Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Reagan Lesson for Obama, Is Iran the next Poland ?

WSJ: Reports how President Ronald Reagan supported the Solidarity trade union in Poland; through external pressure and internal support for the union; and how this helped finish Communist rule in Poland and as a conaqunce the end of the Cold War. The point of this article is how President Obama should help those in Iran that are opposed to the regime, the article states the following, " The circumstances aren't so different. With similar vision and leadership, the endgame could be the same. " I think there is a difference, the regime in Iran has shown that it knows that it cant show any weakness now, its has gone to far, the repression like the imposition of martial law in Poland in 1981 will get ever harder in Iran, the regime knows that if it falls those that it repressed and friends of those that it killed will come after the leaders of the regime, thus expect Iran to go more like North Korea, it has started down this road already, the arrest of local UK Embassy workers is a PR ploy, it cant allow information freedom or it will face more demonstrations, thus expect a even tighter information flow. The negative effect is that this will hurt the economy of Iran even more, thus more people will get angry, thus this public volcano will explode, it will take the regime to the dustbin of history but will cost the life's of many in Iran. In many respects this is a chance of Obama to show that he is no Jimmy Carter or Neville Chamberlain but we are dealing with a regime that is going to go nuclear if it gets the chance, thus will limit the Obama options. The regime has to go nuclear, it needs some good PR in Iran itself, what better than to become a nuclear power and also it takes any military option off the table for the Obama West Wing. Thus the clock is ticking before a military strike by Israel, Obama in many respects has no choice now, the regime has defined itself but also done a Obama a political favour, he has to become a hawk, doves don't get re-elected, just ask Carter.

No comments: