While we were distracted by events in neighbouring Kazakhstan, events were unfolding in the world, perhaps not so obviously striking and attention-grabbing, but nevertheless significant
The great scandal that took place on the American continent a few days ago tells us that the US Democratic Party team that came to power in the White House a year ago has begun to redraw the map of geopolitical alliances and is working hard to create a new “axis of evil”.
But first things first
On January 8, 2022 a plane took off from Tehran with one of the key Xirovian generals, Mohsen Rezaei. Rezaei entered the modern history of Iran as the youngest and “longest” commander of the IRGC, a kind of mentor and godfather to a whole generation of slightly younger IRGC generals who make up today the political elite of the Islamic republic.
The current Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, has appointed Rezaei as his vice-president for economic affairs, which surprised many, for where is Rezaei and where is the economy? It is as if they forget that the IRGC and its influence on the country’s economy are almost identical concepts.
So on 8 January, Rezaei took his plane to Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania.
On Monday, January 10, General Mohsen Rezaei appeared in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, at the inauguration of President Daniel Ortega. Ortega first won the presidential election in 1985, stepped down from the helm after one term, then came back in 2006, only to apparently never let go of the helm again – this seems to be his fourth consecutive re-election.
If you want to see in faces and countries the future “axis of evil” that President Biden’s team is forging, you can check out the inauguration party for the President of Nicaragua.
According to media reports, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega celebrated the inauguration in a “small circle of friends”. The most important guest in the “small circle” was apparently Vice-President of the National People’s Congress Cao Jianmin. The presidents of Cuba, Honduras and Venezuela also paid their respects. And, of course, Iran’s vice-president, Xirovian General Rezaei.
So, the “bad guys” of the world politics gathered to drink a toast to their colleagues’ victory, what’s the scandal? It has long been known that the US has divided the world into “right” and “wrong” countries. So, as they say, the “bad” ones should not live and visit each other now?
But the tricky part is that even if Mohsen Rezaei has been granted “untouchable” diplomatic status for travel abroad in the status of vice-president, that does not free him from the fact that he is on the Interpol international wanted list and is the holder of its honorary “red card”, which guarantees its holder an immediate arrest when he crosses the borders of countries belonging to this world’s largest international police organization (194 countries).
Why was Mohsen Rezaei so honoured? His exploits are many, but it is the insignia that he received for the bombing in Buenos Aires, when 85 people were killed in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Cultural Center. (Already anticipating anti-Semitic comments under my column shouting “Come on, Mohsen, come on!”)
Rezaei’s appearance at the inauguration in Nicaragua was unexpected and shocking to many, including the Argentine Foreign Ministry, whose top official found himself standing next to Rezaei at President Ortega’s inauguration. So you understand the situation, right?
Our hero is wanted by Interpol at the request of Argentina, where Iran, through the Lebanese Hezbollah, organised one of the bloodiest terrorist attacks in history. And here he is in 2022, standing next to a representative of that very Argentina – smiling and waving.
It did not look good for Argentina, for Israel, for millions of American Jews and for the humane representatives of the humanity in general.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry issued a note of protest the next day, saying that Rezaei’s appearance at the ceremony in Nicaragua on Monday was an “insult to Argentine justice and the victims of a brutal terrorist attack in the Argentine capital.
And now for the best part. Websites that track the air-tracks of VIPs write that Mohsen Rezaei crossed the airspace of a number of countries – Turkey, Greece, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania – during his departure.
On how Rezaei crossed the World Ocean in his Falcon (good taste, Mr. Rezaei, I approve) and then found himself under the nose of the U.S., met there with his Latin American pals, held a series of VIP-meetings and safely got home, Twitter and its experts prefer to modestly keep silent.
And for good reason. After all, this is the most interesting part. Do you think the Americans were unaware of Mr Rezaei’s routes and flights? Or couldn’t do anything about it? Don’t make me laugh – we’ll leave those tales to IRIB (Iranian State Television) viewers.
Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder and top PRC figure Zhen Zhengfei, who was the company’s CFO, was picked up at the Vancouver airport by US Interpol without any red cards or involvement in terrorism. (This was under Trump, and Iran was involved as well – the Chinese giant allegedly shared technology with Iran.)
In Nicaragua, Rezaei, as one of the key Iranian Xi’ra players behind the Islamic Republic, the birth of the IRGC and the suppression of anti-Homeinist riots in the army at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, met with Venezuelan leader Maduro and with Miguel Diaz-Canel, president of the very anti-American Cuba that has lent one of the most famous prisons of humanity, Guantanamo, to the US.
The Iranian news agency Fars writes that the two sides discussed strengthening mutual cooperation to counter US sanctions.
As they knew what they were going to do: On 10 January 2022, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that sanctions would be imposed on 116 individuals “because of the undermining of democracy in Nicaragua”.
There is no doubt that Mohsen’s friends will definitely be on that list. You could just as easily make a political series called “Mohsen and His Friends” – with filming in Lebanon, Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, Honduras, Nicaragua and other beautiful places on the planet. For the ways of surviving against sanctions of all our aforementioned friends will guarantee the success of the thriller series.
Those whose ears scratch at the connection “Iran and Nicaragua” (which does exist, and for good reason you reflexively reacted to it) or whose memory stumbles at the words “Nicaragua” and “contras” can happily dive into Google, which is known to help. Or try reading something like our classics of domestic international journalism.
That is why the revival of that half-forgotten Nicaragua-Iran “axis” suggests that something global is going on. And our Western partners have a lot to do with it.
Rezaei, who is wanted by Interpol, is not the first figure from the Islamic Republic to travel the world and cross the borders of a dozen countries without fear. Before that, a similarly Interpol-wanted IRGC general, Ahmad Vahidi (Soleimani’s predecessor, head of the Quds Force), visited Bolivia in 2011 as Minister of Defence of Ahmadinejad’s government.
An important nuance: Iran is turning to Latin American and Chinese regimes now a second time, before the high activity of Qods Force generals in Latin America was under President Ahmadinejad and led to heavy Western sanctions against Iran. Which indirectly points to the pessimism about the nuclear deal in Vienna in favour of developing the Iranian nuclear programme.
And yes, it is not even worth mentioning as a matter of course: back in 2011, when Vahidi flew to Bolivia unimpeded to strengthen ties, Democrat Barack Obama was president in the White House.
The Iranian media gave full coverage to Rezaei’s visit to Nicaragua. “Iran-Nicaragua cooperation is a slap in the face to the US.” Yes, yes, Mr. Rezaei, we certainly believe that.
According to the Tehran Times, in the Nicaraguan capital, Iran’s vice president for economic affairs met with the economy and finance ministers, the minister of mines and managers of the country’s oil, gas and trade sectors:
“Iran is ready to exchange experience in various technical fields, including oil, energy, petrochemicals, refinery construction, port construction and development.”
I don’t know about complex industries like petrochemicals, but trade and port development look the most realistic. Oil tankers race from Venezuela and back to Iran untouched by the US. Lebanon’s Hezbollah under Biden is also quietly racing oil from Iran to Lebanon.
The “US sanctions standoff” creates interesting geopolitical bad boys alliances. Surviving under sanctions, states go to the bottom of the shadow and semi-criminal economy.
A good example in this regard is one I love. In January 2021, in response to Xirov’s “nuclear expansion” and threats to launch large numbers of the most advanced nuclear centrifuges, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Nuclear Energy Agency, wondered: “They must not know how much it costs and what our financial resources are today.
And six months later, he stopped being head of the agency, demonstrating what real financial resources the country has.
Because in such state “sanctions regimes” there is a big difference between the country’s budget and private “funds”.
And we, not to be fooled, see some states literally clashing in these bad boys alliances. Perhaps because, in the form of strong powerful states, they threaten the established hegemony of first league players. Or perhaps it’s because they’re more useful to them in grey mode.
When I see the clubs of sanctioned states getting bigger by the day (let’s forget that these measures lead to regime change in countries, they lead to their strengthening, but hard lives of their citizens) and a new “axis of evil” being drawn right before our eyes, I rejoice that we are still desperately fighting to stay out of this alliance, have veto power at the UN and share world zones of influence in the first league club.
Julia Yuzik, RT