(Weekly Standard) Lee Smith interviews Michael Rubin - We shouldn't become so invested in the negotiating process that we lose sight of national security. We shouldn't be afraid to walk away from the table. Rogue regimes aren't simply adversaries, they are - according to the Clinton administration - states that eschew the rules of diplomacy. Why would you negotiate with a state that doesn't abide by anything it says in negotiations or simply uses diplomacy to run down the clock? What makes Iran so dangerous is both its messianic ideology and the effective autonomy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Most Iranians are wonderful and care little for their regime. But it's the guys with the guns who call the shots. If Iran develops nuclear weapons, not only the IRGC but its most ideologically pure members would have command and control over the nuclear arsenal. Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and senior lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School, has just published Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes.
2014-02-25 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive