TW: Regardless of the outcome of the on-going struggle in Iran, as the piece posits, the world and particularly American view of Iran has been greatly altered. We tend to demonize our "enemies" (see our WWII Japanese caricatures) or even potential "enemies", especially the non-European ones. We have been pissed off at the Iranian government for a long time. Bombing demons and caricatures is must more palatable than the alternative.The recent events in Iran will make any moves towards belligerence much more challenging. Perhaps explaining partially at least the visceral reaction from the neo-cons to Obama's measured responses.
From Economist:
"ONE thing seems certain to emerge from the chaos in Iran. Whether it becomes the next revolution or the next Tiananmen, Iran has been humanised to Americans—and to many others around the world—to a degree not possible in the earlier era of "mad mullahs" versus "Great Satan". For a long time, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad *was* the face of Iran for those in the West who feared it (or wanted to engender fear of it). Now, that face may as well be Neda Soltani (pictured), the young woman shot dead on the street while she spoke on her mobile phone.
With what result? Iran is now likely to play a role in the American imagination more like that of Poland during the cold war: as a country of good people dominated by a few bad people, not as a country of martyrdom-seeking Shiite maniacs. I'm guessing this also makes the possibility of bombing Iranian nuclear facilities even more remote under a President Obama than they were before. Simply put, we may have forever lost our appetite for bombing nuclear sites near population centres, with Iran's population brought to our televisions and monitors as they have been this past week.
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