A New Voice at TMV
I’m very pleased to be a new co-blogger at The Moderate Voice. Joe has decided to grant me a spot on the staff as a way of bringing another angle of foreign policy analysis here to TMV. These are big shoes to fill, as the current crew of bloggers seems to do a very good job of debating and analyzing current international issues. Nonetheless, I hope to add a new perspective to these ongoing discussions and I look forward to working with the other bloggers and discussing ideas with readers.
As a bit of an introduction, I am a student at Brown University studying international relations and Middle Eastern politics. I spent last year in the Middle East, studying Arabic at the University of Jordan and later at a private institute in Damascus. I currently write a blog on American foreign policy, with a particular focus on US relations with the Arab world. A lot of what I write about on Foreign Policy Watch is related to the effectiveness of particular policies. What should the Bush administration be doing to end the ongoing standoff in Lebanon? Is it time to engage with Syria? If so, how? Should we be supporting the Islamists or the government forces in the current Somali conflict? Is the Bush administration doing enough to encourage reform in Egypt?
For my first post, I figured I’d jump right in with a piece on Iranian politics, where there have been some interesting developments in the past few weeks. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most powerful figure in the country’s political hierarchy, has taken a very public step into Iranian politics by criticizing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the nation’s controversial and outspoken president. In a post on Foreign Policy Watch, I explain the reasons for Khamenei’s unexpected rebuke and attempt to lay out how the Bush administration should respond to these recent developments.
11 Responses to “A New Voice at TMV”
Jeb; welcome! Joe linked to your posts a lot in the past and, like Joe, I greatly enjoy reading your posts. They’re incredibly interesting and informative.
Your post on Iran is not any different of course. But I do have a question when you wrote this:
There is another option: persue the goals you’re persuing now quietly. Act as if your cooperating, act as if you’re willing to change your policies… but don’t really do it. Just appear to be more reasonable.
That being said, I do agree that this should also be interpreted as an opportunity. There are many buts however.
Also: Khamenei is afraid that military action and / or economic sanctions will lead to the end of the theocracy…
Doesn’t that just about mean that the West should persue the above? Shouldn’t that be our goal?
I’m losing track of all the bloggers, Mr. Joebstib Van Derlibbel Grantlimulliman!
Welcome!
Welcome aboard, Joe. Your presence should provide another level of specific expertise on the most pressing foreign relations issues of our time.
oops. I mean Jeb, of course.
How interesting. I could have sworn Pajama Media’s new big name blogger, Michael Ledeen, just broke the big story that Ayatollah Khamenei was dead.
Libby… strange, Jon Swift reported – I believe – that Michael Ledeen has died…
“Just appear to be more reasonable”
Yes. Actions aside, I think our foreign policy failures have been due to a considerable degree to what we say and how we say it.
Talking diplomatically matters.
No Ledeen is just BRAINDEAD. He deserves a feeding tube and a special new law enatced by his Republicant friends W and Jeb. /end snark/
Welcome Jeb, hows ElyMay doin.
Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Michael, you raise some important questions. I won’t try to tackle them all here in the comments section but I’ll try to answer them on TMV, or on my own blog, in the next week or so.
Jeb: that’ll be great!