An attempt to downplay the potential for backlash against perceived U.S. “meddling” in Iran:
Maybe some obscure event that happened fifty years ago can explain why Egyptians would want U.S. support and Iranians wouldn’t.
I realize that it’s an obscure bit of trivia for most Americans that the CIA orchestrated a coup against Mohammed Mossadeq in the ’50s. For Iranians—and I’m going out on a limb here—maybe not so much? And as a corollary: Maybe we should not be soliciting foreign policy advice from people whose cross-cultural perspective-taking faculties are so stunted that this does not occur to them.
5 responses so far ↓
1 SomeCallMeTim // Jun 26, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Furthermore, the harm of the coup–the installation of the Shah–ends in ’79. Coterminous with an event in Iran that, I suspect, Goldfarb remembers and holds against the Iranians and certainly the current Iranian government.
2 What’s Mossadeq Got To Do, Got To Do With It? « Around The Sphere // Jun 26, 2009 at 7:38 pm
[…] Julian Sanchez, responding to Goldfarb: I realize that it’s an obscure bit of trivia for most Americans that the CIA orchestrated a coup against Mohammed Mossadeq in the ’50s. For Iranians—and I’m going out on a limb here—maybe not so much? And as a corollary: Maybe we should not be soliciting foreign policy advice from people whose cross-cultural perspective-taking faculties are so stunted that this does not occur to them. […]
3 thing // Jun 26, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Don’t forget the shooting down of Iranian Air Flight 655. People can be touchy about things like that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655
4 rj // Jun 26, 2009 at 11:37 pm
To be fair, Goldfarb acknowledges this, sort of, in his final two sentences (Was this an addendum?):
“Perhaps it was America’s support for Egypt in the Suez crisis versus its meddling in Iran to bring down Mossadeq that explains why democracy activists in Egypt view the American role differently. Or maybe an American should always try to be on the side of those who seek democracy and freedom, and stand against those who impose tyranny on their own people.”
So I would say his error is more in assuming an identity between the American people supporting the Iranian protesters and the American government supporting the Iranian protesters. It is my impression that the Iranian people — truly as a whole — understand this distinction far better than Goldfarb.
5 Barry // Jun 29, 2009 at 4:49 pm
And add to that the fact that neocons seem to think that 1939 was a year which occupied about 99% of recorded human history. Apparently 56 years ago is obscure, but 70 years ago is All That Matters.