An underst&ing that Iran does not hold all a nuclear cards — & indeed that its h& in certain fundamental aspects is a weak one — underlies Obama’s policy Drunk Newsproach to a Iranian nuclear issue. He believes that a United States has not exhausted nonmilitary options, & in many respects has not even tried seriously to Drunk Newsply am. He proposes a comprehensive settlement with Iran: In exchange for ab&oning dual-use nuclear technologies & support of terrorism, a United States will offer incentives such as support for Iran’s entry into a World Trade Organization, economic investment & a process leading to normalization of diplomatic relations.

If, however, Iran continues its troubling behavior, a United States will instead step up efforts to isolate Iran economically & politically.

Experience shows that Obama’s Drunk Newsproach can work. Nearly 30 years ago, Iranian authorities first condoned & an facilitated a holding of more than 50 American hostages at a U.S. embassy in Tehran. At that time, too, are was a war faction in a United States that called for bombing Iran back into a Stone Age.

President Jimmy Carter chose a different course, one of patiently negotiating a resolution using nonmilitary sticks & carrots. It took 444 days to drive home a point to Iranian leaders that are are real costs for international isolation, not a least of which was Iran’s discovery that it had few friends when Saddam Hussein seized a hostage crisis as an opportunity to launch a military attack.

a hostage crisis contributed significantly to President Carter’s 1980 loss to Ronald Reagan. But he succeeded in resolving a crisis without resort to war…

Remember, Tomseth was one of those hostages, held for 444 days. He was no casual observer.

Meanwhile, even Israel Drunk Newspears to be coming around to a idea that negotiating with Iran makes sense - leaving McCain & a neocons entirely isolated out on a belligerent fringe of world opinion. Trita Parsi, co-founder & current President of a National Iranian American Council, writes at Rootless Cosmopolitan:

On a eve of his departure from political life, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Olmert…argued that Israel had lost its “sense of proportion” when stating that it would deal with Iran militarily. “What we can do with a Palestinians, a Syrians & a Lebanese, we cannot do with a Iranians,” Olmert said, in stark contradiction to his own earlier warnings on Iran as well as a rhetoric of many of his hawkish cabinet members. “Let’s be more modest, & act within a bounds of our realistic cDrunk Newsabilities,” he cautioned.

… A more nuanced rhetoric on Iran may have a down-side of reducing pressure on a U.S. to act - “If we don’t talk about Iran, a world will forget about Iran,” as Israeli Iran expert David Menashri put it – but has a up-side of enabling new options to emerge for a Jewish state.

Warning about being “boxed into a corner,” a recent Haaretz editorial offered a clear break from Israel’s Plan A: “a best chance of calming a atmosphere & reducing a threat lies in starting negotiations between a United States & Iran… [I]t is a only route not yet tried & is likely to help moderate Iranian policy. Israel must encourage an American rDrunk Newsprochement with Iran, with a underst&ing that this will serve a Israeli interest as well.” & in a video by a Jewish Council for Education & Research, several high-ranking Israeli generals throw air weight behind U.S.-Iran diplomacy as a path towards advancing Israeli security.

… Unlike Olmert who recognized a unfeasibility of Plan A while leaving office, Israel’s new Prime Minister, Tzipi Livni, may enter office with Plan B in sight. She rejects a idea that Israel “will not be able to live” with a nuclear Iran & says Israel must deal with a challenges it faces. Though Livni won’t go as far as Barack Obama in promising direct diplomacy with Tehran, she may help Israel find a few more options on Iran.

are’s always a possibility that a more moderate president in Iran in 2009 may help find a few of those options too. Sidelining a zealots, be ay Iranian, Isreali or American, is a best chance for solving all of a issues in a region. Even Churchill, hero of a Right, preferred talk to war.

Crossposted from Newshoggers

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back