Never Waste An Iranian Nuclear Crisis

President Obama has a chance to end the era of post-Cold-War paradigm of American global hegemony, Michael Lind proposes at Salon, suggesting the president sits at a moment in history in which the Pax Americana can be replaced with an FDR-style power collective, replacing our Cold-War-era rivalries with Russia and China with partnerships. And lo and behold: Obama will face his first major foreign-policy test/opportunity this week as talks are opened with Iran.

So far, Obama has approached Iran's newly disclosed nuclear facility with an eye toward partnerships, and if Iran is recalcitrant at the talks, a collaborative sanctions regime, including Russia and China, will probably be the next step...but only after the old Cold War allies of U.S., Britain and France joined together to condemn the facility during the U.N. summit. If Russia and China do enter a sanctions partnership with the U.S., Iran's nuclear ambitions could prove a crisis point for international paradigms after all.