Very concerning news from the very excellent Nelson Report tonight — that Dennis Ross will become Special Envoy for Iran, reporting directly to SecState-designate Clinton, rather than to the White House. Chris Nelson has great sources everywhere, and, while he is much more an Asia hand than a Mideast expert, I have to take his reports quite seriously. Of course, Ross, who has virtually no independent expertise or experience that I know of regarding Iran, signed on to that September Bipartisan Policy Center report drafted by hard-line neo-cons Michael Rubin and Michael Makovsky, as I reported here in October. Such an appointment should give pause to anyone worried about the lingering possibility of war with Tehran.
Nelson also reports that Richard Haass will be Special Envoy for Israel-Arab affairs, apparently something of a compromise between Ross and Dan Kurtzer. For the direction he is likely to take, particularly regarding the Palestinian and Syrian tracks, see my article on his recent report co-authored with Martin Indyk. They also wrote a version of their policy recommendations in the latest edition of Foreign Affairs.
Nelson reports that Richard Holbrooke will become and Special Envoy for India and Pakistan and Anne Marie Slaughter head of Policy Planning, among many other likely appointments of particular relevance to Asia policy.
This is a very callous move (if comes to fruition) by Obama considering Ross’s extreme bias in favour of Israeli interests. One can only read this in the context of scuttling the diplomatic initiative towards Iran before it even starts. Iran surely will be unwise to explode any nuclear device considering its (i.e the nuclear device) limited deterrent capability and which will bring about more stricter sanctions against it when it really needs it the least. Iran is developing rapidly and will need at least 20 nuclear reactors for its growing energy needs, which the US can be very helpful in. The US ought to work with Iran to insure that any enrichment activity is geared towards the fuel production of its future nuclear reactors. This direction in stated policy will help alleviate the suspicions on the Iranian side that the US is not standing in the way of Iran’s progress. I am sure all other issues can be resolved. Iran is yet to see the result of G. Bush’s (the father) stating that “good well begets good well.”
If that is forgotten then one should wonder what else has remained for the progressive left from this new administration.