kerkko.fi

The Islamic Republic of Iran is not about to implode. Nevertheless, the misguided idea that it may do so is becoming enshrined as conventional wisdom in Washington. Assertions that the Islamic Republic is now imploding in the fashion of the Shah's regime in 1979 do not hold up to even the most minimal scrutiny.

The Obama administration's half-hearted efforts at diplomacy with Tehran have given engagement a bad name. As a result, support for more coercive options is building up. The president will do a real disservice to American interests if he waits in vain for Iranian political dynamics to "solve" the problems with his Iran policy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/opinion/06leverett.html

For years, regime apologists in the US have suggested that Washington's efforts to negotiate with Iran are half-hearted, or that all the clerics in Iran want is some respect. Events of the last seven months show the problem is not in Washington, but in Tehran, and with the nature of the regime. Khamenei knows that anti-Americanism is his raison d'être.

The United States can either stand with the people of Iran, and support their quest for democracy or it can side with those who defend the moribund regime. In the past, every time the United States has listened to the Leveretts of the day, it has reaped nothing but the wrath of the people and a loss of influence. The same would happen this time.

http://www.tnr.com/article/world/the-state-the-opposition-strong