The hostage-taking of U.S. Embassy employees in Tehran
on November 4, 1979. Can the United States and Iran get
past this - and the 1953 CIA-backed toppling of Iran's
democratically-elected prime minister?
Le Monde, France
Will Iran Be
to Obama What China was to Nixon?
"American
diplomacy seems poised to take a great turn, breaking with the Bush team's 2002
decision to classify Iran as part of an 'Axis of Evil.' … This complete reversal, if
confirmed, suggests a memorable precedent. In 1972, Richard Nixon stupefied the
world by traveling to Beijing to meet with Mao Tse-tung
and establish, for the first time, diplomatic relations with Communist
China."
On the 20th of March, Barack
Obama addressed Iranian leaders with a solemn message expressing his
determination "to seek an honest dialogue based on mutual respect."
The gesture is historic, as it seems to signal the start of a thaw after almost
thirty years without diplomatic relations between the United States and the
Islamic Republic.
In other words, it's been
thirty years since the spectacular hostage-taking at the American Embassy in Tehran
which cemented the role of Iran as Washington’s enemy in the Middle East.
American diplomacy seems poised to take a great turn, breaking with the Bush
team's 2002 decision to classify Iran as part of an "Axis of Evil," despite efforts
undertaken by Tehran against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
This complete reversal, if confirmed,
suggests a memorable precedent. In 1972, Richard Nixon stupefied the world by
traveling to Beijing to meet with Mao Tse-tung and
establish, for the first time, diplomatic relations with Communist China. The U.S.
then sought to disengage from Vietnam and expand the range of its "Cold
War" diplomatic activities against the Soviet Union. On the eve of the
trip, Nixon had scribbled on a piece of paper the priorities he wanted to
address: "1. Taiwan - the most crucial (in reference to China's demand for
a reduction of the American military presence in the region). 2. Vietnam - the
most urgent."
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S NEW YEAR MESSAGE TO IRAN
Times have obviously changed,
but one can imagine that Mr. Obama may have written the following note: "1.
Security guarantees - the most crucial (for the Iranian regime, which wants
assurances that Washington has ceased to resent its very existence). 2. Iraq,
Afghanistan - the most urgent (the U.S. desire to find a resolution in these
theaters of military intervention)." The project is immense and the
chances of success are far from assured, confronting an opaque Iranian power
quick to procrastinate. There's nothing to suggest that Mr. Obama will soon fly
to Tehran. Washington wants to focus on a strategy of small steps.
The central issue overlooked
in Mr. Obama’s message was the Iranian nuclear program, which is closing in on a
military capability. Russia has sought to increase the pressure on Tehran. The
Israelis want assurances, just as the countries of the Arab Gulf. Diplomacy is being
revived, and that's a good thing. But the Iranian nuclear threat remains and the
time left to neutralize that threat is passing by relentlessly.
