I don't think that most people have any grandiose expectations about Iran suddenly becoming our best buddies. There is some reason for optimism that a long term approach of constructive engagement will help. There is a democratic elections system in place there. The population of younger people is relatively well educated and has access to more information and media from outside the country. There is a basic commitment to protections for religious minorities. Those things are certainly not at all what we'd like them to be. And the old guard Ayatollahs are most certainly quite anti-American and anti-West.
I'd say that our best hopes are to work to contain the worst of the anti-American, anti-Western actions of the old guard, do what is needed to protect our legitimate interests and continue constructive engagement with an aim to improving the rapport with more liberal and practical elements of the upcoming generation. It won't change overnight and might never be exactly what we want. They are, after all, another country with their own history and culture and interests. But I think that the advantages of a western-style democracy and a healthy participation in the international community are very powerful. Best we can do is to continue to make the case not only to the leaders but also to the people of the country. Hearts and minds. Judah On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 9:17 AM, Scott Stroz <[email protected]> wrote: > > I never referred to them as "those people". I was not referring to Iranians > in general, I was referring to those who run the country specifically. > > I am not advocating that we abandon diplomacy, maybe just reset expectations > based on the attitude of the people we would be dealing with. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| 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:290471 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
