Surveyor: Iran may well be a bigger problem than North Korea, but I think it’s a simpler one to fix. Iran’s population is the key to regime change in Iran, but you have no such hope with the population in North Korea.
They are impoverished, cowed and far too indoctrinated to be of use in any sort of “hearts and minds” campaign.
In Iran, you can reach out to the people, who are literate, largely centrist and pro-US. Like I said, I believe Obama is a tool (in the most literal sense of that word), but he can be a useful tool in terms of engaging the people of Iran. Also, and this is just my opinion, but you have a better chance of intelligent dialogue with the people of Iran (not the clergy or the hard liners), who have a very rich history and less of the lunacy that accompanies some of their truly Arab brethren.
Just my opinion, of course, and I could be dead wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time.
