Quote:
Originally Posted by Sidd Finch
No question -- we only played a supporting role. But on the list of options that was available to the US, sanctions was the most effective thing, and they were effective. (Okay, supporting the ANC far more fully would have been more effective, but for our own f'd up reasons that wasn't on the list until way too late.)
But, yes, the real victory is to the ANC and Mandela. But aren't you acknowledging that blowing things up can be productive (at least if it's part of a broader approach)?
I truly hope you are correct. I saw a similar wave of optimism for China during the Tiananmen protests, and that's what scares me. This is, certainly, a much longer arc, but I don't see the religious hard-liners giving up power or getting truly marginalized in the next couple of decades.
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Let's face it, blowing things up can also be fun. Someday, I'll share some of the photos of long-haired me hanging out with Southern African revolutionaries back in the day.
The Iran deal is the right thing to do because it furthers our national interests, not because it is a recipe for regime change. But, the most interesting questions for a place like Iran are how its regime will evolve and change.
I think the younger generation in Iran seems like its going to be easier to work with and have less fundamentalist baggage than the same generation in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt, all places where the younguns seem to have a larger share of radicalized ideologues from what I can see (my sample is heavily twitter- and blog- based, so, look, it's wholly unscientific). And it may be easier to deal with old revolutionaries trying to run a country than new ones trying to take over one in any case.
