Discussing Obama’s apparent plan to negotiate with the Iran government as if there was no possibility of regime change, Charles Krauthammer says that Obama is Clueless on Iran (all worth reading)
Even from the narrow perspective of the nuclear issue, the administration’s geopolitical calculus is absurd. There is zero chance that any such talks will denuclearize Iran. On Monday, Ahmadinejad declared yet again that the nuclear “file is shut, forever.” The only hope for a resolution of the nuclear question is regime change, which (if the successor regime were as moderate as pre-Khomeini Iran) might either stop the program, or make it manageable and nonthreatening.
That’s our fundamental interest. And our fundamental values demand that America stand with demonstrators opposing a regime that is the antithesis of all we believe.
And where is our president? Afraid of “meddling.” Afraid to take sides between the head-breaking, women-shackling exporters of terror — and the people in the street yearning to breathe free. This from a president who fancies himself the restorer of America’s moral standing in the world.
When Obama was invited to speak at Notre Dame, and given an honorary doctorate by the university, I asked what Obama would have to have done not to be invited. Now I have a different question: what would the leadership of Iran have to do in order for Obama to declare them unfit negotiating partners, or at least to challenge them directly on their behavior, tell them to stop shooting their citizens for peacefully demonstrating, etc.?
Obama is, of course, acting like the perfect multiculturalist. There is, after all, no actual right and wrong in the world. No culture is better than any other. America should not attempt to impose its values on the world. Just because we believe in a society of parts doesn’t mean the rest of the world must. If Iran wants to have a government that kills demonstrators who challenge election results, that’s purely an internal matter, isn’t it? Who are we to challenge the way they do things? Aren’t we imperfect, too? Who are we to judge?
Freedom is just a word.
