Playing Chicken with Iran
Tony Karon, Time Magazine | December 2, 2011
The British embassy siege and subsequent expulsion of Iranian diplomats from London shows that the brinksmanship of the Iranian nuclear issue is heating up. ++ There are perverse incentives on both sides to ramp up the rhetoric: for Iranian hardliners, to embarrass President Ahmadinejad; for Western countries, to pressure Iran in the absence of international consensus (or a clear military strategy). ++ Diplomats must find ways for both sides to save face while easing the pressure, before it builds to a war nobody wants.
