(THREAD) The current #IranProtests show why the Trump administration’s confrontational strategy is a mistake, and a strategy based on containment and engagement would be better.
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Diplomatic and economic engagement strengthens the middle class, the internet-savvy youth, and other elements of Iranian society that prefer joining the international community over fighting it. 7/
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American advocates of confrontation often claim this excuses Iranian actions that run counter to US and allied interests, but that’s a straw man. As with the USSR, containment can focus on countering those actions while engagement cultivates internal change. 8/
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The US has to choose whether to take actions that strengthen the Iranians protesting or strengthen the hardliners. Scrapping the Iran deal and trying to isolate Iran, as Trump wants, would be a gift to the hardliners. Strengthening the moderates would be a smarter strategy. (END)
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End of conversation
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We make Iran a bogeyman with the face of an old, angry, white-bearded cleric, to scare ourselves with and hate, because of our politics as much as for what they do.
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