Why U.S. Diplomacy Will Fail With Iran
Wall Street Journal
11-Aug-2009 (6 comments)

Certainly religious support cannot be enough anymore. Too many high-ranking clerics, including Grand Ayatollahs Hosssein Ali Montazeri and Yusef Saanei, now publicly oppose the regime. Nor can Persian nationalism serve as the prop: Its chief target is the despised Arabs, which is problematic, as the regime keeps trying to be more Arab than the Arabs in its hostility to Israel. Yet this hostility is itself a problem internally because the regime's generous funding of Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad is extremely unpopular in Iran. Only anti-Americanism is left, and Mr. Khamenei will not let Mr. Obama take it away.

Unless Iran's politics change, Mr. Obama's policy will fail. At that point, he will need a new, new policy of increasingly severe sanctions under the looming threat of bombardment—exactly Mr. Bush's old policy. But as Iran's nuclear program advances, time is running out for this policy to work.

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Ali Akbar

Do not forget anti Bahai ism

by Ali Akbar on

the NAZI's used Jews as a scapegoat...

 

the IRNI uses Bahais for their cannon fodder 


Sassan

Makes perfect sense!

by Sassan on

I couldn't agree more with the premise of this article -- without anti-Americanism, this monstrous regime is dead.

That's where the cancerous joke, A-Jad, comes into play.


Farhad Kashani

IranFirst jaan,   You

by Farhad Kashani on

IranFirst jaan,

 

You are right on the money. I could not have said it better.

 

Glad to see you here and being active and speaking out in support of the Iranian people and standing up to IRI supporters, both Leftists and Islamists.

 

Keep up the good work.

  

 


liberation08

the article by luttwak is

by liberation08 on

the article by luttwak is simplistic and highly faulty.

luttwak is not a credible analyst

it may be the case that ahmadinejad will be a better negotiating partner than mousavi would have been b/c ahmadinejad is more closely allied with khamenei than mousavi

if obama admin engages iran diplomatically and shows genuine respect for iran's rights and legitimate ambitions, then anti-americanism will be a much less effective political tool for the hardliners. a vast majority of iranians want better relations with U.S. and the West, and if their leaders prove to be the main obstacle to improved relations, then the iranian public will blame it's leaders

the iranian people aren't stupid

 

 


IranFirst

I agree..

by IranFirst on

Dear Mr. Kashani,


With four years of disastrous rule by Antari, and his recent "election"
and "trials" , Iranians and the whole world have seen the  true face of
the fascist IRI and its dependence on needing
foreign enemies to survive, but putting Iran in danger of a war is not
just about IRI and it is about the lives of all Iranians and the
existence of Iran as a country in the world. IRI, Islamists and
leftists have always tried to make Israeli Palestinian conflict an
issue for Iranians by siding with Palestinians, and Hezbollah,
..whereas these issues are for Israeli people and Palestinians to
discuss and not issues of the Iranian people to decide one way or the
other.  We have enough problems of our own to address. Iranians have
paid  huge prices (monitory, sanctions, lost investments..)  to solve
other people's problems.


After all, how many of the Islamists, Arabs and leftists that worry
about the just cause for Palestinians, worry about the just cause for
Iranians (to have democracy) ? I have not seen any large scale
demonstrations in Arab countries nor the left (Iranians, EU, ..) For
OUR people dying in streets, on the contrary I see many of them in the media
(some on this forum), still paint it as CIA directed !


Farhad Kashani

IranFirst jaan   Very

by Farhad Kashani on

IranFirst jaan

 

Very true aziz. Blind anti Americanism and anti Israelism has been one of IRIs 3 survival tools right next to exporting Islamic Fundamentalism (Terrorism) and applying medival laws in our country.