[Peace-discuss] Robert Wright @ The Atlantic: Ron Paul looks at US foreign policy from the perspective of the Other

[Robert Naiman]

[...]
Paul is making one contribution to the foreign policy debate that
could have enduring value. It doesn't lie in the substance of his
foreign policy views (which I'm largely but not wholly in sympathy
with) but in the way he explains them. Paul routinely performs a
simple thought experiment: He tries to imagine how the world looks to
people other than Americans.

This is such a radical departure from the prevailing American mindset
that some of Paul's critics see it as more evidence of his weirdness.
A video montage meant to discredit him shows him taking the
perspective of Iran. After observing that Israel and America and China
have nukes, he asks about Iranians, "Why wouldn't it be natural that
they'd want a weapon? Internationally they'd be given more respect."

Can somebody explain to me why this is such a crazy conjecture about
Iranian motivation? Wouldn't it be reasonable for Iranian leaders,
having seen what happened to nukeless Saddam Hussein and nukeless
Muammar Qaddafi, to conclude that maybe having a nuclear weapon would
get them more respectful treatment?
[...]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/01/the-radical-imagination/250915/

--
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org