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

[Carl G. Estabrook]

Others can do it too.

Martin Levi van Creveld is an Israeli military historian and theorist.  
In the August 21, 2004 edition of the International Herald Tribune van  
Creveld wrote,

"Had the Iranians not tried to build nuclear weapons, they would be  
crazy."  --CGE


On Jan 11, 2012, at 10:22 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:

> [...]
> 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
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