OP-ED: The Inertia Option, By ROGER COHEN, New York Times, December 17, 2009
Key bit:
All this says -- nay, screams -- to me: Do nothing. It is President Barack Obama's outreach that has unsettled a regime that found American axis-of-evil rhetoric easy to exploit. After struggling, Obama has also found his sweet spot in combining that détente with quiet support for universal rights. Note the feminine possessive pronoun in this line from his Nobel speech: "Somewhere today, in this world, a young protester awaits the brutality of her government but has the courage to march on." I saw those bloodied women marching in Tehran in June and will never forget them.
Agree, but see no problem in targeting the Guards' biz interests with specific sanctions. Good bargaining chips.
But yes, I do like the de-hyped way Obama has responded to date. I just wish this confident quiet was extended to the nuke issue.
(Via WPR's Media Roundup)
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Comments (2)
Iran, Venezuela, Cuba honchos create hype crises to bolster emotions of their core supporters, and distract people from broader and deeper problems at home. Nothing new, earlier honchos from failing/disconnected states did same.
Posted by Louis Heberlein | December 23, 2009 8:54 PM
I believe, honestly, That Obama's "Doing Nothing" isn't deliberate, but hesitation because he has few options and doesn't really know what to do . .
Anything he does with the obvious proposed options will damage him politically . . He's kind of between a rock and a hard place politically and not much better off diplomatically. His best bet, as you, tom, allude, is to do nothing, wait and see what Iran's threat to Europe might bring . .
But the political pressures may undo that shortly . . He'll either act, or depend upon the surrogate . .
Posted by large | December 25, 2009 12:25 PM