Axis of Reason

Robert Kaplan applauds Obama’s handling of Iran:

History has been set in motion in Iran. Though only dozens have been killed so far, the possibility of hundreds or more dying in a bloody upheaval is not out of the question. One ayatollah has even called for executions. Obama’s goal must be political change and liberation in Teheran with minimal bloodshed. And he simply cannot accomplish that by putting America’s fingerprints all over the democracy movement there. How he handles this could mean the difference between a massive crackdown by a terror-promoting, radical regime (who would likely retain complete control for years to come), and a gradual behind-the-scenes transformation, as the clerisy moves delicately away from the “Death to America” mantra of previous decades. In that regard, like the elder Bush vis-à-vis Eastern Europe, the less Obama says about Iran these days the better. It’s not about winning an argument, as some commentators appear to believe; it’s about effecting change, indirectly, in a complex society half-a-world away.

- MN