An American in Iran, They Won’t Be Left Behind
Table of contents for american
- An American in Iran
- An American in Iran, Kabooky Fried Chicken
- An American in Iran, Old Beetle Brows
- An American in Iran, They Won’t Be Left Behind
- American in Iran, What They Want You To Know
My sister likes to say that Iran won’t be left behind. Tehran has a metro system with an interesting story, as told by my brother-in-law (I’m not sure of the story’s accuracy but it demonstrates the Iranian pride). The story goes something like this; Beneath the city are several sewer systems that make building a subway system very difficult. The French were hired to build it and started work, but learned the engineering feat was too great to overcome. The Chinese tried and also failed, so finally the Iranians took on the task themselves and currently have two complete subway lines and are working on others.
The younger Iranians have embraced mobile technology. One of the nephews had a cell phone that he used to keep in close contact with his friends. During one of the World Cup matches you could see him typing text messages furiously to friends. His father has a small Sony Vaio laptop that he kept with him where ever he went. The family kept photos from their little digital cameras on it and he used it for work as well.
They’re also very proud of the fact that they have the means to enrich uranium. They easily justify it by listing the civilian uses in the medical field, for power generation, etc and everyone I talked to said they won’t stop enriching, they can’t stop. It’s now a matter of pride for them and after all the rhetoric, they say Ahamdinejad has no choice but to move forward with enrichment. I’m no expert, nor am I learned on the matter. I see validity in both sides and for me the solution is for Iran to make their nuclear program 110% transparent to the IAEA and ensure that enrichment never reaches weapons-grade levels. I’ve read Getting To Yes a book on negotiation and one of its points is to negotiate interests, not positions, which is the opposite of what is currently happening. The West’s interest is not to have nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranians and the Iranians interest is the ability to develop peaceful nuclear technology. However the West’s position is no uranium enrichment for Iran and Iran’s position is uranium enrichment is the right of any member of the Nonproliferation Treaty (Aricle IV of the NPT).
As long as both sides force positions it will be a long and painful negotiation.
