29 October 2008
Leverage Is Not the Issue
Just like his prideful crowing about how “The World is Flat,” Thomas Friedman is beaming like Little Jack Horner over his conclusion that the key to dealing with Iran is realizing that its people are only a bunch of carpet traders. Even more to the point, Friedman is quite self-centered in defining the reason behind the Iranian revolution. His dismissal in the October 29, 2008 New York Times of the religious underpinning of the theocratic regime—”Their whole rationale for being is that they are resisting a hegemonic American power that wants to keep everyone down.”—certainly would prevent a resolution of the antagonisms between the U.S. and Iran.
It is not leverage that American negotiators need to progress our relations with the Persian mullahs. It is a willingness to accept the existence of another cultural outlook in an intelligent, highly educated, aesthetically, historically and resource rich nation.
Just like his prideful crowing about how “The World is Flat,” Thomas Friedman is beaming like Little Jack Horner over his conclusion that the key to dealing with Iran is realizing that its people are only a bunch of carpet traders. Even more to the point, Friedman is quite self-centered in defining the reason behind the Iranian revolution. His dismissal in the October 29, 2008 New York Times of the religious underpinning of the theocratic regime—”Their whole rationale for being is that they are resisting a hegemonic American power that wants to keep everyone down.”—certainly would prevent a resolution of the antagonisms between the U.S. and Iran.
It is not leverage that American negotiators need to progress our relations with the Persian mullahs. It is a willingness to accept the existence of another cultural outlook in an intelligent, highly educated, aesthetically, historically and resource rich nation.
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