Ahmadinejad would like me dead simply because I am a non-Muslim American...no other reason. I do not think all Iranians share his views, or do I think all Iranians are savages. However, I do think that some who run the country are and that is who my comment was directed at. We will not be trying to enter into diplomatic discussions with book store owner in Tehran, we would be doing so with the people who are in control of that country.
I really do not see that its possible to be diplomatic with a guy who a) has said repeatedly that Israel needs to be wiped off the map and b) has said that the holocaust did not happen. Do we really need to be allies with Iran? Can't they just be one of those countries where they are not necessarily our ally but the are not necessarily our enemy? Like that guy at work who you don't hate, but you don't really like him either. You won't go out of your way to make his life miserable, but you won't be inviting him over to watch the game either. On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 12:02 AM, Judah McAuley <ju...@wiredotter.com>wrote: > > Khatami was a better President for us to negotiate with, agreed. > Ahmadinejad is very bellicose but at the same time he was also dealing > with a US President that referred to him as part of the "Axis of > Evil". Bush views them as infidels because of their different way of > life (and it sounds like you may as well) so by the same logic, why > would they have anything but derision for us barbarians? > > There is a big middle ground between labeling an entire country as > Evil and being pansy-ass apologists. Appeasement is not a winning > policy and I don't subscribe to it. But constructive engagement can > and has worked. Diplomacy is a tricky dance between short term needs > and long term goals. > > Ahmadinejad is up for reelection this year. I expect him to win since > every other President of Iran has served two terms but from the sounds > of it there will be a contested election. He would be term limited > after that. So he'll probably be making some noise since in election > years politicians are politicians. Whether that will be concilatory > toward America or reactionary I really don't know. I'm guessing that > 2010 will be a more telling year though as he'll likely be starting > his final term and not worrying about reelection. > > Judah > > On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 5:43 PM, Scott Stroz <boyz...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Their president hates the US (or rather, the 'West'). Sorry, call me > > pessimist, but I don't think much can come of any discussions when one > side > > of the table views the other as 'infidels' simply because they have a > > different way of life. > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:288044 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
