http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7167346

Leon T. Hadar  Senior Analyst, Wikistrat

Wishful-Thinking Foreign Policy

Posted: 04/29/2015

While Realpolitik arguments, in particular the argument for the need to co-opt Iran into a stable balance-of-power system in the Middle East, have been central to President Barack Obama's diplomatic opening to Tehran, he has also integrated an element of idealism into his approach, proposing that American "engagement" with Iran would bring about political and economic changes in that country.
"I think the election of [President Hassan] Rouhani indicated that there was an appetite among the Iranian people for a rejoining with the international community, an emphasis on the economics and the desire to link up with a global economy," suggested Obama in an interview with The New York Times' Tom Friedman. "And so what we've seen over the last several years, I think, is the opportunity for those forces within Iran that want to break out of the rigid framework that they have been in for a long time to move in a different direction," stated the president, predicting that a nuclear deal with Iran would strengthen "those forces inside of Iran that say, 'We don't need to view ourselves entirely through the lens of our war machine. Let's excel in science and technology and job creation and developing our people.'" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leon-t-hadar/wishful-thinking-foreign_b_7167346.html