gktoday current affairs april 2020

 gktoday current affairs april 2020

gktoday current affairs april 2020 published this article His realm had suffered through decades of warfare leaving his governments coffers unable to pay operational costs. Therefore Fath turned to the British to help fund government activities which gave the British Empire influence in the country. Meanwhile after more wars that resulted in the Treaty of Golestat in 1813 and the Treaty of Turkmanchay in 1828 Iran had to cede the Caucuses to Russia. The Turkmanchay treaty also opened Iran to Russian merchants and diplomats. This development sparked nearly a century of diplomatic feuding between Britain and Russia with the two nations vying for dominance in Iran that would have dire consequences for Iran in the 20th century. Even before then though Iran slipped more and more under the umbrella of the West and not to Irans benefit. As European influence expanded and transportation systems developed tying Europe and the Middle East more closely together Irans economy shifted in the process. The economy became more susceptible to global market fluctuations and… periodic famine. But the shahs of the Qajar dynasty did nothing to slow the pace of European encroachment. Instead to raise money they sold land to wealthy capitalists hindering customary patterns of land usage and harming the economy even more. To raise more money Naser al-Din Shah who ruled from 1848 to 1896 granted excessive concessions to foreigners over trade issues in exchange for hard cash. This he did not spent on his people or his country but on his court and his luxurious vacations to Europe. The shahs behavior in collaboration with foreigners enraged many Iranians. [1] The Tobacco Riots of 1890 constituted the start of backlash against the shahs. Naser al-Sin had given the British massive concessions on tobacco trading in Iran. Angry protests and a boycott of tobacco forced Naser to rescind the concession. The events of 1890 showed 1. Iranian merchants could organize and whip up public support. 2. The Iranian people could curtail the power of the shah. 3. The Shia clergy men to whom Iranians traditionally turned for guidance for hundreds of years who had helped agitate the people against the tobacco concession were increasing in power.[2] With these factors at work the Tobacco Riots would serve as a preview of future events including the Islamic Revolution nearly a century later as well as something much sooner… Concurrently with Irans increasing interaction with the West newly arisen Iranian intellectual circles interested themselves in democratic procedures. These intellectuals found solace in the 1905 Russian Revolution[3] during which popular uprisings convinced Tsar Nicholas II to substitute Russias absolutist state with a constitutional monarchy.[4] After the shahs government beat some Iranian merchants the intellectuals united with the merchants and the clergy to stage colossal strikes and protests against the government. Eventually to appease the Iranian masses the shah allowed for the writing of a constitution in 1906. (This was the first alignment of all these forces that would prove strong in 1978-1979.) Foreign intervention would spell the doom of the constitutional government. First in 1907 the almost century-old squabbles between Britain and Russia culminated in the Anglo-Russian Convention. This Convention carved for the two empires exclusive spheres of influence in Iran Afghanistan and Tibet. In Iran as per the treaty Britain controlled areas along the Persian Gulf and Russia regions in northern Iran and the Caucuses. As a result of the agreement then both Russia and Britain had large stakes in the internal politics of Iran.[5] Four years later in 1911 Irans constitutional regime paid an American consultant William Morgan Schuster to advise the government regarding finances. Schuster recommended aggressive means to obtain funds from all over Iran. This upset the British and the Russians from whose spheres the Iranians would also acquire money under Schusters plan. Russia demanded the Iranian government fire Schuster upon said governments refusal the Russians deployed soldiers to march on Tehran. Facing this threat the shah sent Schuster home and terminated the constitutional regime. Until World War I the Russians acted as the de facto masters of the Iran outside its official sphere of influence. The Great War however forced the withdrawal of Russian soldiers from the country. Unfortunately for Iran its respite did not last long. The Russians soon came back along with the British the Germans and the Turks who fought battles amongst themselves in Iranian territory. In 1917 though the new Soviet Union ended Russias claims in Iran engendering much Iranian love for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (despite the elites dread of Communist ideas spreading to their country). A few years later in 1921 the British also abandoned their spheres of influence in Iran after international pressure. Britain did not leave Iran without a parting gift It supported an Iranian military officer Reza Khan who in 1920 had been crucial in suppressing a Communist revolt. Reza Khan seized control of the Iranian military and eventually overthrew the last Qajar shah after which he anointed himself Reza Shah Pahlavi the first shah of the Pahlavi dynasty.[6] Reza secularized Iran somewhat through educational and judicial changes. He shifted jurisdiction over many issues from Shia religious tribunals to state courts or government agencies. He instituted secular schools. But the new shah was not a liberal dedicated to the welfare of his people. His government censored the media and prohibited unions and political parties. The shah also renewed trade concessions for oil which would inflame Iranian wrath for decades.[7] Irans shah was not a complete stooge of the West although he chose an unethical way to show it. In the 1930s afraid of the Soviet Union and desperate for more commerce Reza increased trade and enhanced relations with the Third Reich. When Reza would not renege on his deals with the Nazis the British and the Russians invaded Iran in 1941 and deposed him. The familiar conquerors elevated Rezas son to Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. Ironically during World War II foreign rule increased media freedom political liberty and economic prosperity. New political parties and trade unions arose. At the same time the Shia clergy enhanced their strength with the dissolution of the previous shahs secularization initiatives. After the war when the foreign occupiers withdrew moderate leftists Iranian nationalists and some clergymen loosely coalesced into the National Front under the leadership of Mohammed Mosaddeq. The purpose of the National Front was to limit the shahs and the clerics power (although the latter goal caused tensions in the political alliance). Another objective of the National Front was to achieve Iranian control of Iranian natural resources ending foreign exploitation of them.[8] Toward that end after Mosaddeq became prime minister in 1951 he nationalized all of Irans oil. Britain the primary recipient of Irans oil largesse hated Mosaddeqs action and ergo placed trade sanctions on Iran. Subsequently former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and current British Prime Minister Anthony Eden advocated a combined United States-United Kingdom operation to topple Mosaddeq. Nothing quite that grandiose occurred. Despite that August 1953 saw the end of Mosaddeqs administration. Mosaddeqs grip on the states helm had been loosening because his social democratic programs had been alienating his clerical supporters. Following the shahs hasty departure from Iran after a political conflict with Mosaddeq the Iranian prime minister lost his already tenuous position to a Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored coup. Mohammed Reza resumed his position within a week of his flight. Thanks to American intervention in Iran—not even to contain the Soviet Union but to protect business profits—any chance for Iran to become a progressive republic vanished. The resurgent shah to avoid another Mosaddeq stifled all further political deviation from his agenda. Israels Mossad and the CIA assisted Mohammed Reza in this regard by helping him in 1957 to forge his own Gestapo the Organization of National Security and Information also known as Sazman-e Amniyyat va Ettelaat-e Keshvar (SAVAK). This secret police cemented the shahs ruled for decades causing Iranians to quake with fright. (As Yoda said fear leads to anger…) In 1960-1963 Mohammed Reza introduced the White Revolution. As part of this Revolution the shah liberalized laws to convey more equality to women and began economic reforms that increased Iranian incomes. These measures angered the Shia clergy whose power the economic reforms eroded and who wanted to continue subjugating women as per Islamic tenets. Soon ordinary people became discontent as well with the White Revolution as the economic reforms backfired. Failing farms compelled an Iranian rush to the cities where Iranians found high prices isolation and poor living conditions. An ever-decreasing standard of living accompanied rampant inflation. During all this misery Iranians had no political outlet through which to vent their dissatisfaction. No political freedom existed with SAVAK arresting and torturing anyone who dissented from the shahs policies. Only bloody rebellious actions could serve as channels for the peoples rage.[9] Supporting the shah while this was happening was the United States of America. Ever increasing numbers of American consultants assisted Mohammed Reza with economic planning and military strengthening. With American aid the Iranian military emerged as the strongest in the region and one of the biggest on Earth. The shahs reliance on Americans tarnished both him and them in the eyes of the Iranian people. Finally in the 1970s Iranian intellectuals tired of Mohammed Rezas tyrannical maladministration. They joined forces with Shia clerics loyal to the exiled philosophy professor Ruhollah Musawi Khomeini. Khomeini had condemned the White Revolution in 1963 for which government agents stormed Khomeinis madrasah killing several students and arrested him. Eventually the government forced Khomeini into exile. This did not stop Khomeini from constructing doctrines for the maintenance of a Shia Muslim state and disseminating them to the Iranian people thereby fortifying and gaining allegiance.[10] The alliance of intellectuals and clerics fomented a revolution in 1978-1979 that forced the shah to abdicate and allowed Khomeini to return home. Iranians voted for the institution of an Islamic Republic by a large margin. Ayatollah Khomeini (of whom current Ayatollah Khameini is the successor) and his Shia clerics and mullahs brutally crafted this Islamic Republic eliminating whatever Western influence they could along the way. The ayatollah and his cronies have dominated Iran from 1979 until today exhibiting as much barbarism as the shah ever did. Irans democratically-elected president serves as a figurehead. He possesses little authority to thwart the designs of the Shia theocrats.[11] All this history reveals a Western proclivity for harmful interference in Iranian affairs extending back 200 years. One could defend the intervention in World War II as necessary to constrict German trade and ensure the flow of Lend-Lease materiel to the Soviet Union.[12] Every other intrusion into Iran was an imperialistic endeavor to protect Western business interests. After two centuries of detrimental foreign exploitation Iranians would have little reason to trust in the good intentions of the United States and Europe. This distrust in concert with Iranian hostility toward foreign interference in political life and usurpation of natural resources could make UN attempts to command Iran backfire. Iran could perceive such ultimatums as yet more Western efforts to dominate Irans future. The Shia clergy emerges in the history as a force that after embedding themselves into Iranian culture for centuries have exercised rising societal influence over the past century until they took over the country outright in 1979. gktoday current affairs april 2020