In case you never had to do these analogies in high school, the title would read, "America is to Iran just as the AUC Administration is to the AUC Students."
As I'm sure you've read, and as we have read plenty of times in my Arabic media class, Iran is just rolling right along with their nuclear and ballistic missile programs. On the other hand, our fearless leaders in Washington, especially Hilary Clinton, are warning Iran about the "biting sanctions" that are sure to follow...as she's been saying for months now. Congress is debating unilateral economic sanctions as the UN appears to be totally unable to hammer out anything. But are sanctions really going to do anything? This is a small excerpt from yesterday's Wall Street Journal:
In Congress, sanctions legislation also creaks along, but that too is simply going through the motions. Russia and China have already rejected key proposals to restrict Iran's access to international financial markets and choke off its importation of refined petroleum products, which domestically are in short supply. Any new U.S. legislation will be ignored and evaded, thus rendering it largely symbolic. Even so, President Obama has opposed the legislation, arguing that unilateral U.S. action could derail his Security Council efforts.
The further pursuit of sanctions is tantamount to doing nothing. Advocating such policies only benefits Iran by providing it cover for continued progress toward its nuclear objective. It creates the comforting illusion of "doing something." Just as "diplomacy" previously afforded Iran the time and legitimacy it needed, sanctions talk now does the same.
So essentially there are 2 scenarios: Iran gets what it wants, or someone strikes their nuclear facilities, slowing them down for awhile. Nuclear Iran will create lots of problems in the Middle East, but it appears that the US in incapable of doing anything (like other countries in the Middle East starting their own nuclear programs, a.k.a. Egypt, Saudi, Turkey...)
Now for the analogy part...
Last month AUC students decided to "demonstrate" their frustrations, under the leadership of the AUC student council president, by breaking down a gate on campus because this gate is closer to the parking lot (instead of having to walk an extra 2 minutes). Anyway, they broke it down because apparently diplomacy between the AUC student council and the administration had failed. The administration said that having an extra gate open would be too expensive and requires 27 more security personnel to be hired. The students, who collected signatures, want to have the gate open so that they don't have to walk as much.
After the demonstrations, the AUC administration threatened the student council president with community service and possible suspension. Yesterday I read in the student newspaper that all punishment has been lifted. The student council president and all his fellow demonstrators, who call the event "monumental" and "historical," are let completely off the hook because they were able to "write a petition" to the administration saying why they shouldn't be punished for their damage to the school.
I think the administration appears weak and spineless.
(P.S.--Writing petitions is one of the most popular things to do on campus. I actually saw a banner flowing in the breeze the other day announcing that students should write petitions. Johan has gotten into this activity and now AUC actually owes him money instead of him paying AUC!)
Anyway, I think Iran is going to get what it wants, just as AUC students get what they want.
That's my analysis, at least...
Happy Monday!
oh, and another p.s--I FOUND MY ERASER!!!!
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