Iran Is Not Our Friend

The New Republic ^ | January 25, 2014 | Leon Wieseltier

[OddLane]

On the foreign policy front . . . I find myself 
wondering why we cannot regard another country, in this case Iran, 
as just that, as one more country which we would regard as neither friend nor foe, with whom we are prepared to deal on a day-to-day basis, neither idealizing it nor running it down, keeping to ourselves (here, of course, I am speaking about our government) our views about its domestic political institutions and practices, and interesting ourselves only in those aspects of its official behavior which touched our interests—maintaining in other words, a relationship with it of mutual respect and courtesy, but distant.”

George Kennan wrote those words in his diary on March 8, 1998, after some thoughts on “the scandal of Mr. Clinton’s relationship to 
his Jewish girl intern.” Kennan died too soon. The day of his Iran policy has come.

[mabarker1]

DUH!

[plainshame]

Do they really matter when Americans have weapons that could make the country a parking lot?

[null and void]

Iranian born Presidential adviser VayJay would disagree.

[okie01]

[Obama] is withdrawn and we have withdrawn. We are leavers. We leave to pivot, but we do not pivot. We respect others too much to help them: how would contempt differ? Our friends doubt us, our enemies play us. We stand for too little and we stand for too few. The post-American world is here: behold it and weep.

The New Republic awakens from its long slumber.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks OddLane.

[Grimmy]

Iran is not our friend?!!?

Then what the hell am I supposed to do with all this party stuff I bought for the US-Iran Love Fest?

Dagnabbit! I never get the memos until after I’ve blown the budget.

[GOPJ]

Our friends doubt us, our enemies play us. We stand for too little and we stand for too few. The post-American world is here: behold it and weep.

That easily could have been written by a conservative... Some great stuff in there... and he's totally right about Iran.