Monday, June 15, 2009
International Arrows of Truth
Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 8:25 PM
Ben Smith at Politico makes this point:
The Iranian turmoil has exposed a central conflict in Obama’s foreign policy.But it is precisely this, "tone down America’s moralizing rhetoric," that has made these demonstrations possible. The absence of a direct or real enemy in America has weakened Ahmadinejad. The departure of Bush instigated his decline and desperate effort to maintain power. A moralizing tone would only have give him muscles. Obama's flaws with gay issues must not eclipses his virtues in foreign policy—and the same the other way around.Obama’s core message of democracy and change dovetails with the hopes of Iranian reformers, and even the tech-friendly, youth-driven style of the uprising in Tehran echoes the American president’s own campaign.
But Obama also was elected on a promise to tone down America’s moralizing rhetoric, and his foreign policy may owe as much to unromantic old realists such as Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski as it does to the hopes of a new generation in Iran.
Lastly, one of my fav lines from all of Nietzsche: "To speak the truth and to shoot well with arrows, that is Persian virtue."
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3
As President Obama acknowledged the CIA put the Shah in power 56 years ago by a coup against the elected government of Iran. Democrats and Republicans supported the bloody dictatorship of the Shah until he was thrown out by the people in 1979. The U.S. government was none too happy to have their boy removed from power.
The current uprising by the people of Iran is out of the control of the U.S. and nobody can predict where it will end. I think Obama's tepid statement about the current popular uprising reflects our government's uneasiness with the unpredictability of the situation. Having hundreds of thousands of people involved makes it difficult for anybody to get control of the situation. Happily it also makes a military attack by Israel or the U.S. that much more difficult to justify
The current uprising by the people of Iran is out of the control of the U.S. and nobody can predict where it will end. I think Obama's tepid statement about the current popular uprising reflects our government's uneasiness with the unpredictability of the situation. Having hundreds of thousands of people involved makes it difficult for anybody to get control of the situation. Happily it also makes a military attack by Israel or the U.S. that much more difficult to justify
4
Well as long as anything Persian can be name dropped into the analysis, how about this:
gee, just 2500 years later the Persians adopt democracy. Bet those Greeks are saying "I told you so" now! hyuk hyuk.
gee, just 2500 years later the Persians adopt democracy. Bet those Greeks are saying "I told you so" now! hyuk hyuk.
5
"Bet those Greeks are saying "I told you so" now! hyuk hyuk.
that or "taste my Tzatziki, now! bitchez"
could go either way.
that or "taste my Tzatziki, now! bitchez"
could go either way.
6
@4 see @3: Iran HAD a democratically elected government once and we overthrew it because we didn't like it.
Heather, I think your points are good. But I'm also guessing that there's a bunch of nervous nellies inside the CIA right now. Had the US played its cards right back in 1978-79, it is quite likely that instead of Khomeini and his gang of Islamic thugs the Shah would have been replaced by a liberal, semi-left democracy. But we really bet on the wrong horse.
Heather, I think your points are good. But I'm also guessing that there's a bunch of nervous nellies inside the CIA right now. Had the US played its cards right back in 1978-79, it is quite likely that instead of Khomeini and his gang of Islamic thugs the Shah would have been replaced by a liberal, semi-left democracy. But we really bet on the wrong horse.
7
@6
oh thanks for your insightful correction. Let me rephrase.
gee, just 2045 years later the Persians adopt democracy. Bet those Greeks are saying "I told you so" now! hyuk hyuk. AND WE INTERRUPT THIS JOKE TO EXPLAIN THAT THE BIG BAD USA SNUFFED OUT THAT DEMOCRACY VIA CIA ORGANZIED COUP INSTALLING THE SHAH REGIME IN 1954 AND THAT WAS REALLY REALLY BAD!!!!!!
PLS. MAKE A NOTE OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, is that enough of a reminder?
oh thanks for your insightful correction. Let me rephrase.
gee, just 2045 years later the Persians adopt democracy. Bet those Greeks are saying "I told you so" now! hyuk hyuk. AND WE INTERRUPT THIS JOKE TO EXPLAIN THAT THE BIG BAD USA SNUFFED OUT THAT DEMOCRACY VIA CIA ORGANZIED COUP INSTALLING THE SHAH REGIME IN 1954 AND THAT WAS REALLY REALLY BAD!!!!!!
PLS. MAKE A NOTE OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, is that enough of a reminder?
10
Apologies PC, it didn't occur to me that you were joking until after I posted and then saw Pissy's post (which had slipped in while I was reading and posting). I just assumed that you were like the 99% of our fellow citizens who cannot draw a direct line between Mossadegh and Ahmidinejad.
13
Charles,
How come you make so much sense when you don't talk about architecture and urban design-stuff?
How come you make so much sense when you don't talk about architecture and urban design-stuff?
15
@13, compared to Charles most writers rely for confidence on some topical niche or other, a place readers can easily find from the writer what they expect. I've never had the impression that Charles needs easy praise to keep him writing.
19
Charles,
That last quote reminds me of something Theodore Roosevelt said "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far"
I wonder if he read Nietzsche?
That last quote reminds me of something Theodore Roosevelt said "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far"
I wonder if he read Nietzsche?
20
Charles,
Wanted to send this earlier as I know you read Hegel. Check this out:
http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i39/39woli…
It is an interesting retort to secularism. BTW, I am currently reading "The Decline of the West" by Spengler. Good stuff.
Wanted to send this earlier as I know you read Hegel. Check this out:
http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i39/39woli…
It is an interesting retort to secularism. BTW, I am currently reading "The Decline of the West" by Spengler. Good stuff.
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