Saturday, February 17, 2007
  More on Iran
Back in when Commnist China was considered a major threat to the US (not economically, but politically and militarily), there was a great deal of debate on how the US should deal with Communist China.

Some said we should isolate China and deal with it aggressively, cutting it off politically and economically and threatening military action if and as we might deem necessary.

Nixon, on the other hand, argued that we should instead engage with China constructively -- encouraging business contacts, student exchanges, while applying diplomatic pressure for change away from totalitarian communism and towards human rights.

Nixon won the day, and the US implemented a campaign of engagement with the goal to encourage friendly relations with China, and a gradual coaxing of their government in directions we wanted to see them go.

This proved to be a winning strategy. China is not our best ally, but it is far from our worst enemy. In the late eighties, when I spent a year living in Beijing, the attitude of your average Chinese citizen towards America was overwhelmingly positive. More recently, they have moved away from a strict Communist economy.

We are faced with the same choices when it comes to dealing with Iran, and other hot spots around the world. Do we isolate them, poltically, ecomically, and threaten them with force? Or do we engage with them, hoping that interaction and diplomatic pressure will moderate their more extreme tendencies?

In Iran we have taken the former path. And it hasn't gotten us very far. Perhaps it is time to try the methodology we applied in China. I can't help but think it would be more effective than the angry, beligerent, threatening pose we have adopted today.
 
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Progressive Muslim, feminist, mom, writer, mystic, lover of the universe and Doug Schmidt, cellist, theologian and imam.


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Cane River
An interesting exploration of the gradual whiting of a family through slavery to modern days.

To see an archive of all the books I've read (well the ones I've read and review since I started the blog) with comments, please click here

Causes Worth Supporting

This is just a short list -- a few of my favorites.

English Language Islamic Fiction. We need more of it. Lots more.
Pay a Teacher's Salary in Afghanistan. The Hunger site actually has a lot of worthwhile programs. You can find them all here .
Muslims for Progressive Values. My organization. We can always use donations, of time or money!
Human Rights Campaign for the glbt community
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
The ACLU I'm a card carrying member. Hope you'll become one too.
MoveOn.org. The organization that has done the most, as far as I can tell, to pull the countries progressive side together.
Network of Spiritual Progressives. Working to reclaim religion and morality for the religious left.

Blogs Worth Reading

Wanda Campbell also known as Nochipa A very gifted poet and a gentle, compassionate soul. Nochipa and I are on the same page on sooooo many things
Writeous Sister Aminah Hernandez, she's got some excellent latino pieces and always has good writing info on her blog.
Sister Scorpion aka Leila Montour - Leila is a fount of energy, quirky humor, and bad attitude. She's also a talented poet.
Muhajabah Very interesting commentary here. I don't always agree with her, but her pieces are always thought-provoking.
Georgie Dowdell Georgie is a great writer and a good friend.
Louise Marley Another great writer. I think Louise is one of the best sf writers exploring faith themes.
Ink in My Coffee Devon Ellington (who has numerous aliases) who is also the editor of Circadian Poems. A truly inspiring woman with a seemingly endless supply of energy.
Ethnically Incorrect With a name like that, isn't a given I'm going to enjoy this writer?
Freedom from the Mundane Colin Galbraith, another excellent writer, from Scotland.
The Scruffy Dog Review This is a new e-zine with an ecclectic mix of fiction, poetry, and non-fic, some really enjoyable pieces here.
Ramblings of a Suburban Soccer Mom Lara, another gentle soul, very thoughtful.
Circadian Poems A journal of poetry, new stuff up all the time.
Ye Olde Inkwell Michelle writes romance and is one of my writing buddies.
Muhammad Michael Knight The original punk Muslim writer. Like him or love him, Mike is always coming up with the unexpected.

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