David Ignatius, "Proceed with caution on Iran diplomacy": Ignorance and Ignomy

In his latest Washington Post opinion piece entitled "Proceed with caution on Iran diplomacy," David Ignatius asks what should the United States and Iran do if their negotiations over Iran's nuclear development program should fail. Ignatius tells us that nothing should be done:

"[A]t least initially, both sides would be wise to do nothing. It’s like a labor negotiation where both parties conclude that it’s in their interest to keep working by the old rules even after a contract has expired."

Why should the US do nothing? Apparently, Ignatius thinks that by doing "something," the US might undermine Iran's so-called moderate president, Hassan Rouhani:

"That raises another delicate question for Washington if talks break down: how to avoid collapsing the authority of President Hassan Rouhani, who has favored negotiations, and reinforcing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s suspicion that the talks were just a U.S. trick."

Or in other words, Ignatius is buying into Iran's "good cop/bad cop" routine. But in reality, Rouhani would not dare to contradict the desires of Khamenei. And if anyone seeks evidence of Rouhani's true intentions, he/she need only have a look at the pre-election interview in which Rouhani boasted how, in the past, he had lulled the West into complacency while radically expanding Iran's nuclear weapons development program.

Ignatius claims that Iran would control its nuclear weapons ambitions even in the event that a deal is not reached:

"Iran must also reckon with the dangerous prospect that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and perhaps Turkey would begin their own bomb-making programs, in a post-negotiation world."

But Ignatius is ascribing rational thinking to a regime that hangs homosexuals, stones to death women accused of adultery, discriminates against its Kurdish minority, commits atrocities against Baha'is, and continues to threaten Israel with annihilation. Does David really think that Tehran is concerned that the Saudis might build their own atomic weapons many years hence? Khamenei would also threaten the House of Saud with extinction.

By now it should be clear to all, except Obama and his die-hard friends, that Western rules do not govern the behavior of radical Islam. Oops, I used the words "radical Islam." Pardon my faux pas.