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Obama Discovers Engagement's Limits

[Washington Post] Michael Gerson - The Iranian regime's reaction to engagement was to cut the ribbon on a nuclear enrichment facility, add centrifuges, conduct a fraudulent election, and kill and imprison a variety of political opponents. Obama's diplomatic hand has been extended for a while now. Fists remain clenched. This is not because some magical diplomatic words remain unspoken. It is because of the nature of oppressive regimes themselves. Such regimes are often internally preoccupied. Precisely because they lack genuine legitimacy, they spend large amounts of time and effort maintaining their fragile authority. They tend to make calculations based on internal power struggles, not some rational calculation of their external image and interests. They are so inwardly focused that they do not have, as Secretary of State Clinton said, "any capacity" to respond to engagement. And the inherent instability of oppressive regimes also leads them to tighten control by invoking threats from abroad - particularly from the U.S.. Because anti-Americanism is a central commitment of Iranian ideology, any softening of this resentment requires a kind of voluntary regime change. By attempting to engage Iran so visibly, Obama is dramatically exposing the limits of engagement - and building the case for confrontation.
2009-07-30 06:00:00
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