Few Americans are aware of the 1953 CIA-backed coup that replaced Irans reformist prime minister with a military dictator. Every Iranian is. Likewise, American support for the shah, and his brutal secret police, Savak, is not thought particularly relevant in Barack Obamas America. If anything, those were the good old days, when the two countries enjoyed an especially close relationship. This nostalgia is reflected in the plot of Homeland. Javadi was once a good guy: back in the day, he and the director of the CIA, Saul Berenson, were rookie case officers together – with Javadi working for the Shah. Sauls job is to win him back, thereby erasing 30 years of history. That said, the fact that the Geneva talks are happening at all is testament to a new spirit of pragmatism. At the highest levels, the political scene is set. On the one side is a democratic president, free of the baggage of axis of evil rhetoric and the hardline influences of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, who torpedoed a grand bargain the last a time around. On the other is a newly elected leader given latitude by Ayatollah Khamenei to agree a sanctions-busting deal. And there have been attempts, too, to influence both populations directly. Inspired, perhaps, by Obamas early efforts to speak to Iranians (he broadcast the first ever presidential Nowruz message in 2009) the Islamic Republic has recently been showing it cares about how it is perceived in the west. Hassan Rouhanis English Twitter feed is remarkably informative (it broke news of David Camerons phone call to the Iranian president before No 10 had issued a press release). On Tuesday the foreign minister released a YouTube video explaining his countrys position vis a vis nuclear technology. The supreme leader even has an Instagram feed. Whether these efforts will be able to obliterate memories of angry ayatollahs – or even truculent former presidents – remains to be seen. theguardian/commentisfree/2013/nov/21/america-iranian-bogeyman-nuclear-talks-geneva-homeland-iran-us
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 01:29:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015