Savoir se libérer n’est rien ; l’ardu, c’est savoir être libre. [Knowing how to free oneself is nothing; the difficult thing is knowing how to live with that freedom.]
André Gide

The situation in Iran is sad and I hope it works out for everyone.  Well, that is unlikely, if not impossible.  But there is more disturbing question:  what should “we” do about it?  For example, last night in a radio programme some people were debating whether the reaction of Barack Obama and the US government was too mild.  Some of the participants in this debate felt that the USA has a moral duty to support democracy (without necessarily intervening) wherever it can.  Others pointed out that the protesters in Iran do not necessarily want US backing, since they harbour their own resentments of past US policy vis-a-vis Iran, and that things are not as simple as “good guys v. bad guys”.  Suppose that the current government capitulates and an even more extreme government comes to power.

So, when should the poor US intervene?  I think that there is a rough consensus that the US should not send troops to Iran.  But is this like not sending troops to Hungary in 1956?  Or troops to Germany in 1939?  Or troops to Rwanda in 1994?

Direct intervention is not the only option, and in general I would be in favour of other forms of expressing morality in foreign policy, if I knew whether or not morality in foreign affairs were a good thing altogether.  This is such a murky business.  The kind of preemptive strike that the US performed in/on Iraq seems like an abomination.  But when is the time to strike?  When they are designing nuclear weapons in, say, Canada?  When they are building the weapons?  Aiming them?  When they are about to light the fuse?  (Figuratively speaking.)  At some point preemptive action is the right course of action.  I just don’t know when.

This is not just a US problem of course.  Perhaps the right question is not when the US should intervene, but when China will intervene.

This is perhaps depressing stuff, but there is not much you or I can do about it.  Perhaps you and I could do something about it, but we probably won’t.  So it all reduces to a neat intellectual puzzle.  Like a crossword clue that one just can’t solve.