Proudly presenting the original English version of an article by Jeffrey Gedmin, published Dec. 13, 2006, in WELT: “Iran – Es fehlt ein kleines bißchen Realismus“.
Talk Syria and Iran?
By Jeffrey GedminRuprecht Polenz (CDU), the chairman of the Bundestag foreign affairs committee, has told the Tagesspiegel the U.S needs to talk to Syria and Iran. The Tagesspiegel got so excited it ran as a front page headline the quote, “Bush needs to swallow his pride.” Polenz knows better. The United States talks to Syria. Washington has probed conversations with Iran. The issue is not whether we talk, but rather what we negotiate with these regimes.
It is no surprise that publication of the Iraq Study Group report, an effort led by former Secretary of State James Baker, would inspire the enthusiasts of interest-driven Realpolitik, apparently both on the Right and the Left.
We all agree that Syria and Iran help to promote the terrorism in Iraq. We should agree, amidst all the chatter about “constructive dialogue” with Syria and Iran, that in Europe economic interests play an especially important role in shaping foreign policy choices. Germany has a special stake in the case of Iran, for example. We can agree that talking with adversaries is not an unreasonable thing to do. We talked with the Soviet Union.
What I am still missing from the so-called realists here is the slightest bit of realism. What do we want? Stability in Iraq, moderate government in Baghdad, and a country that lives in peace with its neighbours, Israel included. What do Syria and Iran want? The Syrians want a) an end to the UN investigation of the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harriri b) Lebanon as a sphere of
