Fareed Zakaria, in reference to Sarah Palin claiming that the best thing for Obama’s re-election odds would be to declare war on Iran:
The regime would gain support as ordinary Iranians rally around the flag. The opposition would be forced to support a government under attack from abroad. The regime would foment and fund violence from Afghanistan to Iraq and across the Persian Gulf. The price of oil would skyrocket — which, ironically, would help Tehran pay for all these operations.
It is important to recognize the magnitude of what people like Palin are advocating. The United States is being asked to launch a military invasion of a state that poses no imminent threat to America, without sanction from any international body and with few governments willing to publicly endorse such an action. Al-Qaeda and its ilk would present it as the third American invasion of a Muslim nation in a decade, proof positive that the United States is engaged in a war of civilizations.
Mkay, he beat down that obvious idiocy. So where does he go from here?
The United States should use the latest IAEA report to bolster a robust containment strategy against Iran, bringing together the moderate Arab states and Israel in a tacit alliance, asking European states to go further in their actions, and pushing Russia and China to endorse sanctions. Former secretary of state James Baker suggested to me on CNN that the United States could extend its nuclear umbrella to Israel, Egypt and the Gulf states — something that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has hinted at as well.
At the same time, Washington should back the “Green Movement” in Iran, which ultimately holds out the greatest hope for a change in the basic orientation of Iran’s foreign policy. (emphasis mine)
Translation: “Hey, Tehran! Double-time it on the murders of those activists, wouldja?”
Here’s an alternative proposal: Leave the “green movement” alone because any association with the US is poison. Meanwhile, drop the idea of sanctions because they don’t actually hurt the regime, since as we’ve already established they could give half a fuck about their people. As for any pursuit of nukes, remember that the most likely target of any future nukes already has nuclear weapons.
