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The Limits of Engagement
(Washington Post) Jackson Diehl - Is it fair to say that Obama's handling of Iran is comparable to Reagan's treatment of the Soviet Union? Obama deeply believes that what he calls engagement with Iran can lead the regime to embrace "a different path" during the decade its nuclear development will be on hold. Reagan, in contrast, didn't believe the Soviet Communist leadership would change. He was a skeptic of the "detente" policy pursued by Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, calling it "a one-way street that the Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims." His goal was to do whatever he could to undermine and eventually destroy the regime, whether it was shipping arms to insurgents fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan, speaking out in favor of imprisoned dissidents or theatrically demanding that Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall. Reagan's insight was that it was possible to strike deals with Moscow on nuclear arms while simultaneously waging an uncompromising Cold War. The most likely effect of Obama's engagement policy is not the implosion of the Islamic republic, but its perpetuation.