Or maybe, as Reagan once did for Sharansky, Bush has simply given heart to a silent majority to stand up for itself? Check this out, also from today's W. Times:
TEHRAN -- Iranian voters are used to hearing their politicians chant "Death to America," but the issue of relations with the United States has been turned on its head with a presidential election next week. As one Iranian analyst pointed out: "For most Iranians, the breaking off of relations with Washington is the main cause of their problems, and many people want to give their next president a mandate to resolve the issue."
"The religious regime has failed to stem public calls for conciliation, most recently in 2002 when it jailed opinion pollsters who published a survey indicating that three-quarters of the population hoped dialogue with the United States would resume."
Also in that link, Kuwait named its first two women to public office in wake of the vote for women's suffrage last month, and a story on Hosni Mubarak's opponent in Egypt's first election in --ever, maybe? Also in the Times, Tunis pushes for women's rights in the Arab world. RC2 is not especially respectful of the legitimacy of the Kuwaiti gov't., and knows nothing about Tunis. But there is amazing news in the papers every day --more than she'd dared to hope.
RC2 remembers in the early days of Glasznost how her father --an old Cold Warrior-- didn't trust Gorbachev and wasn't sure whether he could believe the signs of hope emitting from the failing USSR. One morning he looked up from a news story and said (approximately), "Wow. If they are publicly criticizing Lenin and Marx, there may be no going back. Maybe they really are going to reform. I don't know. But maybe." RC2 has never forgotten that expression of hope in his voice. It's the same feeling she has now. She doesn't trust the players, it seems too hard to believe, there are setbacks and dangers to worry about, it's all a big crapshoot that could play out many ways. But the overall vibe she gets is a good one. No?
