re: #566 Unbound

The proof is simple and obvious… relations between the two countries have improved in the last six months, and now the president of Iran, a radical man that enjoyed tremendous support just a couple of years ago, has become marginalized within his own country. Iranians no longer see the USA as a direct threat to their sovereignty (as they felt during most of the Iraq war) and are willing to loosen up and be less radical as a country overall. In other words, by being less threatening, the USA has moved Iran in the direction that the USA hoped that Iran would move.

You remind me of the pollyannish dupes who mourned the lost “opportunity” when Iran was initially cooperative shortly after the rout of the Taliban. Iran was helpful during the Bonn Conference because it had an interest in not having a failed state on its eastern border, not because it wanted rapprochement with the West.

When you look at Iran’s support of Hezbollah and Hamas and its pursuit of nuclear technology, it’s pretty clear that regional hegemony is its goal. They’ll pretend otherwise so long as credulous fools go along with their charade.