Western Democracies Face Legitimacy Problem : Peter Onuf

WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 16 Pages Price 10,000 Rials 38th year No.13022 Saturday JANUARY 13, 2018 Dey 23, 1396 Rabi’ Al thani 25, 1439 There is strong consensus Congress has not moved to Jaber Sadeghzadeh Fajr concertgoers thrilled that Iran complying with reimpose sanctions on Iran: crowned by Parvez Khan’s raga nuclear deal: Zarif 2 former congressman 7 Iran’s Pahlavan 15 improvisations 16 Landmine explosion leaves 3 soldiers dead in Saudi Arabia’s Najran At least three Saudi regime soldiers have al-Farwan and Hayef al-Qahtani. EU pressed Trump been killed when a powerful landmine Later in the day, the Saudi regime explosion ripped through their military fighter jets carried out five airstrikes vehicle in the regime’s southwestern border against Samah military base in Yemen’s region of Najran. southwestern city of Dhamar, located An informed source, requesting anonym- some 100 kilometers (62 miles) south ity, told Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Ma- of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. sirah television network that the incident There were no immediate reports occurred on Friday afternoon, identifying the about possible casualties and the extent to keep JCPOA deceased as Mohammed al-Fatih, Hazam of damage caused. 13 See page 2 Govt. firm to be honest with people: official POLITICS TEHRAN — Majid vanchi told IRNA in an interview published deskTakht-Ravanchi, who on Friday. now serves as deputy director of the pres- “The people have rightful demands. idential chief of staff for political affairs, Mr. Rouhani has said that we should listen has said that the government of President to the people and our decision should be Hassan Rouhani is determined to act trans- based on the nation’s demands,” he said. parently and be honest with the people. The comments by Takht-Ravanchi The people should be able to monitor came days after protests hit certain cities the government’s performance, Takht-Ra- in Iran. 2 Hariri lauds Hezbollah, wants ‘best of relations’ with Iran Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri the elections slated for May. has called for his county to be kept out of “Hezbollah has been a member of this regional conflicts, lauding the Hezbollah government. This is an inclusive govern- resistance movement for doing its part ment that has all the big political parties, to de-escalate the tensions. and that brings political stability to the Amir Kholousi In an interview with The Wall Street country,” Hariri said during Wednesday Journal (WSJ) on Wednesday, Hariri said interview, defying pressure from the House he was open to Hezbollah continuing to of Saud regime to confront the resistance ISNA/ participate in the government following movement. 13 ARTICLE Western democracies face legitimacy problem : Peter Onuf ARTICLE By Hanif Ghaffari By Maryam Qarehgozlou your opinion about this? Political analyst EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Tehran Times journalist By Javad Heirannia A: Any historian knows that his or her subjects live in a fog that obscures the future (and distorts TEHRAN – Peter S. Onuf, a professor of his- the past!) -- and we know that this applies to us, tory at the University of Virginia, says “the as subjects of future historians.... U.S. look at Russian problem (in some places, crisis) of legitimacy The idea that there is an “arc” to history Using fossil water is by no means a strictly American one -- nor, I -- that it’s moving in a particular direction elections shouldn’t have to add, is it confined to Western (whether forwards, as Fukuyama #1 claimed) is a soft option, “democracies.” or in reverse (as Fukuyama #2 prophesied in ussia’s national election is being Following is the text of the interview with Onuf: 2014) -- is hard to sustain. Even now, with reappraise it held while the United States is Francis Fukuyama the contemporary po- Trump’s setbacks & a brightening horizon for Rtrying to interfere in its internal af- litical theorist used to be an ardent supporter of Democrats [and most Americans], the gloom- irst Vice-President Es’haq Jahangiri fairs. In other words, the Russian author- liberal capitalism. But in 2014, he wrote “Political in the political scene of the country, Fukuyama iness that prevailed in the wake of the 2016 has recently ordered studying the ities have repeatedly warned the United Order and Political Decay” to modify his earlier believes that the US is experiencing the decay election is beginning to dissipate. Perhaps we Fpossibility of tapping into the coun- States about Russia’s internal affairs. position. In regard with the US’s presidential of a political system which made people feel so should be thinking in dialectical terms? But try’s underground supplies of fossil water. Recently Russian President Vladimir elections and the rise of Clinton and Bush families disappointed in American democracy. What’s that’s also reductive and misleading. 7 The term fossil water, or paleowater, Putin has warned U.S. officials about this. refers to underground water reservoirs However, American politicians seem to that have been geologically sealed. The try to continue their intervention against water contained in them cannot be re- Vladimir Putin. The ambitious goal of One view from afar plenished and may have been locked in for By Martin Love the primary chant: “The People Want the Fall many people died in Iran’s recent protests? Less U.S. officials is to weaken Russia’s power thousands of years. The age of the water of the Regime” (or specifically, in fact, the fall than 30, I have read anyway, and we here in the in the international system. NORTH CAROLINA — I know a thing or two is what gives it the name ‘fossil water’. of dictator Hosni Mubarak) and in Arabic that U.S. don’t even know who exactly was respon- Meanwhile, American media are also about protests. But the last real protest I was While it is quite clear that Iran, situated in chant was stirring. But again, the most important sible for that. trying to send incorrect addresses about amidst, for a few days, was in February, 2011, in an arid and semi-arid area, is suffering from thing was that the protesters were almost entirely And then in the mainstream U.S. media, Russian general elections. An overview of Maidan Tahrir in Cairo. I was there as a reporter water shortage, officials are trying to come non-violent… as far as I could tell as a witness uncritical organs of the State these days more the recent report by the American news- for a U.S. newspaper, but I was also a participant up with various solutions to tackle the issue. in Maidan Tahrir in central Cairo. often than not, we have major newspapers like paper USAtoday shows this. because the crowds, especially when Mubarak fell, President Hassan Rouhani has em- It is first important to mention that Iran’s the Wall Street Journal publishing commentary Russian President Vladimir Putin has were ebullient, friendly and peaceful and in that phasized the need for water reforms but leader Ayatollah Khamenei is correct. Khamanei by the head of the terrorist organization Muja- engaged in a nearly 20-year assault on sense I was with them in spirit. Sometimes not the policies and measures adopted and has noted that police in the U.S. have in recent hadin-E-Khalq claiming that the current Iranian democratic institutions in Russia and on peaceful were Mubarak’s “mukhabarat” and the implemented so far do not seem to be years murdered nearly a 1,000 people annually, government is “unstable” and ill supported by U.S. allies in Europe, and poses a threat police. They sealed Mubarak’s immediate fate at effective. most of them innocents, and has used any means most Iranians. That Maryam Rajavi got space in to future American elections, according the time. Violence discredits anyone, including Iran’s looming water scarcity possible to suppress protests. Law enforcement in the Wall Street Journal says a lot about current to the first U.S. government report to any government. Long-term mismanagement and the U.S. often shoots first, and often enough, no establishment and Trumpist views in the U.S., address the issue. This reporter had the impression the Egyptian improper planning coupled with cli- one is really mounting any kind of threat against and there’s never been any question the MEK The report, produced by the Democratic Army was there to offer a moderating influence, mate change, which has provoked low law officers. In fact, far fewer police personnel is nothing but an ugly terrorist organization re- staff on the Senate Committee on Foreign a kind of warning to both sides. I found the sol- precipitation and accordingly drought in the U.S. have been killed in recent years than sponsible for tremendous mayhem in and near Relations, alleges a range of aggressive diers disciplined, professional and unprovocative spells in many regions, have exacerbated ever before in the past half century or more. How Iran for decades. 7 Russian behavior abroad that employs during those winter days in Cairo. And I loved the situation and now the prospects of a military invasions, cyberattacks, disin- gloomy future is raising. Widespread and formation, support for fringe political unsustainable dam development as well as groups and the manipulation of energy untenable farming practices have resulted resources, organized crime and corruption in degradation, reduced land productivity, across Europe. shrinking lakes and whole communities “If the United State fails to work left without access to water. with urgency to address this complex Chief of the Department of Environ- and growing threat, the regime in Mos- Egschiglen ment Isa Kalantari has said since the cow will become further emboldened,” establishment of the Ministry of Energy the report said.

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