Iran will get the bomb. Not in spite of isolation, but rather because of isolation. History has shown that isolation is an ineffective method of conflict resolution. It serves only to help the regime in power continuing in power and their people isolated from knowledge and truth. Sanctions do not persuade just because they threaten.
Our foreign policy is to require a regime to change "before" we will engage them in trade, cultural exchanges, dialogue, education, mutual interests, sports competition, tourist exchanges and so forth. Yet it is these very activities that will, in the end, be the catalysts for change! Our foreign policy has had it backwards for a long time. We push to have the wars first, then we engage the people.
The Iranians are beautiful, talented, intelligent and interesting people... just like the Germans and Japanese, like the Russians and Vietnamese and the people of Iraq. Let us engage the Iranians before it comes to war. As Abraham Lincoln once remarked, "Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"
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Hey Grandpere!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you've joined the blogging world :)
Will,
ReplyDeleteWell said. I agree that isolation does not resolve conflict. Rather, it is somewhat akin to backing a wild animal into a corner. And yes, I would like to think that the majority of the Iranian people want the same peace and harmony that we seek. However, I do not believe that their current ruling regime shares those same goals. Leaders of this Iranian Islamic Republic have pledged to eradicate the Jewish state. I am no Islam basher, but I know that these radical Islamists believe that their lands are defiled if occupied by infidels (unbelievers). And they have always considered the land occupied by Israel as belonging to Islam and is therefore defiled by the Jewish presence. Unfortunately they appear to desire only one solution – the destruction of Israel.
Recounting history we observe that from time to time, a genuine and powerful evil arises in the world. I am reminded of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s address to the British people in September, 1938 after returning from Germany. He said that he had talked with Chancellor Hitler and that he had a piece of paper that bore Hitler’s name regarding their agreement that their two peoples would never go to war with each other again. He told the British people that “we now have peace in our time” and concluded by recommending that they go home and sleep quietly and peacefully in their beds. The next day Hitler’s forces invaded the Sudetenland - then on to Poland and Western Europe, plunging the world into WWII.
During those formative days of the Third Reich, the world of the 1930s was reluctant to jump into another war. It sought peace by appeasing Hitler. Only too late did it recognize the obvious evil. We know the devastating result, particularly for European Jews. Initially even Jewish leaders urged their people not to resist, believing that they really meant them no harm.
Leonardo da Vinci once said, “To discover evil and not punish it, allows it to consume us.” Unfortunately there exist men with evil ambitions that will never view the world as we do. Their goals will never be the same as ours. And if we lose our ability to recognize them, the result will be tragic for the world.
I too, want to live in a world where all men are rational and peace-loving. A world in which all men seek the best outcomes for mankind and dialogue solves our conflicts. But as I think on these things, I am haunted by the naïve and trusting words of Mr. Chamberlain as he confidently told his people, “We will have peace in our time. Go home and sleep peacefully and quietly in your beds.”