US and UK develop democracy strategy for Iran

[sabra]

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4546fed8-d158-11da-a38b-0000779e2340.html

US and UK develop democracy strategy for Iran

The US and UK are working on a strategy to promote democratic change in Iran, according to officials who see the joint effort as the start of a new phase in the diplomatic campaign to counter the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme without resorting to military intervention.

A newly created Iran Syria Operations Group inside the State Department is co-ordinating the work and reporting to Elizabeth Cheney, the senior US official leading democracy promotion in the broader Middle East.

...

The new direction, the former official said, reflected a growing belief in the US and UK that diplomacy through the United Nations and partial sanctions were unlikely to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. In the absence of a credible military solution, the argument went that international diplomacy could try to slow down the nuclear programme while more “robust” efforts continued towards the ultimate solution of regime change, he said.

US officials said the British input was important because of the Bush administration’s lack of experts on Iran, the legacy of 25 years of frozen diplomatic relations. Some see the UK as having a moderating effect as the US considers whether to fund opposition groups in exile, launch covert activities inside Iran, and/or “independent” satellite television broadcasting in Farsi.

[ixion]

1. just like we brought US brand democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq, right?

:eyes: :cry: :puke:

:nuke:

[Tempest]

2. How exactly is supporting the terrorist group MEK democratic?

What nonsense.

[Ezlivin]

3. I went to Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut with Iranians in 1978

They had a whole barracks set aside for them. No toilet paper in any of the stalls (surprising to this young sailor). They wore their Iranian uniforms on base and attended classes with us. I spoke to many of them and they were nice guys.

And now we don't have any "experts on Iran"?

Man how far we've come.

[ElboRuum]

4. You know, I don't know what to say anymore...

Shrub really had better start learning how to read, pick up a newspaper, and see what's going on right here and now in THIS country.

These idiots seem intent on "cleaning up" everyone else's house but their own.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Welcome to DU! nt.

[anakie]

5. and when the 'new' regime insists on developing

a nuclear power industry - what then.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. Yeah the UK moderated all over our Iraq plans.

So if I recall correctly this Cheney spawn is putting together the corrupt Iranian asshats who will supposedly do our bidding after we topple the current regime. Great. That should work out well. This is beyond belief. They are just re-running the Iraq game plan. We are on a slow motion spiral towards disaster. It is like one of those movie scenes were the accident is just unfolding in front of your eyes and nothing you can do will stop it.

[BelgianMadCow]

8. About re-running the game plan : look THIS part stick out :

...Iran Syria Operations Group...

[Bush_MUST_Go]

10. They failed in Afghanistan. They failed in Iraq.

Failure in Iran would be bush's hat trick.

I have confidence that bush would succeed in failing miserably in anything he attempts. :banghead:

[BelgianMadCow]

12. failure depends on your POV of course

War is a Racket

[pinto]

9. Another great background article from FT. As always, look at

the cast of characters...Elizabeth Cheney, Condi, Denehey of of Coalition Provisional Government "fame"...

<snip>

At the same time, the separate Iran Syria Operations Group was established to plot a more aggressive democracy promotion strategy for those two “rogue” states. Funding is to come from $75m that Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, announced in February she was requesting from Congress this year, plus some $10m already in the budget.

But two other US officials and a European diplomat insisted that it did. They said the inter-agency group, which is supposed to co-ordinate with the Pentagon and other departments, is heade`d by David Denehy, a special adviser who served in the coalition government in Iraq, and Alberto Fernandez, a public diplomacy official.


And, as has become par for the course - we are clueless.

<snip>

US officials said the British input was important because of the Bush administration’s lack of experts on Iran, the legacy of 25 years of frozen diplomatic relations. Some see the UK as having a moderating effect as the US considers whether to fund opposition groups in exile, launch covert activities inside Iran, and/or “independent” satellite television broadcasting in Farsi.

<snip>

“Democracy promotion is a rubric to get the Europeans behind a more robust policy without calling it regime change,” a former Bush administration official commented.


http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4546fed8-d158-11da-a38b-0000779e2340.html

[ken_g]

11. We destroyed Democracy in Iran in 1953 ( installed Shaw)

because they were nationalizing British oil interests. God Damn, can they just make up they're fucking minds!!!!

[BelgianMadCow]

13. .

[PassingFair]

14. How do they get away with...

not putting "democracy" in quotation marks in a
headline like that?

:cry:

[Voltaire99]

15. Democracy produced Dubya. Twice.

It's only as good as the hands on the touchscreens...

...and the hands on the results.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

16. Sounds eerily similar to "an American plan to bring democracy to Iraq"

for more, see Rob Newman's recent stand-up show which you can download here:

http://www.indybay.org/uploads/history_of_oil.rm

"Newman traces the murky relationship between oil fields and battlefields from the 1914 deployment of a British battalion to Basra -- intercepting a German extension of the Orient Express from Constantinople to Baghdad -- to the present day.

Viewers will be relieved that there are plenty of belly laughs to offset the browbeating. Newman's asides about Salvador Dali's ``magic checkbook'' and battalions manned solely by war poets are hilarious. A sketch about ``Axis of Evil'' gang members toughing it out in a garage forecourt is brilliantly satirical. Though much of his message is scary, this is a sharp analysis."

http://www.robnewman.com/