US bumbling policy on Iran

[baronessniki]

"Washington’s Bumbling Iran Policy


Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security advisor of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and advisor to four other presidents, on April 13 called the U.S. policy on isolating Iran in the international community a mistake.

Brzezinski asserted that Iran, more than any other country in the region, has the potential to progress toward modernization and democracy. Therefore, he maintained that the United States should take a cue from Europe and stop meddling in Iran’s internal affairs. The U.S. strategist’s remarks show that he believes that Iran is a major player in the region, although White House officials have been trying to downplay that fact. However, Brzezinski considers the improvement of relations between Washington and Tehran to be in the best interests of the U.S."

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=4/15/2004&Cat=14&Num=001

[starroute]

1. It makes a lot of sense

Many lifetimes ago, when I was in college, Michael Walzer delivered a lecture to my introductory social science course in which he said that societies seem to have to go through a stage of somewhat oppressive self-discipline in order to make themselves ready for democracy. In a paradoxical way, democracies, which seem to be the freest of societies, actually depend on the voluntary surrender of a certain amount of freedom. It's a matter of people internalizing the social norms rather than expecting to have them imposed by autocratic rulers.

Puritanism served that function for England and America. It's no coincidence that democratic institutions emerged in the century after the period of Puritan dominance -- or that New England has been at the center of the democratic tradition here, while the South (which was settled not by Puritans, but by aristocrats and indentured servants) has remained far more autocratic in its government and religion.

In the same way, the reign of the ayatollahs seems to be setting Iran up for the possibility of true democracy, far more so than any of its neighbors. It would be a damned shame if the Bushies managed to crap all over that.

[opihimoimoi]

2. If only this could be made known to America in a simplistic manner so as

to result in COMPREHENSION.

That these kinds of thoughts/concepts evade the average mind unless simplified is the hurdle for us to overcome. No easy task unless we find the key.

Now where did I put the damn thing?