Current mood:	pessimistic
Current music:	S/T - GoF

A New Feature
After some consideration, I've decided that each Monday I will write some observations about politics, not that I'm running for anything nor that I expect a single person to change their mind about anything important. I just feel like I'd like to share some observations.

So, here is Issue 1.



About a couple weeks ago, in some Democratic debate, the subject of conversations with other countries and leaders came up. In response to the question, Barak Obama observed that he would talk with all those people in the first year of his presidency. Hillary Clinton immediately branded his statement as naive, saying that such conversations shouldn't happen without preconditions.

At this point I'm not picking sides here, but I think Hillary's statement identifies one of the major problems with US diplomacy in the last few years. We simply won't talk with others. Let's look at few examples.

Ever since way back when we have refused to talk with Castro. Okay, he is/was running a "Communist" country, and that means he's automatically the "enemy." He took power by overthrowing a very corrupt dictator, Batista, and installed...himself as yet another dictator. When the US and others turned their back on him, he aligned himself with the ultimate evil - Russia!

So, for all these years we've steadfastly maintained a quarantine and refused to talk with him about anything. And boy has that worked well. We have accomplished NOTHING! Castro is still in power (at least officially) and will probably last in power until he dies. The Cuban economy is in shambles and Florida is largely a Cuban settlement. Boy have we succeeded! We sure showed him. Right?

We have accomplished nothing. Because we won't even talk with him we have no influence whatsoever in Cuban affairs and whatever happens when he dies, and even when his brother dies, happens. The Cuban people have suffered mightily because we have adopted this position and refused to budge.

Let's look at Iran, another country we won't talk to. Now, there are good reasons for us to be unhappy with Iran. But, let's look a little deeper. For years we supported the Shah, mainly because he agreed to let us use his country as a front line against Russia and the Communists. We supported his dictatorial rule, his secret police, and his oppresive policies...all so we could base our missles there and enjoy cheap oil.

So...when the Shah was overthrown we were left out in the cold. The new government was a theocracy involving a religion we didn't bother to understand. It matters not who's right or wrong, that's not the point. After the great Hostage Crisis we chose to attempt to isolate Iran, but we only really succeeded in isolating ourselves.

Today Iran is one of the countries that probably hold a significant part to any solution in Iraq, and we have no influence whatsoever. None! Why? Well, because we won't even talk to them.

George II did offer to talk to them about their nuclear program, but the precondition was "stop doing it, and we'll talk to you about not doing it!" Huh? The precondition is the topic we want to talk about. Somehow that doesn't make much sense, does it?

There are many more examples, but the simple answer is always the same: We won't talk!

It's true that we are not going to find agreement on many topics with a lot of these people. They have different perspectives, different agendas, and desire different results. However, without conversation, we don't even really know what those things are. And, without conversation, we can't even find out where we agree and disagree. So, we guess. And we seem to guess wrong a lot.

Suppose, just suppose, that we sat down and discovered that Iran was also concerned about stability in Iraq. Suppose we asked (God forbid) if they had any ideas about how to fix it and they presented some. Suppose they (OMFG!) had a good idea, or were even---gasp---right? How could we ever deal with that?

Suppose we sat down with Castro or his brother and discovered that the bad old days are really over. Suppose we could get past the old things and discovered that maybe we weren't all that different. Suppose the result was an abundant supply of lower-cost sugar and the freedom to buy Cuban cigars once again? (I don't smoke, but I guess those are the ultimate smoke) Suppose Cuba could become a viable member of the community once again?

If we talk, we might find out these things. As long as we won't, or as long as we set preconditions, we'll never know. And we'll never find out. John Kennedy said "Let's us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate." Just what are we afraid of here? The only thing we fear is finding out the other guy might not be as evil as we suspect. Or, worse yet, he might be "that evil" because we made him so.



Now, if you're not into politics, I understand. Skip the cut and move along. These aren't the droids you're looking for.

Until next Monday, the soap box is put away.

C