Just to save you from having to Google "Roman candle," here is Webster's definition: firework consisting of a tube that sends out a shower of sparks and a succession of balls of fire...
Rather a fitting metaphor for a 30th Islamic Revolution anniversary launch of its Omid satellite, no?
1979: the end of the reign of the Shah, who blew out no more birthday candles in his homeland.
It was the year where U.S. support of the Shah led to the takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran. The start of 30 years of mutual recrimination, leading to fraught interaction with political Islam, from Algeria to Afghanistan.
1979 was my first year in the US Foreign Service. One of my classmates in a consular training course became one of the hostages in Tehran, and later I studied Arabic with people who had been spirited out of Iran by a courageous Canadian Embassy.
The Financial Times has put together a nice interactive timeline of 30 years of Iranian-American relations, and the Middle East Institute has gathered 53 experts and academics to comment on the Revolution at 30.
Okay, so what's next? Stanford's Abbas Milani, writing in the Boston Review ("Common Cause: Real Help for Iranian Democrats"), thinks that
We might have an early manifestation of such "citizen diplomacy" this very week. Blogger Charles J. Brown in "Undiplomatic" spotted a State Department press release about the visit of
Rather intriguing, I'd say, especially given all the speculation about "change" coming to US-Iranian relations, after the Bush Administration opened the door in its final days to allowing the US-based American Iranian Council (AIC) to establish an office in Tehran.
Admittedly, badminton teams and an AIC office do not a new policy make. But amidst Israeli saber rattling, Iranian missile launching, and assorted predictions of war, these are hopeful little signs.
Watch for an Obama Administration decision on the establishment of an American diplomatic or consular office, which Bush considered and then put off for the new President's in box.
Update: Bad news on the "soft power" front: News flash from the BBC: "The British Council says it has suspended all operations in Tehran after staff members were intimidated by the Iranian authorities. The council, which promotes cultural and educational ties, says pressure has been growing over its activities." The orders came from the office of Iran's President, and there are indications that Iran's ultra-conservatives were increasingly worried about the effectiveness of the British Council's work.
As Abbas Milani says of efforts to engage with Iran, nothing is easy: "Only the wisdom and humanity of concerned and informed citizens, combined with a new prudence in American policy, can navigate the treacherous waters ahead."
Update II: Abbas Milani was so right. As I was writing this post, the Iranians turned down the badminton team's visa application: " "The issuing of visa (sic) is a time-consuming procedure," said a Foreign Ministry spokesman. As The Hegemonist said in his comment: "I can't
believe the news that the Iranians botched the badminton and launched a
satellite during Obama's first two weeks in office. It's beginning to
look like they want to stay on America's bad side." To paraphrase the Iranian spokesman, "The normalization of relation is a time-consuming procedure." Decades-long.
(Photo of Iranian flag - MediationChannel.com)