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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bris who wrote (122901)	1/8/2004 12:21:24 AM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Many times in history, a natural disaster has been widely taken as a sign that the "mandate of heaven" has been withdrawn from the rulers, and it is time for regime change. Floods, famine, plague, and earthquakes have contributed to de-stabilizing governments. And it's true. The clerics in charge have spent too much time and effort worrying about whether women are showing their ankles in public, and not enough time on building codes. The ruler's priorities are wrong, and the people suffer. If the U.S. wants to effectively de-stabilize the present regime in Iran, we should stop all the bluster and bullying, the embargoes and sanctions. All that does, is reinforce nationalism in Iran, which cements clerical rule. Instead, the thing to do is flood them with aid. The aid should go directly to the people, in a way so they know it is the U.S. helping them. It can't be channelled through the Iranian government. It also can't be aid with lots of strings attached (that's bribery, not aid). If the government refuses those terms, let the Iranian people know their government slapped away a helping hand, refused aid freely offered to a people in need. We'd be doing a lot better, in the global HeartsAndMinds campaign against militant Islam, if we had spent 166B$ last year on life, rather than death, in the Muslim world. This is the opportunity cost of the Iraqi war.