Coalition of the Ineffectual
Richard Perle slams the coalition efforts to prevent the possible development of Iranian nuclear weapons. I think most of his points are right on. Contrary to what Obama and the Democrats say, President Bush has been extremely "multilateral" in dealing with Iran in his second term. He has in most respects bent over backwards to work with the Europeans. In the meantime, Iran makes clear through Ahmadinejad (and, even more worrisome, through the more intellectually astute Iranians like current Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani) that they will persist irrespective of the international community's desire.
I can't blame Iran, eventually developing nuclear weapons is in their strategic interest. The point from our perspective is, it is clearly not in our interest for them to have it. This is a fundamental divergence of views. Meanwhile, all of our coalition partners, including Russia and China have their own, more pressing concerns with Iran (like developing their natural gas and oil fields), so they will issue countless "statements of concern." I guess this qualifies as "engagement", but again, talking just to talk doesn't help.
I know Perle is known as a heavy hitting neocon, but how can any reasonable person disagree with the folowing?
"Art for art's sake is beautiful. Multilateralism for its own sake is not."
I can't blame Iran, eventually developing nuclear weapons is in their strategic interest. The point from our perspective is, it is clearly not in our interest for them to have it. This is a fundamental divergence of views. Meanwhile, all of our coalition partners, including Russia and China have their own, more pressing concerns with Iran (like developing their natural gas and oil fields), so they will issue countless "statements of concern." I guess this qualifies as "engagement", but again, talking just to talk doesn't help.
I know Perle is known as a heavy hitting neocon, but how can any reasonable person disagree with the folowing?
"Art for art's sake is beautiful. Multilateralism for its own sake is not."
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