Per Michael Leeden supportare gli studenti iraniani è un dovere per tutti quelli che amano la libertà. E invita l'amministrazione Bush a sostenere apertamente le manifestazioni. Anche se ciò presenta dei rischi considerevoli.
«We were told that it would be counterproductive to denounce the gulag system and support the Soviet dissidents, that the Jackson-Vanik law (linking trade with the Soviet Union to freedom to emigrate for Soviet Jews) would be counterproductive, and that we must at all costs refrain from calling for greater human rights in the People's Republic of China. Yet every time another tyrant falls, his surviving victims invariably tell us that our words of support gave hope and strength to the freedom fighters and weakened the resolve of their oppressors. Bukovsky, Sharansky, Ginsburg, Walesa and Havel know the power of American support, as do Gorbachev, Jaruzelski, Milosevic and Marcos.» Tutto l'articolo
WP
Thomas Friedman. Il successo del processo di democratizzazione in Iraq sarà determinante anche per l'Iran provocando effetti a catena nell'intero Medio Oriente. Puntare sulla maggioranza sciita in Iraq sarebbe una spinta decisiva per il regime change in Iran.
«... there is one huge tool we do control that will certainly have an impact on Iran: It's called Iraq. Iraq, like Iran, is a majority Shiite country, with myriad religious links with Iran. If the Bush team could make a psychological and political breakthrough with Iraqi Shiites, and be seen as helping them build a progressive, pluralistic state in Iraq, it would have a big impact on Iran — much bigger than anything America alone could say or do. No one should have any illusions that Iran's Islamic theocracy is about to fold tomorrow. Iran's clerical rulers are tough and ruthless and have a monopoly of power. But many of their people detest them. And while Iran will play out by its own logic, there is no question that if the other big, predominantly Shiite state in the region, the one right next door, the one called Iraq, were to become a reasonably decent, democratizing polity of the sort Iranians are demanding for themselves, it would pressure Iran's clerics to open up.
We do not want the story in Iran to be America versus the Ayatollahs. We want the story to be the Iranian people versus the Ayatollahs, and the best way to foster that is by showing Iranians that there is another way and it's happening right next door. In short, America's intervention in Iraq is a two-for-one sale: improve Iraq, improve Iran. Buy one, get one free. Mess up one, mess up the other».
Tutto l'articolo
NYT
Analisi sulla storia e sulle prospettive del ruolo degli sciiti iracheni su Foreign Affairs. Le posizioni radicali non prevarranno.
«How the Bush administration handles the Iraqi Shi'ites, therefore, will be crucial not only for the future of Iraq but also for the future of the entire region.» Leggi
Foreign Affairs
No comments:
Post a Comment