Sudden Lucidity in the Land of Benny Hill
Look who is expressing almost knee-jerk skepticism at the likely restoration of Ali Akbar Rafsanjani to his formerly held post of Iranian figurehead (er, president) - one of the "EU3" powers that has been five-knuckle-shuffling for months with the mullahs in the grand charade of pretending to lure them away from acquiring nuclear weapons:
Color me as surprised. I frankly assumed that Rafsanjani's history as Khomeini's Heinrich Himmler, among other things, would be conveniently forgotten in the dazzling glow of British Foreign Minister Jack Straw's declaration of the mullahgarchy as "an emerging democracy." Pointing out unpleasant facts makes appeasing tyrannies a sticky wicket, and all that.
But then, given how blatantly rigged this "election" was - so much so that not even all the mullahs' horses and all the mullahs' thugs could conceal it - maybe it finally plumbed the depths of British diplomats' professional/intellectual self-respect.
Or maybe not. We know how much diplomats fancy themselves as "realists." It reminds them of the hunt, and all that sort of rot. And they just love being hunted.
To borrow a phrase from the quote above, "I hear what they say, and I like it. But there is a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk."
And that difference, in this case, may be one too many mushroom clouds where they don't belong.
[HT: CQ]
The wily cleric, who served as president from 1989 to 1997, has cast himself as a centrist, and has dropped several hints that he was open to dealing with America.
But a senior British diplomat dismissed Mr Rafsanjani's reputation as a "pragmatist", and cast doubt over whether he would make it easier to resolve the crisis over Teheran's nuclear programme.
"It's important that people do not see Rafsanjani as a white knight. He has been president for eight years, and a lot of bad things happened in those eight years," he said. "He does not have a record of reform, co-operation with the West or abiding by international standards.
"We hear what he says, and we like it. But there is a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk."
Color me as surprised. I frankly assumed that Rafsanjani's history as Khomeini's Heinrich Himmler, among other things, would be conveniently forgotten in the dazzling glow of British Foreign Minister Jack Straw's declaration of the mullahgarchy as "an emerging democracy." Pointing out unpleasant facts makes appeasing tyrannies a sticky wicket, and all that.
But then, given how blatantly rigged this "election" was - so much so that not even all the mullahs' horses and all the mullahs' thugs could conceal it - maybe it finally plumbed the depths of British diplomats' professional/intellectual self-respect.
Or maybe not. We know how much diplomats fancy themselves as "realists." It reminds them of the hunt, and all that sort of rot. And they just love being hunted.
To borrow a phrase from the quote above, "I hear what they say, and I like it. But there is a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk."
And that difference, in this case, may be one too many mushroom clouds where they don't belong.
[HT: CQ]
posted by JASmius at 9:07 AM
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