Josh Marshall on Natan Sharansky

++Josh Marshall has a better font than mine so he can write more clearly and sharply. Josh takes on Natan's op-ed on negotiating with Iran.

++Natan's gripe is that we are not treating the Iran negotiations like those with the Soviet Union. My point was there is a difference between multi-national negotiations and bilateral and that Natan was mixing apples and oranges in what is to be negotiated. He also thinks our negotiating position was always My Way or the Highway. The diplomatic history says differently. 

++If you have been following my new blog, you notice my preoccupation with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. In part, this was brought back by Bibi's constant invocation of Iran as Nazi Germany and Obama as Neville Chamberlain. No, Iran is not Nazi Germany even though its domestic politics have been quite vile. And Barack Obama isn't Neville Chamberlain . He did not give up anything equivalent to the Sudatenland. In fact, the United States didn't give up anything at all.

++Well, Josh says Iran isn't the Soviet Union of yesteryear or the aggressive country of Russia today. I'm glad that Josh got into his piece Norman Podhoretz' ole saw that the United States faced the "Finlandization" of our country through negotiations with the Soviets. You forget what the eldest Neo-con said at the time. This was to warn Reagan off his nuclear reduction talks--which were opposed by all conservatives and younger neo-cons at the time.

++Josh thinks Natan should review more the actual facts of the diplomacy during the Cold War, while he certainly knew the experience.

++The bottom line for Josh Marshall is that Iran is a second-rate military, which aspires to being a regional power, while we are a regional power almost everywhere on the globe. But Josh thinks that the United States with its overwhelming military force could overrun Tehran. There I distrust his thinking because of the initial forces required and the cost.

++He's not even willing to concede that Iran equals Israel or Saudi Arabia. I tend to agree given Israel's nuclear force.

++But he is right. We have alot on our plate and Iran is only one issue. And perhaps a minor one.