Rethinking Iran

Of course things will be quite different if there's something like regime change in Iran -- I'm unaware of anything like as substantial a movement as Khomeini had put together after the Shah exiled him but things might move more quickly in the Twitter age. Khomeini used cassettes (remember tape recording?) of his sermons to inspire and organize. Whether there is or not, as I argue in my Antiwar.com column this month, it would behoove the United States to move from the no-contact-you're-a-pariah approach to treating Iran more like a "normal" nation -- in this sad world most regimes are pretty beastly, though it must be admitted the Islamic Republic is more beastly than most. Still, don't demonize, analyze.