The Daily Show spends a considerable time on the new Iranian leader president Rouhani and the delicate diplomatic maneuvering taking place between him and president Obama.
(These clips aired on September 26, 2013. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)
Some folks never learn the lessons of history. Appeasement does not pay. Obama will go down as the Neville Chamberlain of the 21st century.
The Daily Show’s take on this was funny, but they didn’t mention why the media was making such a big deal
of a potential handshake. The United States government’s current officially stated position is that our president refuses to meet with the presidents of certain countries. TDS correctly called the media’s response for the childish sh*t that it was while missing a chance to talk about what childish sh*t diplomacy in general often is.
colnago80,
If Iran agreed to international verification of the non-military nature of its nuclear programme and accepted the right of Israel to exist (hypotheticals to be sure), would you oppose the resumption of diplomatic relations between the US and Iran?
@Frank : I can’t speak for colagno80 but if Iran really did that -- which i think is unlikely although I hope to be proved wrong -- then I, for one wouldn’t oppose US-Iranian ties resuming.
Although I’d also add an extra condition here that Iran must immediately cease all support for any and every Islamist terrorist group including Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Do you think this is unreasonable and, if so, why?
NB. Theocratic Islamism is as much as a dead end of governance historically as Communism e.g. Leninism-Stalinism was in my view. Again, you disagree with that you are gonna have to explain why.
Notice how refugees are now fleeing Iran for the West just like they fled Communist nations for the West before? There’s a reason for that in both cases.
I really hope Rouhani is Iran’s equivalent of the USSR’s Mikhail Gorbatchov although its still too early to tell.
I’d far rather we saw a peaceful solution to the Western-Islamic war as we did the Cold war, who wouldn’t?
I would quote a former US president on agreements with foreign governments. Trust but verify. In any agreement with Iran, its the verification that’s important. There would have to be very strong verification protocols before I would drop opposition. I also agree with StevoR that in addition, Iran must cease and desist in supporting Hizbollah in Lebanon and dial back their support for the current Government of Syria.
As for recognizing Israel, Rouhani stated that Iran would support any agreement that the Palestinians arrive at with Israel. This has to be fleshed out to make sure that there are no qualifications to that promised support.