First of all, please excuse my recent absence from posting. I am working on a book regarding education and tenure, and it is an exciting yet time consuming process. However, thank god for the Freedom of Information Commission, as they work wonders with getting stonewalling deans to give the precious information they so dearly hold on to.
Iran
The turmoil in Iran should mean between little to nothing to the Obama agenda. While it would be nice to have a more accommodating leader in place, the fact is that all foreign policy in Iran is dictated by the Supreme Ruler, not the president, and the fact that Ahmadinejad is looked at as the decision maker is a testament to his political skills and the media’s desire to buy into his shtick. The commitment to work peaceably with Iran should not change, even if the outcome of the “democratic” election is questionable. We were prepared to work with him before; nothing changes now.
I have quite a few articles for this blog that are half written I will post in the next few weeks as I complete them, please excuse the content if it is at all dated.
3 comments:
Mark,
I couldn't agree more...the election in Iran is supposed to be PR for the Ayatollah and give the whole process the apperance of ligitamacy. It didn't work in this instance. I have no idea what all these media outlets are talking about and acting like Iran is a country that values freedom.
However, I do not understand Obama's decision to avoid verbal support for those who are rising up and are demanding that their votes count.
Obama cannt speak in their support, the ruling body in Iran has determined they will look into it. To support the opposition in any way would undermine their final decision, when it is delivered. Once again, he is acting prudently, waiting for the real facts to determined, and even if the outcome is unfair, he still needs to work with whoever is in power, no matter the legitimacy.
The best way to change things is get the government involved...unless it's Iran...then the best way to change things is do nothing. Believe it or not, we have fought a war of ideology before and the way we won it was by being a shining example of the alternative to tyranny. That meant supporting those that shared our beliefs in freedom.
"he still needs to work with whoever is in power"
This is where I cannot understand your side of the arguement. I have not been "all out" opposed to Obama's foreign policy. In fact, I have no problem offering Bush as a straw man on foreign policy. However, you need to have a goal to acheive in foreign policy or there is no point in playing in the big game. I thought it was preventing Iran from going nuclear. The point where negotiations could be collaborative to acheive this goal has long since past. The only side making concessions is the US and that's truly unacceptable.
Where is your book getting published? I'd like to keep my eye out for it.
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