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What Foreign Correspondent and author Stephen Kinzer
taught us during his visit to the Capital District
By marciahopple on 2014-04-11 13:14:14
[caption id="attachment_5807" align="aligncenter" width="399"]
the Science Library, UAlbany, Standish Room. Photo by Danyal Mohammadzadeh[/caption] Author and journalist Stephen
Kinzer appeared in multiple venues this week with the sponsorship of Women Against War (WAW) and several academic
departments at Siena College and the University at Albany . (see complete list of co-sponsors below.) *[Editor's note: in
addition to an appearance by Stephen Kinzer on WAMC's The Roundtable, and a taped interview on Siena's television
channel there were 97 diverseaudience members at his UAlbany talk and more than 60 students, faculty and community
members at Siena College.] [caption id="attachment_5805" align="aligncenter" width="400"]
l#.Stephen Kinzer, lecture at UAlbany, April 7, 2014. Photo by Danyal Mohammadzadeh Stephen Kinzer, lecture at
UAlbany, April 7, 2014. Photo by Danyal Mohammadzadeh[/caption] As a member of the Iran project of WAW, I was
especially interested in his remarks on US-Iran relations. In response to a question from a student in a class on middle east
politics, Kinzer said one step in repairing relations between Iran and the US is to rehabilitate the image of Iran in the US.
That is part of the mission of the Iran project of WAW, and Kinzer advances that mission meaningfully with his writing and
speaking. Some 60 students who heard Kinzer speak at UAlbany and Siena now view Iran through his personal story of
discovering the country and its rich history as the first world empire, Persia. They also now know the history of US covert
action in Iran, and other countries , that toppled democratically elected leaders in the 1950’s and 1960’s. . [caption
id="attachment_5809" align="alignleft" width="199"]
\».\Book signing by Stephen Kinzer at UAlbany, photo by Danyal Mohammadzadeh Book signing by Stephen Kinzer at
UAlbany, photo by Danyal Mohammadzadeh[/caption] Kinzer’s newest book, The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen
Dulles, and their Secret World War, is a biography of the two men, secretary of state and director of the CIA respectively
under President Eisenhower, and their unusual power as a foreign policy team. Iran is just one example of the way that
their hubris set in motion decades of turmoil that still harms both the nations we undermined and the interests of the United
States. One mistake they made of several that Kinzer lays out was to fail to see the possibility of “blowback” from US
intervention. In Iran, that blowback included the Islamic revolution against the US backed Shah, the Iran-Iraq war, and the
recent repressive religious regimes. It also included increased Cold War tension with the USSR because the Islamic
revolution in Iran terrified them about Muslim states along their borders. And that blowback after the US coup now leads to
the image, or ignorance, that most Americans have of Iran. Kinzer reminds us that for Congress, Iran is a synonym for
barbarism. Few Americans realize that Iranians are heirs to deep culture, very literate, in a country with a constitution for
centuries. Considering the national interest principle that motivates politics, and the wisdom of forming partnerships with
countries whose long term strategic interests match, Iran and the US should be building a bridge of understanding in the
Middle East. The US needs Iran as an ally against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, who the Iranians despise, and as a partner in
calming Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Even addressing heroin addiction is a common interest of Iran and the US, as Kinzer
pointed out in a Boston Globe op-ed piece this week. And this veteran foreign correspondent made an interesting but
unlikely prediction, that the two countries with the most to gain from a partnership between countries with shared long term
strategic interests, Iran and Israel, will some day be allies. Meanwhile, Kinzer laments that we have amnesia about the
Dulles brothers and their secret world war, because we don’t want to face up to it. The forces that shaped them and the
country continue to dominate our world view, and our view of ourselves, today. They were products and propagators of the
ideas of American exceptionalism and Calvinistic missionary zeal, which lead to narrow views of others as evil and us as
good. We still act as though it is our job to make other countries see the light, and as though we’re above the rules because
we are liberators or good guys. On top of that skewed view of the world, the Dulles brothers and many others added service
to the interests of powerful multi-national corporations such as the ones that would have profited from the mammoth
development project that was to transform Iran economically, had the nationalist and democratic movements there not
cancelled the lucrative contract signed by the Shah. WAW was aided in bringing Stephen Kinzer to the Albany area to speak
by several co-sponsors: At UAlbany, the New York State Writers Institute, and the departments of history and political
science, and the programs in Judaic studies and journalism, and UAlbany Peace Action; at Siena, the department of political
science and program in fair trade and social justice; and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. For more information about
Women Against War visit our_website. [caption id="attachment_5812" align="aligncenter" width="500"]
l@ Stephen Kinzer lecturing at UAlbany Stephen Kinzer lecturing at UAlbany[/caption] Audio of Kinzer lecture and
introduction by Rosemary Armao_ [Editor's note:]Here are some photos of Stephen Kinzer's talk at Siena College on the
afternoon of Tuesday, April 8th. All of these photos were taken by Alice Brody, the lead liaison and organizer of the Kinzer
visit to the Capital District. [caption id="attachment_5819" align="aligncenter" width="480"]
lw.'Vera Eccarius Kelly introduces Stephen Kinzer at Siena College Vera Eccarius Kelly introduces Stephen Kinzer at Siena
College[/caption] [caption id="attachment_5820" align="alignleft" width="264"]
lw: heatre Professor Mahmood Karimi-Hakak, who invited his students and interviewed Kinzer on Siena TV Theatre
Professor Mahmood Karimi-Hakak, who invited his students and interviewed Kinzer on Siena TV[/caption] [caption
id="attachment_5821" align="alignright" width="300"]..:Stephen Kinzer speaking in the Boland Room at Siena College
Stephen Kinzer speaking in the Boland Room at Siena College[/caption] [caption id="attachment_5823" align="alignleft"
width="540"]|*Room filled with students, faculty and community members at Siena Room filled with students, faculty and
community members at Siena[/caption] [caption id="attachment_5824" align="alignleft" width="600"]
Siena, April 8, 2014[/caption] [caption id="attachment_5826" align="aligncenter" width="540"]
\@iPart of Stephen Kinzer's audience at Siena College on April 8th. Part of Stephen Kinzer's audience at Siena College on
April 8th.[/caption]
