Containment. From Communism to Nuclear development.

Instead of documenting how containment is used as a foreign policy by America to help contain the emergence of communism from the Eastern bloc of Europe in the past, I would like to focus on how America is presently dealing with the development of Nuclear Weapons in Iran with containment and the struggles it faces.

Containment has long been used by America as a foreign policy to stall or suppress the agenda promoted by countries whose values oppose or threaten American national security. The exercise of containment would result in trade sanctions or other types of sanctions against those countries thus isolating them from the United States.

Since Obama was elected president, America’s stance on Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon has downgraded from “Unacceptable” to one of the several highest national security priorities” Discussions on the internet have been rife with accusations of President Obama being “soft” with regards to his approach towards Iran’s nuclear developments program. Sanctions however have been passed with hopes of Iran reiterating their stance and being more negotiable. However the use of sanctions without the threat of enforcing it with military force undermines the effectiveness of such sanctions. The isolation or containment of Iran was given more focus rather the idea of preventing Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities.

With Israel calling for war, arguing that when Iran have finally developed nuclear weapons it would have the incentive to strike first rather use them for self-defense, and with Iran not backing down, Obama is faced with the decision to go to war, or attempt the isolate Iran and hopefully see out America’s plan for a diplomatic solution while at the same time attempting to balance their delicate relationship with Israel and Iran.

But the question is, can and will America live with an Iran equipped with nuclear weaponry, and will the emergence of Iran as a nuclear superpower undermine America’s superiority in global politics? Would containment be enough to limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities or would it merely serve to delay their nuclear capabilities?

The Iranian nuclear threat poses a much larger problem for the United States, if President Obama chooses to sit back and do nothing with the entire issue it could be seen that the United States condone such developments and it may serve to encourage other countries to start developing nuclear weapons in the name of self-defense, which is something the world does not need at the moment. If the United States were to heed Israel’s call for war and strike Iran before that are fully capable of nuclear warfare, the plan to end Iran’s nuclear capabilities could still backfire as Iran could start clandestine nuclear developments in hopes of striking back at the United States, doing so would make it much harder for the United States to track and investigate Iran’s progress.

Although war is not the solution to the problem and it would do more harm to the diplomatic relationship between America and Iran, I believe the threat of war in enforcing sanctions might soften Iran’s resolve in further developing nuclear weaponry.

Link to blog. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-iran-policy-shifts-to-containment/2011/12/09/gIQAUD8DjO_story.html