Wednesday, July 1, 2009

On the wrong side of morality, of American interests/values, ... but he's probably"concerned."

Obama's Obsolete Iran Policy The audacity of hope gives way to the timidity of realism. By BRET STEPHENS President Obama's Iran policy is incoherent and obsolete. Maybe David Axelrod should take note....Obama's consigliere was asked about Iran by ABC's George Stephanopoulos and NBC's David Gregory. Mr. Gregory asked whether there "should be consequences" for the regime's violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations. "The consequences, I think, will unfold over time in Iran," answered Mr.Axelrod...George S.quoted... Ahmadinejad as saying that "this time, the Iranian nation's reply will be harsh and more decisive to make the West regret its meddlesome stance." Said Mr. Axelrod, "I'm not going to entertain his bloviations that are politically motivated." As for whether the administration wasn't selling short the demonstrators, Mr. Axelrod could only say that "the president's sense of solicitude with those young people has been very, very clear."Bottom line from Mr. Axelrod, and presumably Mr. Obama, too: "We are going to continue to work through . . . the multilateral group of nations that are engaging Iran, and they have to make a decision, George, whether they want to further isolate themselves in every way from the community of nations, or whether they are going to embrace that." Translation: People of Iran -- best of luck! For a president who came into office literally selling the Audacity of Hope -- not just for Americans but for all mankind -- his Iran policy can so far be summed up as the timidity of "realism." That's realism as a theory of international relations that prescribes a foreign policy based on ostensibly rational calculations of the national interest and assumes that other nations act in similarly rational fashion.
On this reasoning, it remains the American interest to reach a negotiated settlement with Tehran over its nuclear program, whether or not Ahmadinejad was fairly elected. Likewise, it is in Tehran's best interests to settle, assuming the benefits for doing so are sufficiently large....The administration came to town thinking that America's problems with Iran were largely self-inflicted -- a combination of "Axis of Evil" and "regime change" rhetoric, an invasion that gave Iran a reasonable motive for wanting to arm itself with nuclear weapons, and an unwillingness to try to settle differences in face-to-face talks....Mr. Obama seems to have thought that a considerable part of America's Iran problem was simply an America problem, to be addressed by various forms of conciliation: Mr. Obama's New Year's greetings to "the Islamic Republic of Iran"; the disavowal of regime change as a U.S. objective; the offer of direct talks without preconditions; withdrawal from Iraq; the insistence, following the election, that the U.S. would neither presume to judge the outcome nor otherwise "meddle" in an internal Iranian affair.What did all this achieve? Iran's nuclear programs are accelerating. It is testing ballistic missiles of increasing range and sophistication. Its support for terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah is unabated. Ahmadinejad stole an election in broad daylight. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blessed the result. British Embassy staff are under siege. A campaign of mass arrests and intimidation is underway and a young woman named Neda Soltan was shot in the heart simply for choosing none of the above. Oh, and Iran still accuses the U.S. of "meddling." Now Mr. Obama is promising more of the same, plus the equivalent of a group hug for the demonstrators. Is this supposed to be "realism"?
A more common sense form of realism would reach different conclusions. One is that the "bloviations" of Ahmadinejad are not just politically motivated, but are also expressions of contempt for Mr. Obama. That contempt springs from a keen nose for weakness, honed by the habits of dictatorship and based on an estimate -- so far unrefuted -- of Mr. Obama's mettle.
Second, as long as Tehran can murder its own people, scoff at a U.S. president and flout U.N. resolutions without consequence, it will continue to do so.
Third is that the Achilles Heel of the Iranian regime isn't its "isolation." (What kind of isolation is it when Ahmadinejad's "election" was instantly ratified by Russian President Dimitry Medvedev?) Nor is it its vulnerability to a gasoline embargo, vulnerable though it is. Its real weakness is its own domestic unpopularity, which has at last found expression in a massive opposition movement.****That and the heterogeneity of the Iranian population only half of whom are ethnic Persians speaking Farsi. Also, pre-1979 the population was not so Sharia-constrained and may not be as rigidly pious as the mullahs.Too bad "regime change" is off the table for Obama."***
The fourth is that Iran's nuclear programs have now reached the stage where they can only be stopped through military strikes -- probably Israeli -- or an internal political decision to abandon them. The prospect of another Mideast war can't exactly please the administration. So how about trying to achieve the same result by leveraging point No. 3? Maybe ordinary Iranians welcome Mr. Obama's solicitude. What they need is Mr. Obama's spine. If that means "democracy promotion" and tough talk about "regime change," well, it wouldn't be the first time this president has made his predecessor's policy his own.//
From Best of the Web by James Taranto
To Whom It May Concern
"Obama Breaks Silence on Gaza, Voices 'Deep Concern' Over Civilian Deaths" -- headline, Ha'aretz, Jan. 7
"Obama Voices Concern About Freed Guantanamo Inmates"--headline, Reuters, Feb. 2
"Obama Voices Concern About Pakistan"--headline, New York Times, April 30
"Obama Expresses Concern for Tissainayagam"--headline, TamilNet.com, May 2
"Obama: Long-Term Joblessness a Concern"--headline, CNN.com, May 20
"Obama Says North Korea Nuclear Test a 'Grave Concern' "--headline, Reuters, May 25
"Obama to 'Voice Concerns' in Egypt Speech"--headline, Hill, May 29
"Obama Concerned at Sentence of Journalists in NKorea"--headline, Agence France-Presse, June 8
"Obama Names Video Games as Health Concern in Speech to A.M.A."--headline, GamePolitics.com, June 15
"Obama Has 'Deep Concerns' About Iran's Election"--headline, Newsweek Web site, June 16
"Obama Concern About Oil Speculation Unchanged-W.House"--headline, Reuters, June 18
"Obama Expresses Deep Concern Over Honduras Coup"--headline, Deutsche Presse Agentur, June 28
****But he's not concerned about some important things, like the rule of law, even in the U.S.: Thugs Vs. Voters
Voting Rights: It's more than disturbing to see the Justice Department drop a case against armed bullies practicing intimidation tactics last Election Day. No American should ever fear to vote....political staffers at Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department have trumped careerists and ordered that a complaint be dropped against three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense who used a billy club to harass voters in Philadelphia on the day of last year's November elections....quickly posted YouTube video showing two of the threatening men dressed in paramilitary garb....Justice officials were on the verge of applying sanctions against the three...but "their superiors ordered them to reverse course, according to interviews and documents." Two had their lawsuit dismissed with no penalty imposed, while the third man was banned from taking a weapon to a polling place in the future. Records indicate that the three men had refused to appear in court....civil rights activist and former Bobby Kennedy aide Bartle Bull, working as an official poll watcher on the day, accused the Panthers of making themselves "an intimidating presence" in a sworn statement. "In all my experience..."I have never encountered or heard of another instance in the United States where armed and uniformed men blocked the entrance to a polling location." The Justice complaint called the incident part of a national operation to have New Black Panther members stationed at various polling places....The fundamental legitimacy of our representative government depends on Americans' ability to exercise their power to vote with full peace of mind. There must be zero tolerance for anyone threatening that with physical violence. Our new attorney general takes this matter far too lightly.

No comments:

Post a Comment