Tag: United States
The will of the people is clear
As news quickly spread over the weekend that Hassan Rouhani had catapulted to victory in Iran’s presidential elections, regional experts and casual observers were equally puzzled yet cautiously optimistic. Rouhani, a relative moderate by Iranian standards, seized the initiative among a crowded field of candidates, securing important endorsements from former Iranian presidents and building on a successful campaign to win over 50% of the votes in the first round of elections.
Questions now abound. How did Rouhani win? Why did the Supreme Leader let him win? What will this mean for Iran’s relationship with the West, and what is to become of Iran’s nuclear program?
On Monday, a panel of Iran experts gathered at the Stimson Center to discuss their initial thoughts on the surprising outcome of Friday’s elections. Geneive Abdo, a fellow on the Middle East and Southwest Asia, framed the discussion for the other panelists. Rouhani emerged as the candidate of hope, promising a more open press and reconciliation with the West. He is a well-educated and articulate man who is close to the regime yet able to carve out some of his own positions. He is disinclined to use bombastic language and is focused on easing the plight of the average Iranian. So does his election signify a noticeable shift in the regime’s outlook? Or should we expect business as usual with a more mild-mannered demeanor? Read more
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You break it, you buy it
I spent a frustrating half hour on Warren Olney’s fine show “To the Point” yesterday. Frustrating largely because my phone connection was bad, which meant I had to switch lines, limiting the time I had to intervene. But the show was a good one, with Danielle Pletka, Steve Simon and Amr al Azam.
The main point I wanted to make is that the Administration’s decision on arming the revolutionaries is part of an effort to gain a political settlement. Obama not only wants Asad out but also Sunni extremists blocked from taking over. The Americans also want to limit their engagement to the minimum necessary. Continuing escalation will not serve the purpose of a political settlement or allow them to get off cheaply. Read more
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Ed replies to Shpend
In a third salvo of an exchange that started last week, Ed Joseph of SAIS responds to Vetvendosje’s Shpend Ahmeti’s response to Ed’s initial memo. It is my hope Shpend will respond once again, but then we’ll declare a truce!
Dear Shpend, thank you for taking the time to respond to my five-point memo. Let me try to refine a few points in the hope of narrowing our differences:
First, the aim of the memo was to explain where I believe there is a disconnect between your party and some (or many) in the US who believe your party’s policies are hurting, not helping, Kosovo’s progress. I speak only for myself, however. If you want the official US perspective, you will have to meet with US officials.
Second, on the rights of the Serb community: Read more
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Peace picks June 17-21
1. The Future of Stability Operations: Lessons from Afghanistan, American Security Project, Monday June 17 / 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Venue: American Security Project
1100 New York Avenue, NW · Suite 710W, Washington, DC
7th Floor West Tower
Speakers: Sloan Mann, Eythan Sontag, Frank Kearney III, Howard Clark
The international community has learned a great deal about how to conduct stability operations in the last 12 years. This event will be a fact-based discussion with leading experts on stability operations. The panel will discuss key lessons from the experience in Afghanistan and how they can be applied to future conflict environments.
RSVP through email to:
events@americansecurityproject.org Read more
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Shpend responds to Ed
Shpend Ahmeti of “Self-Determination” responds to my SAIS colleague Ed Joseph’s memo, which peacefare.net published last week:
MEMO
To: Edward Joseph
From: Shpend Ahmeti; Prishtina, Kosova
Date: 16 June, 2013
Subject: Five Replies to Edward Joseph from VETEVENDOSJE!
Thank you very much for your letter and your advice. We had a very good visit to the United States where we were able to present our views and program to our diaspora, universities, senate and congress members, State Department and others. The SAIS debate was a very interesting and useful forum to test our ideas. We certainly hope that the debate will be posted online so that more people will be able to watch it.
As a movement, we are open to comments, criticism, and questions. We believe that debate will only help us strengthen our program, our concept and our movement in general. We have been called all kinds of names, but rarely do we see criticism that tries to directly answer our argumentation.
We have duly noted your five points which you more or less argued during the SAIS debate. In my memo, I have tried to summarize our arguments that we also made during the debate. The explanation will hopefully explain why some of the premises you make are unacceptable to us.
For your information, your memo was presented in some of the local media (close to government) in Kosovo as the official position of US government, which they would not say even when members of government would speak. Read more
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Stunning
Hassan Rouhani’s first-round win in Friday’s Iranian presidential election is stunning. It is no mean feat to reach 50% against five other candidates. The celebrations in Tehran make clear that his constituency included those reformists who voted–though presumably others boycotted. But he must have had a much broader constituency than just the committed reformists. Iranians seem to want to change their country’s relations with the West.
If, like me, you are trying to absorb what this means for Iran, the United States, and the nuclear issues that have plagued the relationship between the two, the best read I’ve seen so far today is from our SAIS dean, Vali Nasr. He notes the that Rouhani will have to convince the Supreme Leader to compromise on nuclear issues and underlines that the US will have to offer serious sanctions relief to get anything like what it wants. The ball, he says, is in Washington’s court. Read more
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