Iran , UN and multi-polarity

If World Order is now settling into Multi-polarity, as some commentators are predicting, then are we facing a period of brinksmanship of the worst realist kind; for as Professor Waltz claims, “multi-polarity creates instability between states”. And no longer do states simply seek power through military superiority, the new name of the game is survival, in a world rapidly becoming conscious of the importance of scarce resources, such as water, grain, arable land, minerals as well as energy products.

The checks and balances of multi-polarity depend on an often delicate balance of power, with states seeking best advantage and being willing to switch sides in their own interest, so destabilising the balance between alliances.

China and Russia are no strangers to this game. Despite their condemnation of hegemonic power, voiced through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and their affirmation of a cooperative multi-polar world, both are displaying clear zero-sum thinking with regard to the world’s scarce resources and clearly protecting any states which are allowing them to hoover up world resources for their own use. Hence stalemate on Darfur, Iran, Burma.

The UN cannot be considered to be a check on the major world powers, whatever the system of world order prevails. The Achilles heel of the UN is State Sovereignty. The Security Council has built into it the fatally flawed mechanism of the veto. Kofi Annan’s attempt to chip away at it through his ‘duty to protect’ has foundered in the face of continued human rights violations, with impunity, in Zimbabwe, Darfur, Burma to name a few.

UN monitoring of Iran and the call by the West for stronger sanctions against Iran to prevent it developing nuclear weapons, will be unsuccessful not only because China and Russia have vested interests there, but also because the West have long turned a blind eye to Israel and its illegal nuclear arsenal, and vetoed any attempts to sanction Israel. Iran and its allies may think what’s sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander!