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Politics & Current Affairs

Call for Cold War Approach on Iran

Calls are rising in the West for tougher actions against Iran. Here’s why Obama must strongly embrace a cold-war-style strategy of containment. Patient vigilance is called for.
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What’s the Latest Development?

Pressure is growing for tougher action on Iran and some Israeli leaders are threatening attack to prevent it making atomic weapons. The US Congress wants to cripple Iran’s economy by punishing any country that does business with its central bank. But the Christian Science Monitor advocates constraining the regime “until the flawed idea that is the very basis for its existence results in its own demise.”

What’s the Big Idea?

The Islamic Republic of Iran is steadily eroding because of its erroneous origins. Sharia law, for example, was never meant for constitutional order. President Obama and other western leaders can hasten its slow demise with a patient but firm containment strategy. That doesn’t preclude using covert means, such as the Stuxnet computer worm, to delay its nuclear program. Patient vigilance can prevent war.

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