Taking Two to Tango [incl. Juan Cole]

According to Western news reports, Vice President Joe Biden gave a solid speech at Munich, offering a new, more flexible, more sensitive diplomatic approach to questions regarding Iranian nuclear ambitions.

While it’s great for the press and Western officials to pat the vice president on the back and celebrate that his name is not Cheney, judging diplomacy on only one side is like watching only one side at a soccer match. How did the Iranians react to Biden’s speech? Aftab-e Yazd, a reformist paper, condemns Biden’s speech for not fundamentally altering the U.S. position on Iran’s nuclear program, terrorism, and support for the right of Israel to exist.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani acknowledged that Ahmadinejad had spoken about annihilating (i.e., wiping Israel off the map), but had since “balanced” his views. This may present a problem for University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole who has made a cottage industry by cherrypicking one of Ahmadinejad two dozen statements calling for Israel’s elimination and questioning that Ahmadinejad meant what even Iranian officials now acknowledged he said.

Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in Middle Eastern countries, particularly Iran and Turkey. His career includes time as a Pentagon official, with field experiences in Iran, Yemen, and Iraq, as well as engagements with the Taliban prior to 9/11. Mr. Rubin has also contributed to military education, teaching U.S. Navy and Marine units about regional conflicts and terrorism. His scholarly work includes several key publications, such as “Dancing with the Devil” and “Eternal Iran.” Rubin earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in history and a B.S. in biology from Yale University.
See more from this Author
The U.N. Should Relocate All Its Offices in Yemen to Aden and Portions of the Country Under the Recognized Government’s Control
The U.S. Agency for Global Media, Which Oversees VOA, Should Revise Its Organization and Emphases—or Congress Must Do So
U.N. Reports Involving Israel Are Notorious; U.N. Rapporteurs Engage in Base Antisemitism
See more on this Topic
Haddad’s Schmooze Fest with Palestinian Islamic Jihad Financier and Islamist Operative Sami al-Arian Shows His Inability to Discern Scholarship from Activism
While Money from Muslim Nations Is Part of the Jihad Problem on American College Campuses, a Bigger Problem Is the Faculty Who Teach There
Not Even Jews Facing a Recent Organized Pogrom in Amsterdam Received His Complete Sympathy