PRAISE FOR
Dancing with the Devil
“Diplomacy, like any other human activity, has costs as well as benefits. Sadly, too many people believe that diplomacy is cost-free, or fail to understand that merely sitting down together at a negotiating table may simply be shifting the focus of conflict. These are the people who most need to read Dancing with the Devil, but probably won’t. The rest of us should.”
—John Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 2005–2006
“Because of the current American negotiations with Iran about nuclear weapons, Michael Rubin’s path-breaking history, Dancing with the Devil, could not be more timely. In this illuminating book, Rubin shows how fifty years of dancing with devils by Democratic and Republican administrations has more often than not led to failure rather than success, war instead of peace. Rubin warns us that when America negotiates naïvely with rogue nations and terrorist groups, we pay dearly.”
—Senator Joseph I. Lieberman
“Beautifully written in clean and direct prose, thorough in its history and analysis, and compelling in its clear-eyed recommendations, this book will become the trade and textbook standard for how a free country should deal with hostile states and regimes. Here is due respect for the subtle arts of diplomacy as well as a necessary recognition of its limits.”
—William J. Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education, fellow of the Claremont Institute, and host of the nationally syndicated radio show Morning in America
“When and how should the United States engage diplomatically with difficult, dangerous, ‘rogue’ regimes? No question is more important for America’s relations with the world. In Dancing with the Devil, Michael Rubin provides a deeply considered, clearly written, politically controversial, and intellectually compelling answer. This book is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of American foreign policy.”
—Michael Mandelbaum, author of The Road to Global Prosperity and professor of American foreign policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
“Mr. Rubin’s extensive scholarship and cogent writing backlight his devastating portraits of a bipartisan, sequential failure of American governance. We can only hope that more courageous (and probably more junior) faculty members will follow Mr. Rubin’s cogent suggestion that we teach our future diplomats how their pompous predecessors failed for decades to defend American strategic interests.”
—The Washington Times
“With his timely new book, Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes, Dr. Michael Rubin deconstructs over three decades of largely misguided diplomacy with Iran—the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. His brilliant study of engagement with bad actors is not limited to the Islamic Republic. All of this helps explain why Rubin’s policy prescriptions and insights into Iran’s behavior warrant intense examination. It is not too late for his analysis to inform the government officials and policy involved in the Iran talks.”
— The Jerusalem Post
© 2014, 2015 by Michael Rubin
Preface © 2015 by Michael Rubin
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway, Suite 601, New York, New York, 10003.
First American edition published in 2014 by Encounter Books, an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc., a nonprofit, tax exempt corporation.
Encounter Books website address: www.encounterbooks.com
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
First paperback edition published in 2015.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGUED THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Rubin, Michael, 1971–
Dancing with the devil: the perils of engaging rogue regimes / Michael Rubin.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59403-798-6 (ebook)
1. State-sponsored terrorism—Prevention. 2. Terrorism—Prevention—Political aspects. 3. Diplomacy. 4. International relations. 5. National security—United States. 6. United States—Foreign relations. I. Title.
HV6431.R85 2013
327.1’17—dc23
2013020658
CONTENTS
Preface to the Paperback Edition
Introduction Pariahs to Partners: Bringing Rogues to the Table
Chapter 1 From Machiavelli to Muammar
Chapter 2 Great Satan vs. Mad Mullahs
Chapter 3 Team America and the Hermit Kingdom
Chapter 4 Lying Down with Libyans
Chapter 5 Tea with the Taliban
Chapter 6 Double Dealing in the Land of the Pure
Chapter 7 Sitting with Saddam
Chapter 8 Hijackers into Peacemakers
Chapter 9 Is It Time to Talk to Terrorists?
Chapter 10 Playing Poker with Pariahs
Chapter 11 Corrupting Intelligence or Corrupted Intelligence?
Chapter 12 Blessed Are the Peacemakers?
Conclusion Is Talking the Shortest Path to War?
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION
In the year since the first edition of Dancing with the Devil appeared, threats have erupted around the globe: Russia has invaded Ukraine and now threatens the Baltic states; Syria has admitted that it did not actually destroy all its chemical weapons; war broke out between Israel and Hamas; the Taliban is resurgent; North Korea may have acquired the capability to put nuclear warheads on its missiles and Iran is likely not far behind. The irony is that diplomacy may have exacerbated all these problems.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine came after a concerted effort by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “reset” relations with Russia. To ensure that diplomacy continued and to prove its effectiveness to an American audience, the Obama administration turned a blind eye to evidence of Vladimir Putin’s insincerity, his hostility to the West, and his aggressive stance toward his neighbors. The administration, for example, hid evidence that Russia had violated the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty when, in 2010, it submitted the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) to the U.S. Senate.1 History repeats: just as the State Department and the intelligence