In anticipation of tomorrow’s meeting among U.S. diplomats, their Russian, Chinese, and European counterparts, and Iranian officials, analyst Michael Rubin points out in today’s New York Daily News that “engagement is a tactic, not a strategy.” He urges President Obama to realize that, while military action against Iran should be a last resort, the United States should begin making military preparations.
Rubin points out that neither Richard Nixon nor Ronald Reagan–two former presidents whose diplomacy is frequently cited as reflecting the positive, or at least non-injurious, effects of diplomacy with hostile enemies–ever stopped making military preparations as they participated in talks. Rather, to the extent their negotiations were beneficial, they relied on America’s enemies’ awareness that they were backed by the threat of military force.
Iranian revelations last week of an additional uranium enrichment plant near Qom further solidify the belligerent nature of the regime, and its dedication to aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons. President Obama and the world’s people should expect more surprise revelations from Iranian leadership in the months to come. The situation is extremely urgent and, as Rubin puts it, “without a finger on the trigger, diplomacy will fail.”
2 Comments
Rubin points out that neither Richard Nixon nor Ronald Reagan–two former presidents whose diplomacy is frequently cited as reflecting the positive, or at least non-injurious, effects of diplomacy with hostile enemies–ever stopped making military preparations as they participated in talks.
The comparison to China is an interesting one as the US and China had already fought against each other in Korea. Tensions were high and the Chinese had a anti American
However, although the countries had shut each other out, there was no immediate threat that China posing to the United States. Nixon was able to visit China and achieve a break through on some long standing simmering issues.
http://www.chizeng.com/nixon/conflict.html
Unfortunately, Iran poses an acute and immediate threat to Europe, Israel and the middle east.
With the increasing threat Iran is posing everyday, the more analogous historical case may be the Cuban Missile Crisis where the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba capable of striking the United States.
Here, Kennedy certainly did negotiate with the Soviet Union extensively, but he did so while erecting a blockade of military equipment from the Soviet Union and prepared for a military strike or invasion.
In the end, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles in Cuba while the US removed their missiles in Turkey.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
Iran believes it will greatly benefit from having a nuclear weapons. It will only agree to cease its current course of action in negotiations if it believes, as Khrushchev eventually did in the Cuban Missile Crisis, that the current course of action would be too detrimental for them to continue.
Rubin points out that neither Richard Nixon nor Ronald Reagan–two former presidents whose diplomacy is frequently cited as reflecting the positive, or at least non-injurious, effects of diplomacy with hostile enemies–ever stopped making military preparations as they participated in talks.
The comparison to China is an interesting one as the US and China had already fought against each other in Korea. Tensions were high and the Chinese had a anti American
However, although the countries had shut each other out, there was no immediate threat that China posing to the United States. Nixon was able to visit China and achieve a break through on some long standing simmering issues.
Unfortunately, Iran poses an acute and immediate threat to Europe, Israel and the middle east.
With the increasing threat Iran is posing everyday, the more analogous historical case may be the Cuban Missile Crisis where the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba capable of striking the United States.
Here, Kennedy certainly did negotiate with the Soviet Union extensively, but he did so while erecting a blockade of military equipment from the Soviet Union and prepared for a military strike or invasion.
In the end, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles in Cuba while the US removed their missiles in Turkey.
Iran believes it will greatly benefit from having a nuclear weapons. It will only agree to cease its current course of action in negotiations if it believes, as Khrushchev eventually did in the Cuban Missile Crisis, that the current course of action would be too detrimental for them to continue.
Post a Comment