General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Kerry gives Netanyahu a well-deserved diplomatic slap in the face [View all]Martin Eden
(12,882 posts)... time is on our side.
Iran has a young population, most of whom support moderate reformist leaders. They want more personal liberty and like Western-style fashion & entertainment. The worst thing we could possibly do with Iran is be a party to a military attack that would outrage Iranian youth and push them into the hardliner camp.
Iran really should be our natural ally. The Iranians began a tradition of democracy, which we and the British crushed in 1953 in the coup that installed the repressive regime of the Shah. Iran, not America, is much more the aggrieved party in this relationship. Iran insists their nuclear program is for energy, not weapons, and our own intelligence agencies concur they stopped actively pursuing nukes a decade ago. If that is true, there should be a path forward to verify & monitor their nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions and building the economic and cultural ties that will eventually make us the allies that we should have been for 60 years now.
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is NOT our natural ally despite our close ties and military relationship. The autocratic royal regime imposes Shariah Law restrictions on society (especially women) and funds madrasa schools in the Islamic world that teach little besides the Koran and hatred of America. Protecting that regime with our military is an abomination that makes it easy to dismiss as sheer hypocrisy all our rhetoric about freedom & democracy.
We need some real American leadership to step outside the box that confines our foreign policy and geostrategic vision. We are where we are now because the Powers That Be and the MIC either want it that way or have been blinded by their own greed.
President Barack Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize because the free world wants and needs America to be that shining city on the hill; because they had high hopes Barack Obama would bring about real change; and because he was not George W Bush.
I would really like to see Our President earn that Prize for Peace.