Iran’s China Option
By ROGER COHEN
NYT
TEHRAN
What Iran fears most is a Gorbachev figure, somebody from within the regime who in the name of compromise with the West ends up selling out the revolution and destroying its edifice.
The jostling ahead of the June 12 presidential election — the world’s most important since America’s — must be viewed through this prism. The core debate is: can Iran manage a Chinese-style reform where its Islamic hierarchy endures through change, or does opening to America equal Soviet-style implosion?
The “Death to America” chants at rallies, twinned with a punchy “Death to Israel,” seem answer enough. The regime will stick to the game it knows. But Iran is rarely what it seems. It goes out of its way to mask its sophistication.
Jahangir Amirhusseini, a veteran lawyer once imprisoned by the mullahs, told me, “To create trust, deception is necessary.” He was serious. What he meant was politics is about artful gambits; the U.S. has favored the sledgehammer.
(More here.)
NYT
TEHRAN
What Iran fears most is a Gorbachev figure, somebody from within the regime who in the name of compromise with the West ends up selling out the revolution and destroying its edifice.
The jostling ahead of the June 12 presidential election — the world’s most important since America’s — must be viewed through this prism. The core debate is: can Iran manage a Chinese-style reform where its Islamic hierarchy endures through change, or does opening to America equal Soviet-style implosion?
The “Death to America” chants at rallies, twinned with a punchy “Death to Israel,” seem answer enough. The regime will stick to the game it knows. But Iran is rarely what it seems. It goes out of its way to mask its sophistication.
Jahangir Amirhusseini, a veteran lawyer once imprisoned by the mullahs, told me, “To create trust, deception is necessary.” He was serious. What he meant was politics is about artful gambits; the U.S. has favored the sledgehammer.
(More here.)
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