Events in Iran show how it’s impossible to make peace with a dictatorship.
The people who have to live under that dictatorship, and don’t like it, have no choice but to face facts. But America’s hapless leaders, when they made a “deal” with the Iranian government now in crisis, never stood a chance, either. They made an absurd, dishonest and contradictory deal with Iran, patted each other on the backs, went home and celebrated with cocktails and more spending of other people’s money. The Iranians suffering under that dictatorship continue to pay for their evasion.
Rand Corporation senior policy analyst Alireza Nader cited unconfirmed reports on Sunday evening that protesters have “taken over government offices in the city of Iran and is fighting security forces.”
“Hard to tell, but there seems to be significant fighting all over Iran,” Nader added, alluding to the difficulty of obtaining reliable information from inside the Islamic Republic.
“The government will show no tolerance for those who damage public properties, violate public order and create unrest in the society,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned, possibly foreshadowing a more severe crackdown.
Under a dictatorship, “public” property consists of anything and everything the government deems important. There is no private property under a dictatorship. There’s no rule of law or Constitution to protect that property as private when the government finds its own power threatened.
So whatever is presently going on in Iran, we can be sure: all bets are off.
That part is not news. Dictatorships have always acted this way, and always will.
The problem is that America’s government, under Obama, negotiated with Iran as if it were reasonable and could be expected to keep its word. You don’t make good or bad deals with thugs. There’s no such thing as a “good” deal or effective negotiation with a brutal dictator. The only bad thing is attempting to make a deal at all, because it concedes virtue, rationality and legitimacy which the dictatorship does not deserve and will never exhibit.
You can’t do business with thugs. Once you do, you become a thug yourself–or perhaps you always were. That’s the verdict we have to pronounce on the Obama administration for making this Iranian “deal” in the first place.
The victims who live under that dictatorship have paid the price. Of course, they always understood you can’t do business with people who claim ownership over your mind, your life and your property.
It’s too bad that about half of America doesn’t yet have a clue about what individual liberty really means.
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