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01 Jul 2009 05:55 pm
Letting Them Self-Destruct
Adjusting his own views on engagement, Roger Cohen thinks that now is the time to isolate Iran:
Obama must leave [Khamenei and Ahmadinejad] dangling for the foreseeable future. He should refrain indefinitely from talk of engagement. To
do otherwise would be to betray millions of Iranians who have been
defrauded and have risked their lives to have their votes count. To do
otherwise would be to allow Khamenei to gloat that, in the end, what
the United States respects is force. To do otherwise would be to
embrace the usurpers. The slow arc of moral justice is fine but
Iran is gripped by the fierce urgency of now. Obama, the realist on
whom idealism is projected, is obliged to make a course correction.
I say all this with a heavy heart. Non-communication between America
and Iran is bad for both countries and the world. It complicates and
undermines every U.S. objective from Gaza to Afghanistan. It’s
dangerous and it’s unnecessary. I’ve argued strongly for
engagement with Iran as a game-changer. [...] But the Iran of today is not the
Iran of three weeks ago; it is in volatile flux from without and
within. Its Robespierres are running amok. Obama must do nothing to
suggest business as usual. Let Ahmadinejad, he of the bipolar mood
swings, fret and sweat. Let him writhe in the turbid puddle of his
self-proclaimed “justice” and “ethics.”
I'm wrestling with this question, and haven't yet made up my mind. My heart certainly belongs with Roger Cohen on this. My head is still trying to think it all through. My thoughts over the weekend are here.
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