Iran launches first homegrown satellite

Iran launched its first satellite "Omid" (Hope) into orbit making itself as the 11th nation to go to space. It was launched on 30th anniversary of 1979 Iranian revolution when the US backed Shah was replaced by an Ayotolla Khomeini's government that declared Iran as an Islamic republic with a new constitution reflecting his Ideals of Islamic government. Since then Iran is growing in power and expanding its nuclear capabilities and has become a matter of concern to the western powers. Although Iran claims that it is expanding its nuclear capabilities only for peaceful purposes to meet the country's domestic needs, the long-range ballistic technology that is used to put satellite into orbit can also be used for launching warheads.

Iran's act in the International political stage reminds me of Germany after first world war. I see a similarity between Germany's action in past and Iran's action in the present . I may be over reacting here. I want to revisit history to highlight my point.

After the first world war, the military in Germany was reduced to minimum. The "League of Nations" formed after the war imposed restrictions on Germany. Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Almost immediately, he began secretly building Germany's army and weapons and started building warships. It was the time when all the countries were developing the air force. He like all other nation secretly started building German Airforce. Not only did he develop his air force, but he made it public to the world. He withdrew from "League of Nations" and openly started increasing the military power and started violating the "Treaty of Versailles" that was signed after the first world war. In year 1936, Hitler ordered German troops to enter the Rhineland. I believe it was the last time Hitler could be stopped cheaply - in an inexpensive way without the countries going to war. The western powers - Britain and France condemned Hitler's action but nobody did anything to prevent it. Interestingly, Hitler chose a Saturday morning to send the troops to Rhineland as he was aware that the western world will be busy enjoying the weekend. By the time the western powers would get their act together, the news would be 24 hours if not 48 hours stale. This shows how Hitler was manipulating the western powers. Britain and France tried to have diplomatic talks with Germany to stop its action but there was nothing done in concrete terms to curtail Germany's rising military force. Britain and France wanted to avoid another world war. In 1937, Britain's prime minister who believed that the "Treaty of Versailles" had treated Germany badly adopted the policy of Appeasement. The most famous one was the Munich Agreement of September 1938. The Munich Agreement, signed by the leaders of Germany, Britain, France and Italy agreed Sudetenland, a part of Czech, be returned to Germany on the condition that no further territorial claims would be made by Germany. In a years time, Hitler broke the terms of Munich Agreement and invaded Czechoslovakia. The Western powers condemned and criticized once again but waited to go to war till Germany invaded Poland. Historians still debate on the fact that if the war had begun in 1937 or 1938 instead of 1939, Germany would have been defeated much easily.

Coming back to today's world, Iran seem to be following Germany's footstep. Inspite of the UN Security Council imposing sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend Uranium enrichment, Iran is continuing its nuclear program. Iran has displayed to the world its launching capabilities. Iran is boldly announcing to the world that it had capabilities to develop ballistic missiles and has capabilities to launch warheads with a range of more than 800 miles. It can not only reach Israel but also could reach US bases in Gulf.

The great powers are concerned about Iran's act but there is no action taken to curtail its power. When President Obama offered what he called the hand of friendship if Iran "unclenched" its fist, President Mohmaud Ahmedinejad replied that Ameria should apologize for its past actions towards Iran. It looks like Iran is shunning any act of appeasement shown by west, instead adopting an act of aggression. It maybe too early to judge from these actions but it is not too late to keep a closer watch on Iran's motives and actions.