Dear George 2
In a move that stunned maybe six people on Earth, the US has brushed off the Ahmadinejad letter. Condoleezza Rice says we’ve got lots of diplomacy, thanks, so there’s no need to squander it on the people we actually have the dispute with.
It’s a brilliant move if your goal is to maximize US-Iranian tensions rather than mitigate them. Because one of the dominant themes of the letter is status anxiety, both national and personal. (On the personal level, Ahmadinejad keeps talking about “we presidents,” “we national leaders.” On the national level much of the letter is taken up with arguments that Iran should enjoy the same prerogatives as other nations.) So showing the initiative the back of the American hand boasts a fair chance of provoking a backlash among Iranian elite and mass opinion, and losing some of the broad but shallow support for action against Iran we currently enjoy in world opinion. All of which makes peaceful resolution less likely, which counts as a win if your goal is to make peaceful resolution less likely.
Since another dominant theme of the letter is setting up Iran nationally and Ahmadinejad personally as tribunes of the background anti-Americanism that covers almost as much of the Earth as salt water does, the Iranians will probably accept this as a fallback success themselves.
Comment by Ugh —
May 10, 2006 @ 8:10 am
”All of which makes peaceful resolution less likely, which counts as a win if your goal is to make peaceful resolution less likely.”
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.
Comment by Jackmormon —
May 10, 2006 @ 8:46 am
The first word out of State was that the letter was ”rambling.” I read through the thing a second time with an Iranian-American friend of mine who pointed out some classically Persian turns of courtesy and composition, and I thought again about that word ”rambling.” The Bush Admin didn’t just dismiss the letter, they insulted it. Not very diplomatic, that.
Comment by Jim Henley —
May 10, 2006 @ 8:55 am
Yeah. It’s not hard to see where ”rambling” comes from. The overstory they’re trying to defend is that the fellow Juan Cole calls ”the little shit” puts the MAD in AhMADinejad. Since the letter has been carefully and deliberately scrubbed of all belligerence by the author and he goes out of his way to pay respect to the US President’s God, you’ve got to ”find” insanity somewhere else. Since it’s longer than most people are going to bother to read, call it ”rambling.” Get people thinking in terms of street wackos with bad photocopies.
Comment by Nell —
May 10, 2006 @ 10:12 am
WIIIAI’s take on our Secretary of State’s reaction is apt:
The inherent bitter humor of sending an 18-page letter to someone who doesn’t read anything longer than a few paragraphs is also noted…
Comment by Avram —
May 10, 2006 @ 12:56 pm
”I certainly don’t know the ins and outs of internal Iranian politics,” said Condi. As Secretary of State, shouldn’t she be able to find somebody who does, maybe?
Comment by Barry —
May 10, 2006 @ 1:52 pm
It’s this administration – ignorance is something to brag about.
Comment by Tim —
May 11, 2006 @ 2:14 pm
Bush’s diplomacy skills are remarkable. 2 wars (going on 3) in 6 years is something to be proud of.