24 January 2014

Arguments for improving relations with Iran


From Foreign Policy:
[I]f you’re not a fan of the clerical regime, you might want to consider killing it with kindness instead of bolstering it with belligerence. More than half of Iran’s population is under 35, and many are eager for better relations with the outside world (including the United States). Making it easier for Iranians to travel, get educated in the United States, and get exposed to the rest of the outside world will put those aging mullahs in a very awkward position. Have we learnt nothing from the failed Cuban embargo, which has helped keep the Castro Bros. in power for half a century? If we really believe in the transformative power of markets, Hollywood, hip-hop, the Internet, democracy, and free speech, let’s turn ‘em loose on Tehran. If your goal is a more moderate Iran, that approach is likely to work a lot better than ostracism, covert action, and repeated threats of military force, which merely galvanize Iranian nationalism and help justify continued repression by hardliners.
Via The Dish, whence the photo credit.

5 comments:

  1. That certainly makes sense to me.

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  2. Finally! If all the money spent in the last 12 years of war was spent in improving Arab life, there wouldn't be many volunteers for suicide vests. Coca Cola colonialism has always been a better business strategy.

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  3. Diplomacy rather than weapons -- we're all human.

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  4. I was in Iran in the late seventies and it was a pleasant place to be.
    I was also in Afghanistan and once again it was nice to walk down a street and smile and nod to people and have them nod back and smile.
    Pakistan was the same.
    Sad to say in India the young Sikh men thought they had a right to try to chat up and fondle the young Australian friend I was travelling with but nothing compared to a bar full of western boys.
    It is all about OIL the western companies were working with the Russians way back in the sixties to figure out how to get the MASSIVE oil reserves around the Caspian sea to the Christian world without letting the locals know.
    Bit like the Massive amounts of pure fresh water under North Africa that the western government experts insisted didn't exist.
    Funny how it all kicked off in Libya as soon as they finished the pipeline bringing pure 1,000 year old water (that didn't exist) to the folks who needed it.
    First thing they bombed was the aqueducts.
    Call me what you like I'm just an old farmer in France who has been around and done some serious hitch-hiking then lots of Rock and Roll.
    Funny how back then we could do that, just cross the Channel and stick our thumbs out and go to India and beyond.
    I was heading for Australia but ended coming back from Thailand via Moscow and was puzzled by how many USAF heavy transport planes were sitting on the tarmac.
    Must have been a very big embassy the U.S. had there.

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  5. The problem for US politicians is that they need these boogiemen to point fingers at when things go wrong or risk having the blame fall upon themselves. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue, both groups take part in the global farce.

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