A Rational Confrontation with Iran: Time for a New Middle Eastern Approach

A must read by Roger Cohen on Iran, the Arab states and Israel. I think that Roger underestimates the threat from Iran to its neighbors and to Israel, but he is right on that the neoconservative logic of dominance, isolation, and intimidation, and purposeful perpetuation of the inhumane status quos from Egypt to the West Bank have actually fed the rise of a militant Iran. A grand strategy requires a reversal of the last thirty years of mistakes. It also requires a reversal of tendency in the Middle East to engage in the perpetual fallacies of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’. This has led to never ending rivalries that is the intellectual opposite of notions of collective security that have allowed Europe, for example, to thrive in recent decades. Engagement with Iran done well is going to shift the balance of power in Iran which will ultimately serve the interests of all its neighbors.

Besides, the horrific wars being contemplated with Iran will do as little for anyone’s safety as most of the other Middle East wars, but it will kill the people you see here, always the main victims, as we saw in Iraq.

Irans Children
Iran's Children
Jewish Children of Iran, from a community of 25,000, the largest of any Muslim country
Jewish Children of Iran, from a community of 25,000, the largest of any Muslim country
© Marc Gopin

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