News+and+politics religion philosophy the cynic librarian: Iran and US in Dialog?

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Iran and US in Dialog?

Throughout the past half year I have advocated that the US engage Iran in dialog instead of blustering and pandering to the war crowd. Slowly, but inexorably, the US position seems to have evolved to exactly that point. There's certainly room for duplicity, posturing, and bad faith on both sides, but the US' leverage in the region has declined immensely with the Bush misadventure in Iraq.

As Juan Cole points out below, the US options in Iran and aspirations in the region must begin to conform to a level of hashing out disputes and disagreements in dialog rather than simply imposing its hegemonic will onto other nations. One thing that Cole does not address, however, is the continuing hypocrisy of the US position on Iran's aspirations for nuclear technology. That is, as long as Israel is allowed to stockpile nuclear weapons and pose a danger to other nations in the area, the US will continue to be seen as a two-faced partner. ...

According to Cole:

Washington no longer has much leverage on Iran. Its military is bogged down in Iraq, and its diplomats are forbidden to speak to Tehran under most circumstances. Its attempt to prevent even a civilian Iranian nuclear energy program may convince the clerical hard-liners to pull their country out of the NPT and to end international inspections. If the Iranians really did want a bomb, they could not have asked for a better pretext to leave the NPT. President Bush’s policies toward Iran have already failed, and could fail even more miserably in the months to come.
Related Links

My Previous Iran-Related Posts

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