Negative Space: Natan Sharansky
More Information
- A refusenik’s answer to Iran
-
“Yet the Soviet Union, with its atrophied economy, badly needed cooperation with the free world, which Nixon was prepared to offer. The problem was that he did not demand nearly enough from Moscow in return. So as Nixon moved to grant the Soviet Union most-favored-nation status, and with it the same trade benefits as U.S. allies, Democrat Sen. Henry Jackson of Washington proposed a historic amendment, conditioning the removal of sanctions on the Soviet Union’s allowing free emigration for its citizens.”
- When did America forget that it’s America?
-
“As a former Soviet dissident, I cannot help but compare this approach to that of the United States during its decades-long negotiations with the Soviet Union, which at the time was a global superpower and a existential threat to the free world. The differences are striking and revealing.” (Memeorandum thread)
Natan Sharansky asks, "When did America forget that it’s America?” He is basically pointing out the same thing I did: that we are not defining civilization as better than barbarism.
Cigar Aficionado is trying to call an old, failed approach to diplomacy “something different” now that it’s being applied to Cuba. But they’re just a cigar magazine. What’s sad is that the President of the United States is also pushing an old failure.
There is a way to stay true to America and negotiate in good faith with Iran, without capitulating everything at once.
If we don’t act like freedom matters overseas, we won’t act like freedom matters domestically.