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Why Iran Won't Engage the West

(Washington Post) Ray Takeyh - In an autumn ritual, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once more arrives in New York this week. The international community is more confident that its forceful economic sanctions have finally made Tehran appreciate the cost of its belligerence. A closer look, however, reveals that the calculations of Iran's principal protagonists are largely unaffected by mounting financial penalties imposed by the West because the Islamic Republic is too wedded to its ideological verities. In August, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei once again confirmed his opposition to reconciliation with the U.S.: "The change of behavior they want...is in fact a negation of our identity." He appreciates that engagement with the U.S. is subversive and could undermine the pillars of the Islamic state. Dialogue, trade and cultural exchanges could expose Iran to the unrelenting pressures of modernization and transform the revolutionary republic. The politics of resistance and nuclear empowerment affirm Iran's identity as a Muslim nation struggling against American encroachment. Economic sanctions can hardly disabuse Khamenei of such well-entrenched animosities. The writer is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
2010-09-20 09:29:04
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