The Cold War and Iran

If history can help us think about contemporary problems, one has to think in general terms, without losing sight of the unique features of both the contemporary case and the historical analogy. So what, if anything, can Cold War history do for us with regard to present-day Iran? In the past, I've thought about East-West detente as a possible example: mutually antagonistic governments (and ideologies) finding ways of limited cooperation because they also have joint interests. That hasn't worked so well for Iran, so far. Obama seems to want to go down this path, but the past couple of weeks have made a detente with the islamic police state an even more distant prospect than it was before. The Wall Street Journal today suggests another Cold War analogy, that of U.S. support for the Solidarity opposition in Poland in the 1980s.

All of which means that there are opportunities for the Obama Administration to exploit, provided it envisions a democratic and peaceful Iran as a strategic American aim. That doesn't mean military confrontation with the mullahs. But it does require taking every opportunity to apply consistent pressure on Iran while exploiting its internal tensions and contradictions.

Granted, this so-called money quote is a bit meager, but at the same time it's worth considering what the West can now do to help the opposition keep up the pressure, what we can do to keep the mullahs on the defensive. It's not as if working for change through the regime is promising any quick rewards right now.