The Not Non-Aligned Movement

The so-called Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is meeting in Iran.  But, it really is not non-aligned, it no longer exists in a bipolar world, of communism opposing western capitalism.  Its raison d'etre has disappeared, it is an anomaly.  The communist bloc collapsed in the 1990s, with the fall of communism in the USSR and its break-up into Russia and 14 other independent sovereign states as well as the freeing of the nations of eastern Europe. There are still a handful of communist countries in the world, notably China, which has adopted capitalism,  N. Korea and Cuba.  But, these no longer constitute a large voting bloc in the UN.  The NAM simply continues out of momentum, but it has become aligned, against the west and all that it stands for, it no longer has credibility.  One of the NAM's dominant themes is anti-western, and specifically anti-Israel propaganda.  It is in fact an aligned movement, essentially replacing communism by filling in the vaccum left by communism's demise.

The irony is that some of the most fervent founders of the NAM no longer exist.  Yugoslavia under Pres. Tito is an example, after his downfall it splintered into 6 states (and maybe a seventh if you count Kossovo), and its successor states no longer have any interest in belonging to NAM.  Another founder was Pres. Nasser of Egypt, but his successor Pres. Mubarak was overthrown recently.  Pres. Mursi of Egypt is scheduled to visit Iran for the NAM meeting, but is reportedly staying there for only 6 hours on his return flight from a visit to China.  It is unlikely that Mursi a member of the Sunni Moslem Brotherhood would have much agreement with Shia Iran's Pres. Ahmedinejad, who is the current head of the NAM.

The principles upon which the NAM is supposedly based include respect for self-determination of countries of the UN, and peaceful coexistence, both contrary to the perceived practices of the former USSR and the USA.  Yeah!  I'd like to see what its members, now dominated by Muslim countries, do about that.  Not only are the NAM countries virulently anti-Israel, but they also oppose most US policies in the world.  And this notwithstanding the fact that the NAM consists mostly of the poorest and most abject dictatorships in the world, many of which rely on US foreign aid for their subsistence.  Its an upside down world, one in which we can safely ignore anything that the so-called NAM decides as being irrelevant and decidedly wrong.