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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs
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To: Geoff Altman who wrote (11493)9/1/2006 4:18:11 PM
From: RMF  Read Replies (2) of 71588
 
"if the U.S. plays its cards right"

Geoff, maybe you haven't noticed, but the U.S. hasn't exactly played its "diplomatic cards" very well in the last few years.
Iran had a vocal and growing "reform movement" when Bush came into office and now they've got a fundamentalist leader with a fascination with the "12th Imam" and the apocalypse. I think this administration's tendency to treat other countries as if they were "wayward children" rather than equals has caused many of the problems we've had with countries like Iran and N. Korea.

There is a strong secular "youth movement" in Iran that detests the policies of the Mullahs, but Bush seems to have undermined them at every turn. "Nationalism" trumps individual freedoms every time and Bush is strengthening nationalism in Iran while undercutting the people that would be our natural allies.

As far as "ruthless suppression" not being a viable strategy for maintaining power, I think it's working pretty well in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and N. Korea. It WAS working in Iraq until we took out Saddam. So I don't think you can count on it not continuing to succeed in Iran, especially when Bush's foreign policy HELPS to support it.
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