{"id":6537,"date":"2013-09-23T10:14:41","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T17:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=6537"},"modified":"2013-09-23T10:14:41","modified_gmt":"2013-09-23T17:14:41","slug":"president-rouhani-and-peace-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/president-rouhani-and-peace-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"President Rouhani and Peace Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0NRO’s The Corner<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

There is a long history of foreign authoritarians channeling left-wing talking points when they appeal to an American audience, apparently on the theory that they score points against the American establishment. Bin Laden and Dr. Zawahiri used to quote back Noam Chomsky to us, and cited everything from global warming to the lack of campaign-financing reform as the sort of goads that drove them to murder Westerners. Vladimir Putin\u2019s recent\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0letter was full of the same boilerplate, in general alluding negatively to George Bush while resonating with Barack Obama\u2019s earlier warnings on the\u00a0dangers of claiming American exceptionalism. But the recent\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0(Russians get the\u00a0New York Times;\u00a0<\/em>Iranians settle for the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>?)\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to us by the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sounded as if it was a co-effort of the Campus Diversity Czar and the head of Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies department.<\/p>\n

In T-ball fashion, Rouhani warns that \u201cinternational politics is no longer a zero-sum game.\u201d (I suppose that means both sides get to win in Syria?) We are warned about the dangers of \u201ccultural encroachment.\u201d (Should we ask the millions of Iranian minorities about that?) We are reminded that \u201ca zero-sum, Cold War mentality leads to everyone\u2019s loss\u201d \u2014 as if the disappearance of the Soviet Union due to the Cold War was not everyone\u2019s gain.<\/p>\n

The old bogeyman of \u201croot causes,\u201d of course, explains terrorist violence, along with problems of \u201cidentity\u201d: \u201cWe must work together to end the unhealthy rivalries and interferences that fuel violence and drive us apart. We must also pay attention to the issue of identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, a search for \u201cidentity\u201d actually explains why Iran is enriching uranium: \u201cThe centrality of identity extends to the case of our peaceful nuclear energy program. . . . Without comprehending the role of identity, many issues we all face will remain unresolved.\u201d Find your proper identity and you too can build a bomb and call it peaceful nuclear energy \u2014 in the manner you can rig\u00a0an election and call it \u201cdemocracy\u201d?<\/p>\n

Iran is a great fan of \u201cdialogue\u201d in Syria \u2014 apparently that is why they sent in Republican Guard forces. Rouhani warns that violence is always due \u201cto overarching injustices and rivalries,\u201d not aggression or nationalist agendas, much less an absence of deterrence. \u201cWin-win solutions\u201d are his\u00a0advice about\u00a0\u201cworld diplomacy.\u201d And in familiar fashion we seek these therapeutic solutions \u201dfor the sake of . . . our children and future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0NRO’s The Corner\u00a0 There is a long history of foreign authoritarians channeling left-wing talking points when they appeal to an American audience, apparently on the theory that they score points against the American establishment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[124],"tags":[891,1039,1044,239,169,296,76],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1Hr","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6539,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/goodbye-syria-on-to-iran\/","url_meta":{"origin":6537,"position":0},"title":"Goodbye Syria, On to Iran!","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media\u00a0 To paraphrase T.S. Eliot, this is the way Syria ends: Not with a bang, but a whimper. We are back where we started \u2014 lots of people dying \u2014 as the crisis recedes with a high five and a sigh, rather than with America\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Iran"","block_context":{"text":"Iran","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/iran\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6584,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/game-changers\/","url_meta":{"origin":6537,"position":1},"title":"‘Game Changers’","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0Tribune Media Services\u00a0 When -- not if -- is the only mystery about an Iranian nuclear bomb. All the warning signs are there. 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The fact is, Zawahiri is a wily,dangerous\u00a0and imposing leader who should be considered no less\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3075,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bin-laden-and-the-eternal-hydra-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":6537,"position":3},"title":"Bin Laden and the Eternal Hydra of War","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York As we ponder the significance of Osama bin Laden's death, it is well to reflect that Islamists are not the\u00a0cause\u00a0of hostilities; they are but\u00a0symptoms\u00a0of a much greater cause. 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