Stephen Kinzer, former New York Times reporter and author of an endearing book about Turkey called Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds, is spot on in his analysis of the Obama administration’s policy toward Iran.
In laying out the American approach to Iran, Clinton showed how little US foreign policy has changed since the last years of the Bush administration. President Bush famously explained that he would not negotiate with unfriendly regimes because he didn’t want to “reward bad behaviour”. He wanted states like Iran to change of their own accord, not as a result of negotiation but as a pre-condition for being allowed to negotiate….
A more promising approach would be to tell Iran what President Nixon told China 35 years ago: if you agree to consider all of our complaints, we will consider all of yours. Clinton has made clear that the US will make no such offer. Instead it clings to the decades-old American policy toward Iran: make demands of the regime, threaten it, pressure it, sanction it, seek to isolate it, and hope for some vaguely defined positive result.
Some of America’s most seasoned diplomats are eager for the chance to see what kind of a “grand bargain” they could strike with Iran. An ideal one would curb the nuclear programme, guarantee some measure of protection for brave Iranians who are being brutalised for defending democratic ideals, and give Iran security guarantees that might lure it out of its isolation and lay the groundwork for a new security architecture in the Middle East. Instead the US has fallen back on sabre-rattling. This pleases Israel, war hawks in Washington, so-called American allies like Saudi Arabia – and most of all, President Ahmadinejad and his reactionary comrades in Tehran. They thrive on confrontation, and are doing all they can to bait the US into attacking their country. It is a strategy as effective as it is dangerous.
Kinzer’s short article can be read here.
– Ben Katcher
Jim Lobe has been tracking the sordid history of neo-conmen for some time. Luban’s piece on Lee Smith’s hatchet job on Parsi and the Leveretts deserves repetition:
“This week saw the publication of a two-part hit piece in Tablet magazine purporting to expose the machinations of the “Iran lobby” in Washington. The author, Lee Smith, is apparently not the great baseball closer, but rather a former reporter for Bill Kristol’s Weekly Standard and a current fellow at the neoconservative Hudson Institute (also the home of such luminaries as Scooter Libby, Doug Feith, and Norman Podhoretz).” (Wigwag’s heroes!)
http://www.lobelog.com/tablet-rehashes-smears-against-parsi-and-leveretts/#comments
For the record, the ‘LOL’ I posted below was directed AT rfjk, not with him.
Daniel Luban has an excellent piece on WigWam’s favorite author, Lee Smith, in today’s Lobelog.com. Worth a look.
” Since the conquest of Hawaii in 1893, internationalism and interventionism are deeply intertwined within the US economic order. You can’t kill one without killing the other, or cause an effect in one without its repercussions in the other. American nativists, leftists and defeatists all love sloping it up at the trough, with nary a thought of where and how all this abundance came about. ”
LOL!
So much for being an Iran expert. -_-
This is OT but I feel like I need to point out that this:
Flynt leverett said in that pbs news hour clip posted earlier that the shah’s regime gunned down THOUSANDS of iranian protesters…
… is fucking BULLSHIT.
Thank you for your time.
“…Iran: make demands of the regime, threaten it, pressure it, sanction it, seek to isolate it, and hope for some vaguely defined positive result….”
The US can make unilateral demands on Iran till its blue in the face, drops dead and dies. If Obama wants to lord it he should quit acting like an Israeli putz and conquer the country, not bomb it.
After 30 years Iran is immune to US threats and pressure tactics.
And sanctioning the second largest oil and gas producer in the Persian Gulf is pure lunacy in the age of peak oil. Nobody, not even 3rd world countries are going to abide such a stupidity.
Isolate? For Pete’s sake, how is that attainable when none of the above are doable.
If Obama is as the Leverett’s claim, than he is in fact as brainless as the previous occupant of the W/H, and will wind up as great a loser and embarrassment to the county. Nor can he fix the US economy by domestic politics and legislation alone.
Since the conquest of Hawaii in 1893, internationalism and interventionism are deeply intertwined within the US economic order. You can’t kill one without killing the other, or cause an effect in one without its repercussions in the other. American nativists, leftists and defeatists all love sloping it up at the trough, with nary a thought of where and how all this abundance came about.
The problem is Israel, stupid
The Obama regime is penetrated from the top to bottom with Zionists in positions to influence every strategic decision relating to Iran and Middle East policy in general.
The evidence of Zionist control is overwhelming and the consequences are deadly to any ‘balanced’ negotiations with Iran.
This regime is not prepared to open serious negotiations with Iran, or to ‘broker’ an end of Israeli occupation of Palestine.
On the contrary, their close ties with the Israel Lobby and long-term commitment to Israeli militarism and expansionist policies ensure that the Obama regime will proceed toward collaboration with the Jewish State in confrontation with Iran.
USA and Israel will not allow any country in the Middle East to challenge Israel’s supremacy in the region.
Everyone on Obama’s team supported the Israeli carnage in Gaza and endorsed Israel’s efforts to destroy the democratically elected Hamas government and prop up the discredited and corrupt Abbas.
Israel lobby control the media and the world.
Israel is wiping Palestine off the map and committing genocide but there is no media outcry or condemnation from the west.
No leader of the western countries is able to condemn Israel because they are frightened of the influence and the power of Israel lobby.
Ahmadinejad was the only leader who publicly condemned Israel and rightly so.
This is the main reason why he is daily demonised by the western media. Fraudulent election and nuclear weapons are only an excuse.
No matter how many nuclear bombs Israel possesses,
No matter how many war crimes Israel commits,
No matter how many women and children Israel murders.
No matter how many Palestinians, Israel makes homeless.
No matter how many UN resolutions, Israel violates,
The USA and the European countries will not impose any sanctions against Israel but they are so eager to impose sanction against Iran.
If we destroy the power of “Israel lobby”, and make Isral leaders accountable for their crimes, not only the negotiation with Iran would be possible but also this world will be a better place to live in.
ASDF Aziz good night have a good rest, yes Iran has a very proud vibrant and successful community of Iranian Jews in US who are an ever part of Iran, that on regular bases they travel back to their homeland Iran for family visits or pilgrimage, even Iranian Jews who live in Israel travel back to Iran for family visits or pilgrimage of Esther’s tomb. Iran does not have problem with Jews, Iran’s problem is western colonial hegemony that like octopus every now and then comes out in different colors and shapes.But again Iranians many centuries of experience with the westerner’s eastward push and will deal with it again. No worries
Kooshy jan: I have to go but I will be back. Have a good night. Shad bashid.
JohnH: Excuse me, but who helped the “great satan” USA both in Iraq and Afghanistan??
Yes, none other than the Islamic Republic of Iran.
It seems to me the IRI is very happy with the US puppet, Al-Maliki. eh? A bit hyporicitical, don’t you think?
Kooshi: You are stating the obvious. The US hegemony and the transnational military Industrial complex are facts of life. So is China’s and the Russia’s hegemonic aspiration, including little old IRI albeit in a smaller scale..
Conquest is as old as time, remember the Persian Empire, the Islamic Empire…etc. There has never been a period in history without a hegemon and there never will be.
What do you think will happen if the US left the ME?? Who do you think will fill the Power vaccum??
Kooshi: Yes, Kooshi, life is very hard for Iranian-jews and Isralie in Israel unless you have a ton of money. There are homeless Israelis. All the well-to-do Jewish Iranians left Iran because they could afford to a few years after the revolution. Those who stayed, couldn’t leave because they were not wealthy enough. Some tried their luck in Israel but could not make it and came back to Iran because they missed the rest of their families who couldn’t afford to leave…however, that doesn’t mean anything.
The Jewish population prior to revolution was upward of 100,000 and now it’s less than 20,000 and dwindling. I suggest next time you visit the US, attend the local Jewish/Iranian temple in Santa Monica, Los Angeles and ask them how they were treated by the IRI thugs.
ASDF Jan since you are god with links here is one for you to read
Please send a copy to Meir he may want to put it on his site
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/15-02-2010/112215-dominance_iran-0
Keeping an eye on repression
The Famous IKONOS Satellite Image of Azadi Square
… the days prior to the Bahman 22 anniversary of the Iranian revolution, Khamenei’s forces were making furious efforts to tighten a blindfold on the media so that the world could not see the magnitude of the Iranian opposition. At the same time the opposition movement, with far fewer resources, had to find a way to get the truth out with as little bloodshed as possible. It was during this time that Mark Brender, the Vice President of Communications at GeoEye (www.geoeye.com), an operator of high-resolution Earth imaging satellites, received a call from an unusual customer. A professor at one of Iran’s universities was wondering if a GeoEye satellite would be in position on 11 February, 2010 to take a picture of Azadi Square at the time when Ahamadinejad was giving his 22 Bahman speech.
I spoke with Mr. Brender who received that historic call, and he was eager to read some of the emails he received from grateful Iranians:
“Dear sirs, I want to say thank you, thank you…” signed a Persian member of the Green Movement.” The Green Movement member was thankful that the satellite image showed the area inside Azadi Square as mostly empty, whereas the streets leading to the square were packed with crowds the regime did not trust enough to let inside. That is, potential opposition supporters.,,
http://iranian.com/main/2010/feb/keeping-eye-repression
Paneer the Iranian Jews that I am talking about, a few years back they refused to leave Iran for Israel although they were offered with money from Israel and the Ashkenazi’s
Hey ASDF, got any footage from Iraqi jails?
I didn’t think so.
And who is presiding over those jails? Your savior!
Paneer Jan actually Palestine is the Israel and US problem, it currently works as a good hedge for Iran like it always did, you need to read the history carefully to see how it was resolved in the past, history will kind of repeat itself, Truman said the knowledge we don’t have is the history we have not read. Actually I come from a city that a lot of proud Iranian Jews live there
Exclusive: Iranian basiji tells of jail ordeal (contains video)
Channel 4 News
17-Feb-2010
A former member of the Iranian basij militia tells Channel 4 News that he was jailed and mistreated for refusing to assault opposition protesters.
“There was a table. I stood on that table for some hours with my hands tied and a rope around my neck. They came a few times and said they’d come to execute me now, or in an hour.”
The words of a former member of Iran’s basij militia who refused to participate in the brutal crackdown on opposition supporters after the disputed presidential elections in June 2009.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/exclusive+iranian+basiji+tells+of+jail+ordeal/3547537
Kooshi: Is this the kind of Islam you believe in??
Kooshi: Do you think all Of IRI’s problems are the zionist/jew/AIPC’s fault?? I don’t see it that way. Are you Palestinian, Kooshi??
Kooshi: What is so wrong with that statement that I made. Do you think muslims all have to be anti-jewish?? Am I missing something?? Not that is anything wrong with bein Jewish but it’s kind of ludicrous when it’s not true.
ASDF /Paneer aziz man you say: “I’m neither Jewish nor Israeli”. And then a few post before
“I hope so too. The Iranians and the Jews have coexisted for 2500 years. There is no need for us to be enemies. We have much more in common than people think”You got to make up your mind
Kosshi and Persian Gulf:
دسیسۀ سبز
http://iranian.com/main/2010/feb-23
Kooshi, Kooshi???LOL
Here is a great comment from another site, which explains that the democratic movement does not trust Mousavi and Kahroubi anymore.
“”After Karubi’s word with Fars news agency…people felt there was a bad smell of compromise. They were disappointed believe it or not. They lost trust and after many said chant this but not that slogan people thing that these guys may have compromised from behind for fears of the fall of IR as a whole and for their interests, whether you want to believe it or not. I myself felt it that Feb 11 th would be like this the closer we were getting to the date. Also the repression that was following.
People r not ready to risk their lives for leaders that are not determined and strong. People are afraid of being betrayed again.
Sarah / February 17, 2010 6:08 AM”"
Source:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/02/akbar-ganji-on-post-imperialism-in-iran.html
Kooshi: Also, nobody needs to “destablize” the Islamic republic of rapists. The whole house of cards were build upon violence, terror and lies and it will crumble that way too. No amount of IRGC or Basiji thugs can’t save the regime but you already knew that or maybe you don’t because you’re too vested in it to see straight!!
Kooshi, mooshi: What is with “you have in Israel”. I’m neither Jewish nor Israeli.
I’m also no Green. Moussavi et al are corrupt mullash just like Khameni and Ahmadinejad. Stop presuming things. that’s my 2 cheese!lol
So, why do you call yourself Kooshi??
Also, why do you support the Islamic Republic?? Do you??
Yeah, great piece by Kinzer. Of course we can’t read minds in either Tehran or Washington, but K sums up perfectly what we do know (or think we know).
I see WigWam is still engaging in personal attacks by means of repeating other people’s slanders. Note that he says nothing at all about the Kinzer piece. Instead he attempte to deflect attention from it by repeating someone else’s tiresome (and possibly slanderous) expostulations. What’s it got to do with the debate, WagWig? Who do you work for? Surely, no sane person would waste his time in this way unless he was doing the bidding of others. Is it a paid gig, WagWig?
Your own views do not receive the attention they might otherwise get because you keep sinking into the mud, WigWam. Think about it.
Paneer here is a little info on Kushi’s for you
“TZRIFIN, Israel — On the day after the violent Ethiopian demonstration in Jerusalem, Esther Tadela, a 22-year-old Ethiopian immigrant nurse, stayed home from work.
“I take care of sick Israelis, and I just didn’t want to take care of them today,” she said. “Their children and their grandchildren are likely to call me `kushi masriach’ [stinking nigger].”
ASDF aziz I am kooshy but not that kind that you have in Israel, and about Sorush he is just a Shariati wana be it will go nowhere, if all your sides hope is this green thing to destabilize Iran you will be out of job soon
Mooshi jan: I hope so too. The Iranians and the Jews have coexisted for 2500 years. There is no need for us to be enemies. We have much more in common than people think but you already knew that…lol
I intentionally posted that link for those who try to mindleslly pit Iranians against Israelis. That’s all. No alterior motives.
Mooshi jan: What do you think of Souroush’s latest?
Soroush: Velayate Faghih will end
Speaking at a seminar in London
http://www.iranian.com/main/2010/feb/soroush-velayate-faghih-will-end
Panner Jan I never thought the military option was on the table for US and especially for Israel and you knew that too. But you asked Iran, Israel how will it end up in the Middle East, for your sake let’s hope same as it did 2500 years ago
Shameful video of Larijani on CNN below:
Mohammad Javad Larijani
Shameful Performance Stuns the UN Human Rights Council
http://www.iranian.com/main/2010/feb/mohammad-javad-larijani
Mohammad Javad Larijani ( Brother of Ali Larijani head of the Parliment and former Nuclear Program Negotiator for Iran at the AEIA):
Foremer deputy foreign minister calls Obama a nigger
http://www.iranian.com/main/2010/jan/mohammad-javad-larijani
Mohammad Javad Larijani
Iran’s Shameful Performance Stuns the UN Human Rights Council
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran: As the review of Iran’s human record under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process concluded at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Iranian government demonstrated its utter lack of respect for internationally accepted norms by simultaneously accepting and rejecting recommendations of UN members with regard to addressing the critical situation of human rights in Iran, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today >>>
http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2010/02/rejection-unhrc/
p.s. This man, Larijani, called Obama the “N” word.
Kooshi, mooshi…lol
You must be one of those mooshies jumping the ship…lol
Why do you think the option is off the table??
Israel and Iran – How Will It End?
Politically they’re at daggers drawn, each declaring the other enemy number one. Could there be a diplomatic way out of a stand-off that threatens the entire Middle East? Is all-out war inevitable – or could these two ancient nations, and vibrant cultures, one day even find a way to make peace?
Opinion Soup will be joined by Emanuele Ottolenghi, author of Under a Mushroom Cloud: Europe, Iran and the Bomb, Professor Ali Ansari, director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at St. Andrews University, Hagai M Segal, award-winning lecturer and consultant on Middle Eastern affairs, and Azadeh Moaveni, author of Lipstick Jihad. Chaired by Jonathan Freedland.
Date
Time
Venue
Price
To book
Monday 22nd February
8pm
Hampstead Town Hall,
213 Haverstock Hill,
London NW3 4QB
£10 in advance,
£12 on the door
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2010/02/17/israel-and-iran-%e2%80%93-how-will-it-end/
ASDF / Paneer e aziz you must be a USDA choice and an organic one, welcome back to the post
You are right I knew that but I also suspect something is cooking since the revolution’s anniversary. So now on the table we no longer have all the options just left with some of the options. What was the sudden reason to drop the biggest stick.
Iran is not Iraq. Iran is probably not the pushover that Iraq was. However, the people in charge of foreign policy are still lying SOBs, just like they were under Bush. Nothing they say can be trusted.
Wigwag: here is more on Iranian lobby.
http://english.iranianlobby.com/
Wigwag: Great link. It’s sad to see some people to sink so low..
Kooshi Jan: I do believe that there will be no war against Iran and there will also be no grand bargain but you already knew that…
John: and anyone who believes Iran is Iraq also needs to carefully read the history
In Feb. 2002, SOS Powell said that there were no plans to attack Iraq.
Anyone who believes these lying SOBs should read a little history.
From AP
US has no plan for military action against Iran: Clinton
That means no longer all the options are on the table, maybe this is progress toward reconciliation.
She must have heard lots of NOs in the gulf and vicinity, the significant is this is the 2nd time in one week that Washington is rejecting the military option. First was admiral Mullen and now Hillary
And this change in policy is announced both times in the Middle East and in public. Israeli prime minster also announced this week that Israel has no plan to attack Iran almost in the same manner
Maybe MR. Laverett can expand on the significant of this policy change since the anniversary of the revolution.
Iran’s nuclear threat is a lie
Iran’s crime is its independence.
Having thrown out America’s favourite tyrant, Shah Reza Pahlavi, Iran remains the only resource-rich Muslim state beyond US control.
As only Israel has a “right to exist” in the Middle East, the US goal is to cripple the Islamic Republic. This will allow Israel to divide and dominate the Middle East on Washington’s behalf, undeterred by a confident neighbour.
If any country in the world has been handed urgent cause to develop a nuclear “deterrence”, it is Iran.
As one of the original signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has been a consistent advocate of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.
In contrast, Israel has never agreed to an IAEA inspection, and its nuclear weapons plant at Dimona remains an open secret.
Armed with as many as 200 active nuclear warheads, Israel “deplores” UN resolutions calling on it to sign the NPT, just as it deplored the recent UN report charging it with crimes against humanity in Gaza, just as it maintains a world record for violations of international law. It gets away with this because great power grants it immunity.
http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2009/10/iran-nuclear-pilger-obama
The usual hypocrisy. If Lee Smith were truly concerned about “a regime that continues to murder its own people in the streets,” he might direct his attention to the US supported regime in Honduras, where US influence is sufficient to effect meaningful change in a dreadful human rights situation.
Chalk this piece as just another attack on the messenger, which Wigwag happily joins.
The second part of Lee Smith’s “Tablet” expose is now out and one has to conclude that the Leveretts are probably busy pouring over each word. They should remember that there’s no such thing as “bad” publicity; all publicity is good if you’re overriding goal is to get noticed (as theirs is).
Most of the Lee Smith essay deals with the ambitious Trita Parsi but the Leveretts are not spared.
Here’s the money quote,
“Iran’s true Washington lobby is the Leveretts—two American-born former U.S. government officials who were charged with sensitive portfolios affecting the security and welfare of their fellow citizens and then traded their government experience and intellectual credibility for access to the worst elements of a regime that continues to murder its own people in the streets. Washington is still sorting its way through the damage that the Leveretts have done in polluting the debate over Iran policy. And while the Leveretts enjoy their influence in Washington policy-making circles, the Iranian people will continue to pay the price.”
Ouch!
On Parsi, Lee Smith is somewhat more sympathetic. This is what he says,
“Parsi’s dual role—attempting to speak for elements within the Iranian and also for Iranian émigrés in the United States—made it hard for him to see conditions inside the Islamic Republic with clarity. But when he was finally compelled to face reality, he did. Trita Parsi should be praised for that, not condemned.”
Those desiring to read the full article will find it here,
http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/25842/the-immigrant/
Keep plugging away, Ben, I am sure it won’t be long before some enterprising reporter writes an expose about you.
His analysis of Israel’s success is reasonable. it was also very clear from Netanyahu’s speech in Russia, though Israelis do this Moscow in purpose, that they are not going to attack Iran, and it’s a threat for the whole world. it seems, the Israeli lobby was successful in selling this idea to the Obama admin. and make Iran’s crisis a universal one.
but his analysis of Iran’s desire to be attacked is naive at best. Obviously Ahmadinejad’s faction is not interested in an attack on Iran and there is no reason to believe otherwise. they, the IRIG if he meant, have all they need; political and economical power. an attack or harsh sanction on Iran is not gonna help them anymore.
in any case, his advise for the Chinese model of Iran is interesting, but still I haven’t got the answers to my question about what was China’s concessions exactly. Ms.Slavin also, in the interview with Flynt Leverett, mentioned some important points. She said Iran is not comparable to China, the population, USSR threat to China….(and we shouldn’t forget that China had the nuclear bomb already. should Iran take that step, the easy step remained at the events show, which would result in the complete failure of nonproliferation treaty?)at the same time she said Iran is a very dynamic society, has a century of democratic movement, and a great potential in the region. These are important points that are probably in the mind of policy makers in Washington. She, however, didn’t mention that the U.S China policy made a very close ally like Japan very uneasy, if it was intended to contain the USSR. It probably pushed India more toward the USSR. I don’t know if we can make such a parallel for today’s middle east or not. Israel might be an obstacle, but not all Arab states are unified in Iran’s case. The U.S doesn’t not necessarily benefits from increasing the notion of Iran threat in the Arab world. The U.S can still benefit from an independent Iran.