Monday, January 16, 2012

Bits and Pieces - January 16, 2012

If you read only one thing about Iran today, make it Gary Sick's analysis of the Obama administration's approach.

And, speaking of the Obama administration, Sick's analysis dovetails with Andrew Sullivan's broader analysis. Which has some similarities to my analyses that I can't immediately find links for.

Speaking of getting it wrong, here's a good analysis of what far too many people get wrong about Central Asia. My limited time there showed me very little Islam. My hosts said that they were Muslim, but they seemed to be in the same way that people who go to church only on Easter are Christian. But there were gigantic monuments in the Russian style, many of them commemorating those who died in the Great Patriotic War, World War II to us.

And, yeah, if you still want to read more about Iran, check out Nuclear Diner.

2 comments:

troutsky said...

Re Sick's analysis: Obama's task is to communicate, not obfuscate. Call Netanyahu to task publicly, talk about Israel's own nuclear arsenal, side with Israel's courageous opposition (the left) and put out the fuse.

Bibi is not Israel any more than Rick perry is America.This is no time for dysfunctional co-dependency.

Cheryl Rofer said...

Much as I would love to see that, Troutsky, as someone said about bombing Iran, you need to think about the next day.

Sometimes obfuscation is a necessary part of diplomacy. Someone else said that the job of diplomacy is to win time to build a solution.