Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Anne Marie Slaughter: Diplomacy and Iran


The article is here

I was interested in the section of her article that compares nuclear development to a football game.
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1 comment:

ACravan said...

I think the FT should have mentioned in their short biographical description that Prof. Slaughter is both a former member of the Obama administration State Department and a current State Department consultant because these associations clearly color her observations and conclusions. Only an advocate and cheerleader would include remarks like the “riding high” and “pragmatic engagement” (whatever on earth that means; I assume the Iranian protestors of 2009 would like to know also) ones in the final paragraph of the article.

Watching the head of Iran's Council on Human Rights (I believe I have his title right) being interviewed on the Morning Joe television program yesterday might lead one to reasonably conclude that the situation is entirely hopeless absent the small chance of Iran's current political leadership dying off suddenly and simultaneously from natural causes, which is obviously unlikely to occur.

Reading this article confirms my feeling that non-practicing, “academic” lawyers, which is the professional class Prof. Slaughter belongs to (her bio indicates that she’s part of the Harvard/U. of Chicago law faculty cadre), are about the most impractical and delusional professional group there is. Many of them, when they continue in law-related government jobs, also prove to be unethical, but I wouldn’t presume to say that about Prof. Slaughter. One good thing about practicing law “on the ground” is that it keeps you grounded, tied to facts and necessarily responsive to other people’s thoughts and actions.

Thank you for posting this. I missed it.

Curtis

November 18, 2011 at 6:42 AM

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