“Hard Kill v Soft Kill in Iran”
Posted by Jonathan on January 13th, 2006 (All posts by Jonathan)
TM Lutas’s thoughtful post is worth reading, as is this post by Thomas Barnett, to which Lutas links. I don’t agree with Barnett’s conclusion but he makes his version of the “soft kill” case well.
UPDATE: Barnett comments on Lutas’s post.
January 15th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
I admire Barnetts work. But there is something missing in his idea of connectivity. It only works in a market economy. When a government becomes independent of the taxes of it’s citizens, by relying on the natural ressources (like oil), this government is not interested in opening up the country – and it doesn’t need to do it.
This is the case with Iran. There is no chance to co-opt and integrate the country into the core, as long as the regime is in a position to corrupt the countries elites by spreading oil wealth.
January 15th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
http://gmapalumni.org/chapomatic/?p=1434
So, Iran.
Hoo boy what a set of suboptimal choices.
Johnathan of ChicagoBoyz links to two viewpoints about Iran from TMLutas and Tom Barnett.
Barnett:
The Iranians are weak, as a society, as the first op-ed argues, but expecting the hardliners to g…