‘To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.’
Or so we were told not very long ago.
And while I think Richard Holbrooke added some much-needed sac to the Clinton Administration’s approach to Bosnia — and could well do the same for this administration’s approach to, say, Iran — I have to question whether it’s effective public diplomacy to rip nominally allied foreign governments in the press, or to compare an American diplomat to a guy who gassed thousands of men, women, and kids.
Did yall see where Iran told the US (Obama) that America shouldn’t even think for a second about a new working relationship with it — until it admits its mistakes and evil deeds of the past?
That was Pyongyang-brilliant.
It uses the culture of the West, especially the liberal West, against itself.
Obama said the US needs to learn to shut up and listen to the likes of Iran on why it hates the US so much instead of just dictating what Others should do.
So Iran jumps at the opportunity and cleverly puts the onus of making things better on the US — by saying America can only move things forward by —- admitting it was wrong and caused all the problems. —- (like what? the founding of the state of Israel? by its “one-sided” policy defending the “terrorist-state of Israel”?)
It really is a genius move to capitalize on an opening:
If the US doesn’t start apologizing for past deeds — Iran can claim that Obama’s stated desires to move forward in a bold way are lies.
If it does start apologizing – two things will happen: It will inflame anger in the region much like Pyongyang’s admission that it had in fact kidnapped Japanese citizens over the years did in Japanese society.
It will also only lead Tehran to claim that each apology is only a “first step” and that greater evils need to be apologized for. —- things Iran knows the US will never apologize for….
That is the brilliance. It is a diplomacy win-win situation for Iran. They know the US will never “apologize” for certain things – for key things – that it and much of the Middle East use as a justification for rank hatred of America and the West.
So, by stating the only way forward is for America to apologize for mistakes, Iran has set it up so it can always claim Obama is not “sincerely” “listening” to the voices of the Middle East.
—-It is as if Iran not only took a lesson in diplomacy from North Korea but also from South Korean anti-US protest culture….