran. The Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, marking the end of the Cold War and years filled with fears of nuclear eradication. The world watched as Berlin, a city divided East and West by the Wall, was reunited. The University community, along with 25 other schools, has joined the "Freedom Without Walls" campaign to mark the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. News of a recently discovered uranium enrichment facility in Iran threatens a new partition in an increasingly hostile world.
On Friday, September 25, in the midst of a health care battle and an economic recovery, the Obama administration was faced with perhaps its greatest international challenge yet: Iran and its nuclear aspirations. At the end of the G-20 summit, President Barack Obama and leaders from Britain and France announced that Iran had secretly constructed an underground uranium enrichment facility. The facility, located in the holy city of Qum, is capable of producing enough nuclear fuel to produce one atomic bomb per year. In 2002, another uranium enrichment facility had been found in Natanz and is presently being monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Obama and other world leaders called for the immediate inspection of the Qum facility by IAEA investigators. Though Iran claims the new facility at Qum is for purely peaceful purposes, the announcement prompted immediate international skeptisism and alarm. In an interview Friday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, "If they wanted it for peaceful nuclear purposes, there's no reason to put it so deep underground, no reason to be deceptive about it, keep it a ... secret for a protracted period of time." The meeting today will force the Iranians to answer international questions and demands that immediate open access to the facility be granted. In an interview on Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "They can open up their entire system to the kind of extensive investigation that the facts call for."
Despite budding international unease, on Monday, Sept. 28, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps completed a three day run of alleged military "defense" exercises with the successful firing of a long-range Shahab-3 missile and two Sajil-2 missiles. The 800 to 1,250 mile range of the Shahab-3 allows the missile to hit targets throughout the Middle East, including Israel, and to even reach as far as Europe. Today, Iranian delegates will meet with diplomats from the U.S., China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany to hold talks on the future of the country's uranium enrichment programme. The UN Security Council had previously ordered Iran to freeze all further initiatives in regards to their uranium enrichment programme, but little was done. The meeting will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Obama administration hopes to make one final plea for diplomatic cooperation.
President Obama was elected on the promise of pursuing a more diplomatic, conciliatory relationship with Iran. Given the new developments of the past two weeks, it seems that the time for diplomatic negotiation has past. The attempt to placate the Iranian government has failed. With Monday's latest firing of long-range missiles, Iran has shown its noncompliance with international negotiations. The recent election protests seem to have only further radicalized an already fanatical government. The Iranian regime seems more determined than ever to strengthen their hand both at home and abroad.
After the June 12 Iranian election, the world watched in horror and suppressed awe as men, women and children took to the streets of Tehran to protest the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's. The election was considered a sham, fraught with electoral fraud and suppression. Mir Hussein Moussavi, the pro-reform candidate, lost the election to Ahmadinejad by a margin many analysts believe impossible. The images that circulated the airwaves showed a much conflicted Iran, divided between the democratic dreams of independent citizens and the radical ravings of a failing regime. The true Iranian psyche burst forth in protests which quickly turned violent due to a crackdown by the often delirious Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Despite this domestic suppression, grass-roots protesting ignited across the globe in support of the Iranian civilian population. This moment recalled President John Kennedy's infamous 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner!" ("I am a Berliner!") speech. Despite our borders, it is possible to unite in the pursuit of freedom and the end of suppression.
Neda Agha-Soltan, the young Iranian female who was murdered by Iranian security forces, became a symbol of the Iranian election protest and resistance against the Ahmadinejad regime. She represents the heart of the Iranian youth revolution. Iranians both young and old have shown their willingness to put safety on the line to fight for equality and reform. It is Neda's generation and the Iranian people that the international community should be empowering. If the United States and other world powers attempt to apply disabling economic sanctions against Iran, there could be uncalculated repercussions. Sanctions, not properly directed, could in fact embolden the Iranian regime if Iranian civilians become the sanction's targets. The proposed sanctions on imported gasoline threaten to do just that. The world faces a conflict: how to pressure Iran without also alienating its people. The Iranian protests showed a population eager for reform and a government struggling to maintain its legitimacy. A misdirected international reaction could threaten to isolate the Iranian people even further and legitimize an unpopular government. This presents a policy conundrum. The international response must be precise in targeting the Iranian regime and not the Iranian population, or otherwise risk turning public sentiment against the West.
As we celebrate walls torn down, new boundaries of the 21st century are being formed. If the Berlin Wall taught us anything, it showed us that the borders which divide our countries cannot disjoin the human experience. The exultation that emerged when East Germany opened the Wall to the West was shared not only in Germany, but across continents. It was a peaceful reformation which led to the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of an oppressive regime. So as the battle lines are being drawn again, West versus East, it is to our history that we should look. As people, we are divided by a wall, and walls can and do fall down.
Ashley Ford is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily.
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