The Superpower’s Quest for Regime Change

The Superpower’s Quest for Regime Change

Pretext:

The US which is considered to be the hegemonic super power of the world would like to see regime change, particularly in Iran, Russia and China.

  1. Iran –

  • The Shah had sought safety in America, but after the Ayatollahs seized power in Iran in 1979, they demanded his return.
  • The Islamist students seized control of the American embassy in Tehran after the United States refused, holding the diplomats hostage for 444 days. Since then, Washington and Tehran have had nothing but hostile ties.
  • A superpower that has been degraded must not stop until the regime is overthrown.
  • The Americans were obviously on Iraq’s side during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, which gave the Iranians further reason to despise the US.
  • Protracted talks between the U.S. and Iran have focused on Iran’s nuclear programme.
  • As long as Shah was in power, America had no fundamental issue to Iran possessing nuclear weapons; in fact, they established multiple nuclear plants in Iran.
  • The Americans were forced to put pressure on Iran to give up its nuclear programme and impose severe economic sanctions against it after the mullahs vowed to push Israel into the sea.
  • Opportunities to resolve this festering issue through negotiation existed, but they were not taken advantage of.
  • In light of Israel’s steadfast hostility to any deal with Iran, Mr. Trump also had no choice but to criticise the nuclear agreement negotiated by President Obama.
  • The U.S. is looking at the current wave of protests in Iran as an opportunity to bring the regime down.
  1. Russia –

  • Does Putin’s aggression against Ukraine, however somewhat, pave the way for a shift of power in the Kremlin is the question.
  • For Mr. Putin, the war has gone terribly thus far. He too is being humiliated, and he has threatened to use nuclear weapons numerous times.
  • Just as Western sanctions have not succeeded in getting Mr. Putin to demand peace, his counter-sanctions against the West by cutting off their access to energy supplies are unlikely to result in a change of behaviour.

 

  1. China –

  • With 90 million members, the Chinese Communist Party is well-entrenched, albeit not exactly at ease.
  • The second-largest economy in the world, its military, which is getting stronger by the day, is well-trained, at least on the surface.
  • The CCP’s tremendous success in eradicating poverty and raising people’s living standards is what keeps it going. The party is safe as long as it can boost prosperity.

 

Source The Hindu