« Global Information System Report! | Main | Mullahs arrest more Iranian bloggers. »
October 13, 2004
Carrots, Sticks, and a side of Blue Cheese - Ohh My!! (Updated)
The G8 will rendezvous in Washington on Friday to discuss the grand ideas the EU has conjured up in order to deal with Iran.
CNN reports that European officials have said they plan to offer Tehran "bigger sticks and bigger carrots."
What exactly do they mean by "bigger sticks and bigger carrots"? Can you visualize this? Perhaps Jack Straw and Joschka Fischer will pay their upteenth visit to the Mullahs and say "please ohh please accept our bigger carrots, because if you don't, we will be forced to pull out our bigger sticks!"
Does anyone have a guess as to what the European version of "bigger sticks" entails? Actually, don't waste your time. The stick, carrot, and blue cheese fantasy has been employed over and over again, and every single time we magically end up right where we started, if not in an even worse position.
For all practical purposes, European carrots, regardless of size, equate to improved "trade and cooperation agreement(s) between the European Union and Iran." Sticks for that matter can be thought of in this light: A mother moves a cookie jar that her son, Mikey, has been reaching into when he's not supposed to, to a location Mikey can no longer reach due to his small size. The mother then takes her son to the garage where the ladder is stored, and gives him a brief rundown on how to use this gravity-defying device.
The "carrot and stick" method, with regard to the Mullahs, has always been a method of circles, never failing to deliver us back to where we started. It has been a method of regression, not progress. This method will lead us to failure, unless effectively checked.
On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said "I think we've made very, very clear that Iran needs to take action on the nuclear issue... Our view is that it should be referred to the U.N. Security Council. That's where we think the next steps are."
Is the Bush Administration playing the European hand in an effort to box John Kerry in, as the senator doesn't at this point seem intent upon moving beyond his current position?
Why has the Bush Administration waited until now to address the Mullahs, and if the objectives of both the War on Terror and Bush Doctrine are to defeat terrorism and spread freedom (very noble goals), why has the pro-American Iranian street been left to fend for themselves?
Do terrorists really operate independently of states?
Isn't the government in Iran one of the biggest sponsors of international terrorism and does any part of the Bush Doctrine address this regime?
In the meantime, who brought the beer?
Daniel Drezner also has some thoughts about the Mullah-related foreign policy relationship between the US and EU.
Posted by ActivistChat.com at October 13, 2004 10:10 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://activistchat.com/blogiran/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/10
Comments
I think that it's the usual idiocy by the State Dept and Mr. Armitage.
He has been trying this nonsense a lot of times,but it didn't change the Bush admin's general stance against the Mullahs.
The State did never flip-flop. Its position is clear and it has always been against Freedom and for the status quo.
Thanks g-d, the current US President is very different then the previous ones.
Despite some U.S.'s pro-mullahs lobbyists are trying their best to convince the Iranian-american opposition that Bush is not better than Kerry,i don't believe that it will be accepted by the Bush admin's principled members (the Pentagon and the so-called neocons ).
Guess why do some Mullahs' sympathizers and/or those who hate Bush seem eager to hear news like these ones..?
They DO hope that Bush changes policy towards the Mullahs, so that they have an excuse to blame him and say to the Iranian opposition groups: "see, Bush is not better than Kerry"
Very acute strategy for their part,but i don't think it will prevail in the long-term.
Posted by: Stefania at October 13, 2004 10:48 AM
If it was for the State, Saddam was still in power.
Bush has justly heard the so-called "hard-liners" of his Admin and did the right thing.
I think that he will do so this time as well.
4 More years!
Posted by: Stefania at October 13, 2004 11:00 AM
I just hope for the best - best wishes to all Iranians!
Posted by: Aimless at October 13, 2004 02:42 PM
While I don't make policy for the US, I wish sometimes I did. But alas, I am just a bookkeeper. Although, a bookkeeper with a voter's registration card. I recently read a piece by a blogger named Bill Whittle at EjectEjectEject.com where he uses the same "carrot and stick" analogy. In it he attempts to get his point across that force is often the only answer even after weeks, months and years of attempted negotiating.
Quite frankly diplomacy is usually only relative when sane people are involved. I'm not confident that we can change the strength of their ideology and their fundamental beliefs with diplomacy [the mullahs]. However, I've been wrong before!
In brief, he says:
"It all comes down to carrots (liberals) or sticks (conservatives). By the way: if you're in a rush and need to run, here's the spoiler: You can offer a carrot. Not everybody likes carrots. Some people may hate your carrot. Your carrot may offend people who worship the rutabaga. But no one likes being poked in the eye with a stick. That's universal."
The rest can be read at Part one:
http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000108.html
and Part two:
http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000107.html
In the larger sense you can almost just switch the word Iraq for Iran.
In reference to your post titled "Mullahs arrest more Iranian bloggers"; the fact also remains that President Khatami severely underestimates the intelligence of the world at large if this is indeed his plan.
Posted by: Oyster at October 13, 2004 04:07 PM
EU should just as well offer the mullahs some "rutabagas" because the bottomline is that their whole agenda is to get the Mullahs off the hook, because they certainly do not want them to be referred to the Security council because that will focus much of the world attention on the regime - and create an atmosphere will internal revolution and the Mullahs downfall is more likely. I'll read 'em oyster, thnx.
Posted by: Aimless at October 13, 2004 04:43 PM
My husband and I pray every day for real Freedom in Iran, and for the relief of the terrible suffering of the Iranian people. We will be voting for President Bush to return to office, and we believe that he will support their move to a free government in the very near future.
Posted by: Carole at October 13, 2004 05:03 PM
I hope reasonable minds in certain European capitals understand the importance not just of stopping the Mullahs nuclear qwest, but of also helping to bring about real freedoms for the people of the Middle East. America and Europe especially are looked down upon on many Middle Eastern streets because of perceptions (sometimes justified and sometimes not) of past and present regional maniplation. Iranian people (unlike the regime) for example don't trust the British Government because of the past history - but Iranians still have hope that America will help them through these tough times eventhough policies of past, especially Carter Admin / Brezinski Green Belt policy, cause many bad things for the region and for the whole world. Iranian citizens begging America for one chance to right all the wrongs and Islamic shit of the past several decades. Let the world be free - and let America and Europe work together to make it so. If Europe cannot let the Iranian people be free then America will go against the grain and do what is right anyhow - I hope.
Posted by: Lawrence of... at October 13, 2004 05:27 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)