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Jewish World Review
June 16, 2009 / 24 Sivan 5769
Foreign policy as social work
By
Mona Charen
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
In 1980, after Soviet tanks rumbled into Afghanistan, President
Jimmy Carter experienced an epiphany. The former Georgia governor, who in
1977 liberated the U.S. from its "inordinate fear of communism" and pecked
Brezhnev on both cheeks, declaring that he and the Soviet leader "shared
similar dreams and aspirations," was shocked by this naked aggression. "…
The action of the Soviets," he admitted, "made a more dramatic change in my
opinion of what the Soviets' ultimate goals are than anything they've done
the previous time I've been in office."
Some people are slow learners. Leave aside the 20 million dead
under Stalin, the subjugation of Eastern Europe, the Gulag, and the show
trials. In just the previous decade, the Soviets had tried and jailed Natan
Sharansky and Alexander Ginsburg for the crime of attempting to hold the
U.S.S.R. to the Helsinki human rights agreement; imprisoned countless
dissidents in psychiatric "hospitals"; supported a number of terrorist
groups worldwide, maintained an elaborate disinformation campaign to spread
defamatory lies about the U.S.; brought the world to the brink of nuclear
conflict over the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East; and armed and supplied
the deadly North Korean, North Vietnamese, Somali, and Ethiopian regimes.
The liberal tendency to believe that international relations are
a form of social work is unchanged. Just as liberals like Carter believed in
the 1970s that tensions with the Soviets were the result of
misunderstandings and "paranoia" on our part, liberals today believe that
international tensions are the result of lack of respect for Islam or
bellicosity on our part. Liberals are keen to bolster the self-esteem of our
enemies. If we were not so provocative (didn't Bush label Iran, North Korea,
and Iraq the "axis of evil"?) the world would be a more tractable place. If
we demonstrate humility, our former foes will meet us halfway.
Accordingly, Obama signaled in his inaugural address a new
benign approach to Iran. Without naming the regime, he declared that the
United States was prepared to "extend a hand, if you are willing to unclench
your fist." Following up two months later, President Obama addressed the
Iranian regime directly (something previous administrations had declined to
do, though they often expressed their solidarity with Iran's people) in a
Norwuz (New Year) address. "We know that you are a great civilization" he
purred, "and your accomplishments have earned the respect of the United
States and the world." Directing his next comments directly to the mullahs,
the president continued "… in this season of new beginnings … my
administration is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range
of issues before us, and to pursuing constructive ties among the United
States, Iran, and the international community. … The United States wants
the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of
nations."
As for the nettled matter of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons,
President Obama addressed it soothingly in his Cairo speech. Every nation
has the right to pursue nuclear power, he declared (though nuclear energy is
apparently to play no future role in the U.S.) and "no single nation should
pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons." Though he had
previously declared that a nuclear Iran was unacceptable to the United
States, President Obama proposed in Cairo that the answer to an Islamist
bomb was "America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold
nuclear weapons."
The Obama approach looks much less appealing following the sham
election of June 12. The bromides and promises of respect look increasingly
tawdry as the regime's goons speed through Iran's streets on motorcycles
beating demonstrators with batons; as Internet sites are closed; as
opposition leaders declare the election stolen; as dissidents including
political leaders, students, and journalists are jailed; and as violence
spills into the streets.
Just as the Soviets let the mask of "peaceful coexistence" slip
when they invaded Afghanistan, the mullahs have revealed themselves for what
they are. It has suddenly become much more difficult to pretend that by
engaging with this junta, you are not betraying the Iranian people. The
Obama foreign policy — hope leavened with helium — must now come down to
Earth.
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Mona Charen Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate
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