Obama’s “Reset” Video for Iran
Scarcely did we have time to absorb the full import of Barack Obama becoming — in the portentous phrase that has been all over the news — “the first sitting president to appear on the Jay Leno show.” And now here he is in a White House video wishing happy new year to “the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Maybe President Obama should have put the two together, and wished Iran happy new year, or Nowruz, from the set of the Jay Leno show instead of the White House. At least that might have left the mullahs wondering if this was just some oddball American attempt at humor.
As it is, Obama has just presented himself as the personification of Hillary’s toy “Reset” button, given to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this month. That has almost certainly provided the Russians with a few chuckles — and not just because of the mistranslation that went with it.
Seriously, as foreign policy, Obama’s latest is not only nuts, but dangerous. Obama speaks as if he were campaigning in Peoria. The cadences are those of the Hope-and-Change stump: “The promise of a new day, the promise of opportunity for our children, security for our families, progress for our communities, and peace between nations…shared hopes… common dreams.”
Had Obama limited his salutation to the people of Iran, fair enough. But he blew right past them when he also addressed “the leaders” — who are apparently to be included in the new Iranian happy land he envisions. How does that compute? The folks ruling Iran are not exactly leaders. They are messianic and ruthless rulers. They are subscribers to a totalitarian system that leads the world in juvenile executions. They train and support terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which teach children to aspire to the “opportunity” to become suicide bombers. Their idea of peace and community progress does not extend to a world in which anyone disagrees with their edicts.
The leaders of Iran punish dissent among their people with methods heavy on imprisonment, torture and death. On Wednesday, a day before Obama launched his Nowruz video, a 29-year-old Iranian blogger reportedly died in Iran’s notorious Evin prison. His name was Omid Mirsayafi, and the BBC reports that he was jailed for the act of “insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other clerics.”
Just last week, reports emerged of the cargo impounded in Cyprus from a ship originating in Iran and bound for Syria, carrying (this is just the partial list produced by the Cypriot government and reported by the Wall Street Journal): 1,980 wooden cases of powder for 130 mm guns and 1,320 cases of powder and powder pellets for 125 mm guns, 60 barrels of 39 mm shells, 810 cases of propellant for 125 mm guns and eight cases of 120 mm mortar components … plus three containers too heavy to move, which had not yet been searched. As Obama should know, since his own ambassador pointed it out to the UN Security Council last week, that’s a slice of what’s going on in the real world.
As for Iran’s nuclear program — Iran’s regime is currently in breach of a stack of UN resolutions calling for Tehran to desist, and has spent years pursuing the wherewithal for nuclear weapon, despite U.S. sanctions, and more recently, U.N. sanctions. A report has now surfaced in Germany claiming that an Iranian defector, who in 2007 tipped off the West about Syria’s secret nuclear reactor, asserted that Iran was financing the project. If true, that is huge news — would Obama care to tell us more?
Obama in his message to the mullahs, mentions, delicately, that “For nearly three decades relations between our nations have been strained.” … Well, yes. Years of Iranian-backed terrorist guns and bombs killing Americans and our allies have put a strain on the relationship.
Will Iran’s top tyrant Ali Khameini and his crew call off their secret police, international terrorist operations, missile projects, nuclear program, thug-state alliances and messianic Islamist campaign because Khamenei tunes in to Twitter and discovers that Obama has just wished him a happy new year?
More likely they will conclude that Obama’s “Reset” is working neatly in their favor, and they may with greater impunity proceed on their course of “Death to Israel! Death to America!”
Obama in his video had a lot to say about our “common humanity,” and — as if he were addressing, say, the government of Finland – dismissed “those who insist we be defined by our differences.” There were echoes there of another statesman’s remarks: “We are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace… ” That statesman, of course, was British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, upon his return from Munich in 1938 — and it can be found in the same statement in which Chamberlain promised “peace for our time.”
I’m an Iranian living in Iran.
We are not Nazis Ms. Rosett. Our leaders do not represent us. We want them gone as much as you all but 30 years of hostility has not only helped me and my people, the sanctions have made the populace weaker and it has made the mullahs stronger than ever. Lets try new options please.
We are a young population of Iranians with common dreams and goals. We dont need more hostility.
Congratulations, Claudia.
You have won the first out with the stupid in response to Obama’s video.
I agree, people sitting in their cozy home office commenting on people living in poverty and persecution. I hope, miss Rosette, that nobody had taught you how to read or write, becasue you are a disgrace to real Journalism. Unbiased and informed are definetly words you haven’t heard of.
What an utterly moronic equation between a struggling mini-power, rife with internal tensions, social instability, and a young generation very open to western culture–and the industrial powerhouse of late 30′s Germany under Hitler. Your ideas are more dangerous than most Iranians’, I suspect.
Claudia,
First up at Speaker’s Corner, for the time set aside for those cogent-ally gifted for stupidity, Claudia Rosett, setting the tone for the formerly in-power, droolers of America.
Democracy is a great way to hear from the proletariat, many who are much smarter than the leadership. In the case of Claudia, the opposite can, and does, happen and we get to see those who cannot seem to remember to wipe their runny noses, treating us all to the knowledge that we are not exceptional and even great societies harbor morons and idiots. I mean, just look at GWBush. Selecting a cretin to the White House is certainly more exceptional than electing a black man. Allowing the fool to remain for a second time may well indicate a sickness in the society, however.
Good article, Claudia. There’s a real difference between liberal-internationalist school and so-called realists, which PBO represents, and, well, real realists. The former see Iran as a rational state actor, which can be negotiated with and deterred in the same way the Soviet Union was. The latter recognize Iran for what it is: a fascist state driven by a millenarian revolutionary ideology (masquerading as religion) that seels nothing less than to pave the way for the coming of its “End Times.”
This is a bad time to have self-deluding fools in power, and I fear it’s all going to end badly.
Like all war mongers, you would never even consider volunteering to fight yourself. You don’t have the minimal decency to do so. You demand and cheer endless self-destructive confrontation and war – iraq, russia, china, cube, venezuela, gaza… it’s endless. But you’re a coward who won’t fight or sacrifice. Just like bush (deserter) cheney (draft dodger), or any other of the gutless neocon cheerleaders. For you the world is frozen in 1938 – or at least for propaganda purposes (I really don’t even think you believe your own rhetoric). You and your repulsive ilk have driven America into the ground, damaged it horribly, with you endless cries for war. You have brought us nothing but disaster. You are a phoney and a coward. The world is sick of you and your kind. But feel free to put together your own army of ‘patriots’ and go to Iran to fight the good fight and die a hero’s death. I won’t hold my breath.
Bravo. You win today’s prize for most stereotypical cliche response to actual leadership. What is it with you dead-enders and your inability to grasp that the policies you advocate have repeatedly failed and ought not be repeated? Economy’s tanking? Tax cuts! Huge deficits? Tax cuts! Huge surpluses? Tax cuts! For the love of G-d, do us all a favor and just go back to sniffing your own flatulence instead sharing it with the world.
Ms. Rosett, you exemplify those who (as Obama put it) “insist that we be defined by our differences” rather than our commonalities. Fortunately, this president has decided to defy rather than “appease” the destructive factions who think that way.
Are there legitimate complaints about the Iranian regime? Yes, of course. (Just as about almost all nations on this planet, including the U.S. and our allies.) But itemizing them as you have done only underscores the *need* to talk in an open and honest way — not, as you imagine, to *avoid* talking.
The only alternative is violence. Sane people (here and in Iran alike) don’t want that.
It’s amazing how simplistic, superficial, and pedestrian Obama reads versus how it sounds with his DJ voice. Perhaps now their slogan will become “Sucking chest wound to America!”
One of the most biased & uninformed articles.
Hope one day our citizens will realize our nation has been hijacked by small, elite lobby groups, who care not about the prosperity of Americans nor Iranians, but just their own greed and power.
Claudia, please… enough serving AIPAC and pro-Israeli groups, time to care about our own people.
Claudia,
Take a hint when 9 of your first 10 responses are negative. Only 4% of the world is American, and the rest are sick of America’s war-mongering postures (as are the majority of Americans). We aren’t going to war with Iran, and we’re done acting like that’s what we’re going to do. And guess what? We’re going to have a two-state solution in Israel/Gaza before long that will end the bulk of our problems in the middle east.
I love these comments, where did y’all come from and why are you reading Ms Roset’s drivel?
Ms. Rosett offers the same logic that we’ve been given for the past eight years by the Bush/Cheney administration: the notion that attempts at diplomacy are examples of “appeasement.” (Never mind that the one place where the U.S. had some diplomatic success during Bush’s presidency was Libya, thanks to the continuation of the Clinton-era policy of engagement there.)
Note that Ms. Rosett offers no solutions. This is presumably because her “solution” would likely consist of threats, a refusal to engage Iran, and bellicosity–precisely the same policies we’ve been following for the past eight years and that have only increased tensions in the region. Thanks, but no thanks, Ms. Rosett.
In Claudia Rosett’s world, it will always be 1938, and people who try to resolve problems through diplomacy will always be Nazi appeasers. It must be comforting to live in a world of such mind-numbing stupidity and simplicity.
Are these wing-nut columns all created in a blender? Throw in one part crazed mullahs, add a pinch of stock nuclear threat, and then not-so-secret ingredient, a Chamberlain-Munich-Nazi allusion! It’s the pundit-o-matic, not sold any store! And not bought by most anyone anymore, either.
Look wingnuts, your macho bravado and endless posturing have made this country a laughing stock and a loose cannon at the same time. Dialogue is not inherently treasonous, talking is not a sign of weakness. Threats and ultimatums alone are not a foreign policy. In fact, they’re a sign of weakness. Face it, everything you neo-cons have done on the world stage, from Iraq and Iran to Russan and France has been a disaster. You’ve completely screwed the pooch. Let some intelligent grownups try to undo your messes and just be quiet for a while.
Meanwhile, on the grueling, heated keyboards front….
as night creeps in on our mighty, dedicated ‘army of defenders’….
“NO NO NO #2! You’re makin me hafta pull you off the boardsagain! If I told you once I told you a thousand times ____Uhhhh! (- takes deep breath-)
“Could you just stop exhausting our precious feces reference resources- and How many times have you used the word “rascist” , just tonight? And you always put that at the end of the post! where it has maximum effect! and could you maybe spell it right? its “racist”, not “rascist”! Now look, go over there and find a book and start using more quotations, we need some litercee out there, and for Pete’s sake, has it ever occurred to any of you to maybe, just maybe pose something in the form of an in-ter-rog-guh-tive??? Oh- nevermind…., (-thinks-, You. Are. Hopeless!-) why don’t chall just callit a night an go ahead and punch-out, and be back here tommorrow…”
[*He didn't fire me!* He didn't fire me!!*]
“Now this is for everybody so listen up- we all know this place is a sweatshop, but when we’re out there doin our jobs, does it hafta look like one?”
Gosh,, seem the whole world thinks the big – O- is a genius on yet another front. Licking Iran’s balls will really make them behave..
you dorks are not fooling anybody but yourselves, as you live in the protection that the strong provide, while the weak cower and cry fowl over and over…
obvious hijack of the comment board by weenies,..lol
Very funny. Not your article Ms. Rosett, but the Obama mob bots, otherwise known as “Organizing for America”. Creepy, don’t you think?
Good news though. There’s dissension in the ranks. Seems that you’re either with Dear Leader or against him.
Hmmm. Funny how more things change the more they remain the same.
He has hurt many families in America. He needs to say he is sorry in the public, not to an organization.
In addition, someone who claims to have experienced prejudice and stereotypes throughout life, and has written about them in great detail, should be more sensitive and refined from life’s lessons.
Furthermore, Obama claimed he was going to have the world think ‘highly’ of America again. Will this joke help?
For someone who spoke of equality as a creed. Does this joke match that philosophy?
For someone that said he would stand for all people. Does this stand up for those that participate in the Special Olympics?
The fact is Obama claimed a higher standard. To much is given, much is required.
Obama has just showed us that ‘yes we can’ destroy what a campaign stands for with a single joke.
During the campaign for the White House in 2008, the media criticized Palin for being ‘common,’ ‘not-polished,’ ‘not-compassionate’ and ‘not presidential.’ However, compare Sarah Palins attitude in this video created three weeks ago for the Special Olympics in Boise, Idaho.
You decide the more ‘presidential’ among them. Watch: http://tinyurl.com/ccz6nj
Whistle while you work.
Obama is a jerk.
Mussolini cut off his weenie,
And now it will not work.
George W. Bush has character and courage.
Barack Obama has neither.
Anybody not like my assessment? Tough.
You can do nothing about it. Final answer.
Wow, Claudia,
Looks like you really struck a nerve with a few people on this topic.
I think we are at the point now, where whatever is going to happen, is going to happen. We will soon see if the Iranians will use nukes for peace. We will soon see if Obama’s Carter-like approach will produce rainbows and rivers of chocolate in the Middle East. All we have to do is patiently sit in our seats and watch the drama unfold.
One of the factions represented by your posters here will ultimately have the satisfaction of saying, ‘I told you so’.
OK, I have to get back to stocking my bunker now with food, water and ammo.
Good luck world!
#’s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,and (so far) 17:
Iranian: Obamas speech re-bundled the Iranian Mullahcracy with the general populace re-assigning themselves of said populace as spokesmen for you.
#2 & #3, jharpie (indeed) and Joe: Obama gave them the equivalent of a “Reset” button that translates in Farsi as “Vaporize”.
#4, wj: Iran has acquired North Korean missiles capable of reaching Edinborough Scotland, so this business that this is (only) about Israel is a mere shibboleth straw man that does the grunt work for said Iranian Mulluhcracy.
#5, Intelvet: “stupidity”, “droolers”, “runny-noses”, and “cretin*”
brilliant, semi-literate gobs of that inimitable cut and paste “flaming bag of doo-doo left on the doorstep” type prose. Would “I know you are, so what am I?” qualify as that sort of inimitable style? and would you take the bait?
#6 Phineas: we’ve got plenty of those “self deluded fools” here with us tonight! You know, those self described “morons” that voted for a celebrity, poster-childe-in-chief, rather than a fully grown man, just like they’d all like to be, someday.
#7 Slater: Obama hasn’t any military service experience, so what particular options can he (consider) wielding now that Iran’s Mullah’s have already released a statement calling his bluff. Why don’t you assemble your army and get ready for what “sacrifice” the president already has in mind for you.
How many millions were killed while Euro leadership, took your peaceful “fruit-basket” gift approach, culminating in Chamberlain, before millions were killed because none had prepared for a true confrontation with Hitler. Because they waited they had their backs ‘gainst the wall. Even Chamberlain conceded he was wrong, and that your “appeasement” had failed. (I could provide examples but, nuh uh, its your turn, to go off and “read all about it”.)
Give it a first-time try and get back with the results of your scholarship.
#9 “Smart (Power)” Remarks: yeah, and all the while deploying, yet again, the “Failed policies of the past/Bush Administration(Not Congress)” meme ad infinitum/ad nauseum/ad absurdum
#10 Chris M: No real argument here, a (some) reasonable discourse here for a change. Many, in Europe and U.S, have been talking for quite a while w/ Iran. If Pres. Obama does it better, and gets good results, we all stand to benefit.
#11 Chirp (or ChipD?) the guy with the dj voice is Mr. Celebrity, and that affected baritone is something anyone but the true-believers will (ever) tire of.
#12 Mike: Yeah, “our nation has been hijacked by small, elite lobby groups,” yeah, they’re called various “Quango”, “who care not about the prosperity of Americans nor Iranians”, not one bit, “but just their own greed and power.” That Quango is the dubious greed/givernment axis, and they seek to
expand, no metasta-size, and obliterate any distinction between greed/government once and (from) now (on), -see comments for wj#13 Patrick: Good luck w/ that: The 57 Imperial Islamist States will thank the Imperialist Socialist States with “a real party” on your behalf, just like that recent “Saint Patricks Day Blowout Party, complete w/ teleprompter fed “thank you notes”!
#14 Mark: likes to gaze up at drizzle in awe, so let’s skip this guy…
#15 Jim: The guys who solved problems with National Socialist Germany by “appeasement” have as their legacy the responsibility for the killings of a running total of about 300,000,000 deaths, mostly by being worked and starved to death, -(see the work in southern Iran today) because they had realhope, the shark feed would eat them last.
#16 Frank: keep up, we’ve covered this, “people who try to resolve problems through diplomacy will [not] always be Nazi appeasers”, “the people who try to resolve problems though diplomacy” might actually be NationalSocialist fifth column. (It happened in Poland, Britain, Hungary, etc, and later by KGB in India, Central and South America, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc, get the picture?
#17 jrw Threats? You peddle the straw man that “now everybody hates us…” They don’t. Thats just the sort of populist political gruel, made cheap, and served up by folks like de Villepain, and other insider made men, in the elite government academie for folks at the seminar like you to munch on, cute and grateful and all, when you look up, and preciously ask so politely- “Can we have some more?”
How do I know? because I’ve seen you all on various blogs, here and elsewhere, what with your lame, “flaming bag of doo doo on the doorstep” style pickle jabberer cowardice, flinging the commpendia of various re-cyclable scat0Logical and other “bodily fuction” insinuendo at your ‘counterparts’, and then scurrying back to safer ground, lest you read a reply, in that defacating, barely literate slacker style that earns a hearty High Five from the other sage stoner volunteers manning the boards.
I hope y’all are happy you’ve tweeked the odds in your favor, at last count, to roughly 17 to one, give or take. And don’t think I haven’t noticed, the raw
sewagecourage that skid marks each and every one of your brilliant posts, as you make hit-and-run stops to gorge on the perfunctory slander of “racism” and “cretin*” histrionics or whatnot (with “mind-numbing stupidity and simplicity”), just to find, beat and kick at the girlin this story as a swarm of locusts. Hoping no-one will notice it you what brought the blades, then wait for the signal from superior command, then skate on breezily to swarm on to scourge somewhere’s else.We’re a diverse multi-ethnic nation of 300mil, always have been, a minority in this world of 5 bil; ?So where do people go when they want to start a new life? I’ll give you a hint, its not elsewhere, because other nations don’t tolerate the emigration of those, illegal or otherwise to their feudal potentates (just ask Mexico, or the 100,000 guatemalans last year who were arrested and deported for going through there to get here): its the least racist place on this planet; or it would be but for the rank socialist exploitation of “minorities”, “ethnic backgrounds”, and “groups”, like those who might participate in Special Olympics, who are a joke to you, as you insult them and declare them, one and all, as helpless and unable without you to help them.
“I’m here from the government, and I’m here to help (-pulls back the overgrown ivy away-) myself”. Indeed.
I called yours a “swatshop” or “sweatshop” (whatever). I think that was charitable, On reflectionI think “latrine” might be more accurate of what you guys project onto this otherwise comments section.
*cretin- ı kretn ı [Medicine] a person who is deformed and mentally handicapped because of a congenital thyroid deficiency.
-see, told ya, they’re all little more to you than a source of “jokes” and derision from you cold, insensitive, *special* self imposed serfs to think you’re up a notch er two from, and here to “help”
I’m old school. I find ‘fart’ jokes funny and I giggle at them but having the leader of the free world playing ‘celebutard’ deeply disturbs me.
I am so sad and ashamed for our country.
#1 is right about sanctions. I have always concurred that sanctions are precision weapons of mass destruction on the poor. Maybe sanctions on weapons and such is fine, but a weakened country only empowers dictators.
“its we are the change we believe in” distilled into a foreign policy statement.
Nice gesture from Obama. Happy New Year Iran.
It’s nice to live in a world with peace.
I am an American citizen and have been to Iran a few times. It’s a truly amazing country with amazing people, and frankly its leadership are not the “Nazis” that our unfortunate and hysterical excuse for national discourse would portray. Ms Rosett, I regret to say that you are simply incorrect. And by the way, were you correct, what do you think we are going to do, defeat Iran militarily? There is simply no other choice at this point than respect and diplomacy.
Some of these comments simply astound me! The USA a laughing stock? Our celeb pres is being laughed at all over the world. Yes, hope and change, one gaffe at a time.
Claudia, I’m deeply disturbed by the absurd comments attacking your analysis and credibility. I imagine that the critics here have no idea of any historical information or context. Save the fact that Iran is and has been the primarly sponsor of Hezbollah, the group that has killed more Americans than any other (excepting Al Queda on 9/11) and it jars the senses with the “hopeandchange” perspective; that speaking nicely will change anything. Khameni rejected the BO overtures out of the box. Should we now send Ms. Albright to grovel on the tarmac? Readers, grow up! The Iranian Government is our enemy. We can talk to our Enemy but not lose sight of what they believe in and how they behave. Nations act in their INTERESTS. How does “talking nice” change the Iranian’s government interests? Claudia, you are the one of the best most intellectually honest AMERICAN commentators out there. Keep it coming. People looking for real analysis will always appreciate your perspective. Detractors here on the site, you mis-typed Moveon.org. I’ve posted it here for you to link to.
Chamberlain is best remembered, but didn’t Churchill truly despise Stanley Baldwin? Churchill spoke warmly at Chamberlain’s passing: “It fell to Neville Chamberlain in one of the supreme crises of the world to be contradicted by events, to be disappointed in his hopes, and to be deceived and cheated by a wicked man. But what were these hopes in which he was disappointed? What were these wishes in which he was frustrated? What was that faith that was abused? They were surely among the most noble and benevolent instincts of the human heart-the love of peace, the toil for peace, the strife for peace, the pursuit of peace, even at great peril, and certainly to the utter disdain of popularity or clamour. Whatever else history may or may not say about these terrible, tremendous years, we can be sure that Neville Chamberlain acted with perfect sincerity according to his lights and strove to the utmost of his capacity and authority, which were powerful, to save the world from the awful, devastating struggle in which we are now engaged. This alone will stand him in good stead as far as what is called the verdict of history is concerned.”http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=421
From the same site this: Stanley Baldwin had remarked in the 1930s that in the unlikely event of war, “we must save Winston to be our fighting Prime Minister.” Churchill never publicly repaid the compliment, if compliment it was. He held Baldwin responsible for Britain’s lack of preparedness when the crisis inevitably came. During the Blitz, when informed that a German bomb had fallen on Baldwin’s house, Churchill quipped, “What base ingratitude.” And this: Churchill’s final view of Baldwin, who died in 1947, was atypical of his usual magnanimity. Indeed it was much more severe than the Parliamentary barbs Kay Halle recorded–severer, in fact, than biographer Martin Gilbert has noticed toward any other of Churchill’s contemporaries, including Samuel Hoare and Aneurin Bevan.
“Shortly after the war,” writes Gilbert, “when he was asked to send Baldwin, then aged eighty, a birthday letter, [Churchill] declined to do so, writing to an intermediary: ‘I wish Stanley Baldwin no ill, but it would have been much better had he never lived.’
Oh, and to the first dozen or so commenters, Winston Churchill is not related to St. Ward.
One last remark from W.S. Gilbert: “In my long search for Churchill,” Gilbert concluded, “few letters have struck a clearer note than this one. (The one I cited above.) Churchill was almost always magnanimous: his tribute to Neville Chamberlain in 1940 was among the highpoints of his parliamentary genius. But he saw Baldwin as responsible for the ‘locust years’ when Britain, if differently led, could have easily rearmed, and kept well ahead of the German military and air expansion, which Hitler had begun in 1933 from a base of virtual disarmament. Churchill saw Baldwin’s policies, especially with regard to Royal Air Force expansion, as having given Hitler the impression, first, that Britain would not stand up to aggression beyond its borders, and second, that if war came Britain would not be in a position to act effectively even to defend its own cities.”
In the end, that was enough to damn Stanley Baldwin perhaps as no other contemporary Briton in Churchill’s eyes.
The book is In Search of Churchill, by Martin Gilbert. Trolls, we may be drunk, but you are ugly, and tomorrow, we’ll be sober.
Claudia: Nothing that clown in the White House does surprises me, and until he releases his “original” birth certificate for public inspection, I will continue to believe that he was born in Africa. If I am wrong and he was in fact born in Hawaii as he claims, I will apologize and start calling him Mr. President clown, but if he doesn’t release his “original” birth certificate, I will continue to refer to him as “that clown”.
@1
I have talked to several Iranians thanks to the internet and most of the agree with out. It will be up to you and people like you to use things like the internet to connect to the people who do not know what you are struggling with.
Please keep posting here on PJM and keep giving us you’re insight.
May allah reward you in heaven.
My objection to the video is pretty simple, I have no problem with the President wishing Iranian citizens happy new year. But a video? This is the best he can do? Would someone please explain to BHO that he has not been named the latest MTV VJ. Is this the best he can do?
I always wonder…when a “string” of comments come to attack a position of the article author…if there was a “command” someplace given, like the dogs in Animal Farm being sent out to choke off principled dissent of any voice not on “message”.
I particularly like the juxtaposition of “we are not Nazi’s” and the “it’s time to start blaming the Jews” at AIPAC. Rather neat trick.
When the Iranians took our citizens hostage for 444 days, they sent a message to the world as to how they wished to conduct themselves in the world. When their little pipsqueak of a President said he wanted to drive an entire nation into the sea, they gave voice to the manner in which they wished to live among other peoples.
When they prop up Hezbollah and Hamas for the purposes of exporting terrorism and wholesale mass murder for hire…their acts bear witness to their true intentions.
Peace is achieved not by pronouncing empty platitudes, but by denouncing evil intent.
This is the second time the Obama has said that relations were better with Iran 30 years ago. Perhaps I’m not the first to point this out, but I haven’t heard anyone else say it, so I will: What happened 30 years ago? With whom did we have these warm relations? We had them with the Iranian regime that the current Iranian regime overthrew!
Has it ever occured to our poor adolescent-in-chief exactly what this sounds like to the Mullahs? “Look folks, we used to be friends with the hated rulers that you ran off, so that makes us friends, right?”
To paraphrase Spinal Tap, how clueless can a President get? The answer is none, none more clueless.
As to the statement by Quid, and others, that the Iranian government is not dangerous, I refer you to this exceptional article: http://www.democratiya.com/interview.asp?issueid=13
The cadences are those of the Hope-and-Change stump…
Those cadences really bug me, kind of a breathlessness and a rising timbre at the end of the sentence.
It makes Obama’s speechifying so contrived, so staged.
It’s petty, of course, to mention this, but I’m exhausted mentioning all the other outrageous and embarrassing stuff this administration has foisted upon us in 2 short months.
I always wonder…when a “string” of comments come to attack a position of the article author…if there was a “command” someplace given, like the dogs in Animal Farm being sent out to choke off principled dissent of any voice not on “message”.
It does seem orchestrated, like when Obama minions tried to shut down a radio station that was hosting an Obama critic. Or tried shenanigans (involving gross intimidation) using some lawyers in Missouri, the specifics of which I’ve forgotten.
You can imagine some shadow Soros organization ginning up that litany of brain dead observations above.
25. Delia . . . “I am so sad and ashamed for our country.”
That’s OK, honey, we’re ashamed you’re in it.
Claudia, you are absolutely right to point out the similarities to Neville Chamberlain in 1938. Iran’s leadership does not recognize Israel as a legitimate state and they are pursuing nuclear weapons against UN sanctions. World war II never would have happened if it wasn’t for policies of appeasement and irrational fear of confrontation. Many posters here obviously don’t realize that. Or they think that in the new world of Obama politics we should ignore history all together.
Taking a new direction with Iran probably does make sense. Maybe sanctions don’t work. They didn’t work in Iraq. However, Obama doesn’t have to condone Iran’s defiance of UN resolutions and their hatred of Israel by signaling that the US is going to stop focusing on ‘differences’. Some of these ‘differences’ do matter, but Obama does not acknowledge that. Instead he infers that the blame for conflict over the past 30 years is with past US administrations. So please, someone tell me how that kind of message is going to compel Iran to comply with these UN resolutions?
Bears repeating:
“Peace is achieved not by pronouncing empty platitudes, but by denouncing evil intent.”
#20 sgi
Thanks for answering that question.
I wonder how long it is before (Brownshirts) “Organize for America” make their first kill?
“It needs fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice”
Eric Hoffer – ‘The True Believer’ (p. 108)
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18097
Wow Claudia, it looks like you are on the top of the list for Obama’s Keyboard Brigades. Now don’t you feel special?
The supreme mullah in Iran just owned Obama, ripping Obama’s “change” BS that everyone dupe was sold during the election. check it out http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090321/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_obama
Wow. Those initial comments are frightening in the seeming coordination of their attack. I’m with cfbleachers on that. Ms Rosett, well done, for such a response has obviously rattled someone, somewhere, for such an assault to have ensued.
I disagree slightly with cfbleachers on his last point, though: peace is achieved by DEFEATING evil.
Ms.Rosette:
The least you could do is make an honest hypothetical argument like this: What will we do if alQaida strikes again? Which country in the ME will we attack next? Iran, maybe? Have we given them notice that they have ‘attractive’ targets? I think we have, but do we really want, or need, to execute another “war on terror?”
The stupidity of what you have done here is based on fear-mongering, and your posture is cowardice itself. (I picture you hunched over a laptop in a huge impenetrable fallout shelter, stocked with canned goods and comestibles, stored for the duration of whatever disaster you envision, broadcasting from an aerial antenna.)
Come outside! It’s a new day! Bush-Cheney policies have been debunked…utterly repudiated as a disproportionate and opportunistic response for their cronies in the MIC and Big Oil!
The politicians who 1.)assiduously ignored warnings of “binLadin Determined To Strike In U.S.,” 2.)suffered the consequences of 3,000+ lost to terrorism and then, 3.) deployed one of the most shameful and destructive disproportionate responses to terror – reminiscent of Vlad the Impaler – have left the scene in shame!
Unless you know something about how they might now justify their actions (and your irrationality) with a subversive false-flag operation on our shores, COME OUT!
It’s time to help put the Republican Party’s 25% dead-enders back together with the majority. You’re scaring the few horses that are still on the street…idiot…coward. Fight fair or SYFP.
@37 cfbleachers -
“When the Iranians took our citizens hostage for 444 days, they sent a message to the world as to how they wished to conduct themselves in the world.”
Given the generally ahistorical viewpoint that prevails on the Left, it needs to be explained that this act was more than an ordinary hostage-taking, in its intent no less than its consequences. The inviolability of diplomatic ground is the glue that holds the entire edifice of international diplomacy together. There is no basis for trust without it. This harkens back to the ancient sources of western civilization, as I daresay any Persian knows, and probably had its origins in the safe passage accorded to enemy heralds in war.
Contrary to the testaments of the faithful and a soothing voice that Saruman would pay good money to possess, Obama will not change the world and make the most intractable problems of the late 20th century vanish with a wave of his hand and a few televised gestures, peaceful or otherwise. On the whole I agree with an earlier poster who wrote that sanctions hurt the people more than the regime, but worse yet, Obama puts the regime first, which is to say he accepts the regime’s view of itself. And only true believers are capable of rationalizing that degree of cowardice on the part of the most powerful man in the free world.
He heh heh. Keep it up Claudia. You’re doing just fine. The coordinated attack means that you are striking chords. Clear ones.
@37: cfbleachers
Rosett is irrational, illogical and cowardly.
Rosett’s “principled dissent” as you call it, are empty arguments that consist of fear-mongering. That is idiocy based upon cowardice. It is illogical, absent knowledge of – not threat – but an actual impending attack. It is thus irrational.
But, I admire your astute exposition of Iran’s infamous conduct and stated intentions. These observations informed, in part, Bush Cheney’s justification to decimate Iraq through a genocide, kidnapping, imprisonment (for the duration of a theorized “war on terror”) and torture which are against the law, the U.S. Constitution and International treaty.
So, when you say that, “Peace is achieved not by pronouncing empty platitudes, but by denouncing evil intent,” I am inclined to listen, but not for too long, to your platitudes.
Tactical denunciation of evil intent is what Obama is aiming at, and he said it at a time when US and Israeli military have openly discussed deployment of assassination teams, surgical nuclear bombing strikes, as well as “targets of opportunity.”
I trust Obama and a new diplomatic outlook more than a failed, intellectually lazy ex-President and a sick, embittered cardiac patient suffering from postperfusion (pumphead) syndrome and all their warmongering, neoconservative adherents who dream themselves elitists in classical Rome in the manner of the University of Chicago’s Straussian authoritarians.
“Peace is achieved as a result of compromise. It cannot be achieved through battle….Mass murder will only develop hatred.” -A.Rajasingram
@37 cfbleachers
That is why it is so important to give people like 1. Iranian our support. He is someone who does not condone AIPAC nor the actions of his government. Look carefully and you will find many people voicing their dissent of the Iranian government here on the internet.
Good article Ms. Rosett. It shows us Obama’s naivete towards the leaders of Iran. I wonder if he sent some flowers and candy to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp. (IRGC). Who needs the appeasement of the United Nations when we have Obama.
To hell with the traitor Obama.
THE PRESIDENT HAS A LOT TO LEARN
He should pay attention to this.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/leadership-coach-k-got-it-right.html
I got a ‘shout out’ from a resident Liberal troll/douchebag today!
Yay me!
ROTFL
I thought I’d stumbled onto DU with the adhominems and insults hurled not only at the author but anyone with the temerity to agree with her. No substance in their attacks worthy of countering save this, name one case in the history of the world when appeasement staved off conflict permanently. OTOH, conquest virtually ends it every time.
It’s definitely a departure from our foreign policy, thus one must see that in the left view if Bush did it, then it must be bad. Therefore the insults to the UK, and the latest to France gives the full picture of the O’s policy. We are unreliable allies to our friends, and unrelenting pansies to our enemies, because GWB’s policy was to support our friends and defend against our enemies.
That’s over.
The reason Iran has snubbed Obama is , they know he has the backbone of a jelly fish!
A.Rajasingram was obviously not a Carthaginian, nor an Apache. Any more platitudes to digest EZDIDIT?
I find the first 20 or so comments mystifying. What are you criticizing? Defending? What are your arguments? Disagree by all means, but have something to say beying meaningless invective.
BTW, why is it a good idea for our President to send a video that criticizes the US to government leaders who kill our soldiers, support terrorism, and oppress their own population?
Am I missing something? And hasn’t US policy always been to support the people in Iran seeking freedom?
Maybe Obama is right – we need to fix our healthcare and education systems fast – there sure is a lot of insanity and stupidity out there. That’s change I can believe in!
So basically, after all those words and head bobbing, what Obama was really saying is “I’ll be nice to you if you be nice to me.”
For his next video, he’ll ask Iran if they’d like to swap their peanutbutter sandwich for his baloney sandwich.
Baloney. Get it?
Dear Fellow Conservatives: If you haven’t watched this video yet, please do! It will help you understand the folly of trying to reason with Modern Liberals. Please pass it around:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaE98w1KZ-c
Claudia, keep up your excellent work. If you hit a sensitive nerve with apologists and got all those negative comments – good. That just demonstrates that they pay attention to what you write.
You are a breath of fresh air.
This will be historic.
World War III, and a Civil War at the same time… thank you Obamalites
Tactical denunciation of evil intent is what Obama is aiming at, and he said it at a time when US and Israeli military have openly discussed deployment of assassination teams, surgical nuclear bombing strikes, as well as “targets of opportunity.”
Whereas Arachnid-jihad feels religiously compelled to develop the hardware to wipe a tiny country, some 900 miles away, completely off the map. His bomb will take out much of the region, besides the small country, but he doesn’t seem to care, since chaos presages the return of the Mahdi.
This little man mocks anything and everything that attempts to placate him. Obama’s words are empty placation and the hardliners in Iran find it amusing, this jelly fish of a spine.
A’jad’s popularity is declining, especially given the hyper-inflation and joblessness in Iran. He is being politically challenged by more moderate forces. Khameini is old & unhealthy. Changes will come, and we can only hope that more moderate forces prevail within Iran.
A far better hope than Obama’s empty speechifying.
Mike,
Why don’t you switch over to the Huffington Post site and calm down with a hearty draught of socialism? You are just in the wrong place and definitely in the wrong time. Your name calling is pathetic but probably the best that you can do.
Claudia,
You sure sent one down the smokestack with this one! The maggots that crawled out to vilify your column don’t seem to appreciate your analysis and thoughtfulness. Keep up your good work and hopefully more Kool-Aid drinkers will eventually understand the perilous times in which we live.
President Obama’s video message to Iran is pathetic. The breakthrough with China was achieved in 1972 after two years’ of covert diplomacy. How much thought went into this?
It is aimed not at Iran but at the American electorate, as President Obama desperately tries to prove that he is doing something worthwhile to counter Iran’s nuclear ambitions:
http://trackacrat.com/2009/03/21/narcissus-would-be-jealous/
Wow – a new low. What a terrible article. PJMedia blogging is dying a slow, painful death.
@52ezdidit
“Rosett is irrational, illogical and cowardly”
And who are you again? And where do you live? Any chance of you disappearing like Omid Mirsayafi, to die in one of the dungeons of that “sick, embittered cardiac patient” only recently out of power?
“Tactical denunciation of evil intent”
Now that’s a phrase you can sink your teeth into. And what is this strange idea, this “evil” you speak of, O rational and courageous one?
Delia,
1st love your posts!
2nd nice clown deflection! He slipped right off and feel into the garbage can he crawled out of!!
rotfl too!
If Obama’s idea of foreign policy weren’t so dangerous, it would be downright laughable. Imagine for just a moment what the Middle East would look like if the extremists were not staring into both the teeth of America’s support for Israel, and Israel’s own superior military. Does any sane person think peace would reign? Israel would have disappeared long ago and the inmates would be running the asylum throughout the entire region. To expect Iran to reverse course is delusional. We look weak and foolish for believing anything else.
Appeasement always emboldens the bully. What happens in the schoolyard when someone sucks up to the bullies? They get the bejesus knocked out of them every time. The world stage is the schoolyard writ large. We must confront the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. I don’t know the answer anymore than anyone else, but appeasement ain’t it.
*sings(albeit badly)* Welcome baaaaack……
Just getting in the right frame of mind since we are dealing with Carter II.
Here I was waiting patiently for the bright-eyed Obama-trons to knock on my door so I could laugh them to scorn.
Their plan actually was to gather over at whichever Dimbulb had access to his mom’s computer and all shout at Claudia.
The high point was the tenth Einstein would say’ “see see, 9 out of 10 comments here say Amerikkka sucks so it must be true”
If the future of our nation wasn’t at stake, it would be high comedy to watch these crapweasels compound their stupidity semi-minutely.
Hey “someone75 you know what they say, no fool like an old fool”
#62 Moogie: Great video. I am surprised I haven’t heard of the speaker before. I urge the other readers of this blog to check it out. It certainly explains how the things Doc Hanson has complained about have come to be.
Sad, however that the clip is 2 years old. It didn’t do much good in preventing Obama from getting elected.
71. Ses,
Aww you’re too kind.
-And, yeah… I get ‘trolled’ a lot here. I must be doin’ something right.
Happy Saturday to all the PJammers!
~
Claudia Rosett,
I love your posts, hon. Kudos! I’m sorry for not saying it before…I really appreciate your insight and you’re beautiful to boot [icing on the cake as it were]. Can I give you a hug and a gold star? You rock, woman!
The witless attacks on your piece defy credibility
Diplomacy 101. We all learned in grade school that trying to appease a bully is the surest way of ensuring he will continue his bullying.
Obama’s implication that GWB’s administration did not negotiate in good faith was sleazy politics. If he truly believes that wimpy placating of fanatic despots and criticizing his predecessor will win the hearts of the mullahs he is indeed arrogantly stupid. The Devout Muslims will never back down, never surrender, never concede even if defeated.
Not satisfied with tearing down our Constitution and our freedoms, Obama is willfully increasing our vulnerability to those who have openly declared war on our culture and our nation. The Democrats will soon answer for their gullibility in electing a motor-mouthed third rate socialist hack.
64. Princess:
“This will be historic.
World War III, and a Civil War at the same time… thank you Obamalites”
Sounds like you’re writing a fiction book . . .
68. JD:
“President Obama’s video message to Iran is pathetic. The breakthrough with China was achieved in 1972 after two years’ of covert diplomacy.”
We’re not in 1972.
Great article Claudia. Apparently Obama’s civil blogger force thinks so too.
Given how often he has to correct himself, how long do you think it will take Obama to put out another youtube video clearing up those “terror or arms” and “capacity to destroy” insinuations?
Quiet your dissent, the new Pharoh of this country has spoken. Heed to his words for they bring hope and strength to the Mullahs. I am sure that he will be rewarded by their love.
Lets build a new pyramid in honor of our new Pharoh, our new god of Rah. Be in awe for where ever his foot steps is now holy ground.
Hail the good news our Pharoh will be on Sixty Minutes. Tune in and listen to his voice for it is holy, it is the voice of Rah. Tremble in fear as you listen. Seek out his holy wisdom.
I knew Obama was naive, but not this badly. Where are his handlers when we need them?
Did the critics of this column read it or fill in the blanks on a moveon.org form? Rosett emphasizes that Obama is courting wooing Iran’s leaders, “messianic and ruthless rulers [whose] totalitarian system LEADS THE WORLD IN JUVENILE EXECUTIONS.” What part of that ghastly statistic did they not get?? Claudia, you are the best.
Why I’m here is because this article won the “Who will be first to compare Obama’s Iran message to 1938/Czech?” -competition.
What Obama administration is trying to achieve, is to make Iran’s right wing teethless in the upcoming election. Of course Ahmadinejad can use the “Our tough tactics work, elect us!” -defense, but without fear, the people will elect a centrist candidate (especially if the left ally against Ahmadinejad). If a conservative candidate is elected, it means Obama failed, to some extent, reaching to the people of Iran.
It’s amusing that people who claim to be so worldly and to know what the world thinks of us are in fact so utterly naive. Do they really think all the Iranian mullahs need is some of Comrade Zero’s magic, and all that nastiness will just fade away? Do they really think the world works like that? Damn, it’s going to be a LONG 4 years…
Mongering @ 84 says:
This site is obviously the target of an organized MoveOn/Huffington-type of email attack. Common among all of them is adolescent name-calling, which they obviously take as true currency political comment. We should remember that the only things they said about Bush for 8 years were things that could get real people hauled into court for defamation and slander. These comments show us what this country is up against: these people voted for Obama–these people show us the true nature of the kinds of minds that constitute his support. You can’t camouflage this political reality–all you have to do is open your mouth and speak.
So Obama wants the mullahs and us to all just get along. What, and more importantly where’s the problem with that ?
The Mullahfication proceeds apace
This is when you know Rosett’s fans are out of touch with reality: they write off this outpouring of criticism against her position as some sort of coordinated attack. But then again, denial is always the easier option.
if america has five missions overseas—-can we call them OCO-CINCO?
Thank you Claudia for being so brave and so right.
I think you are brave because you have the courage to stand up to all this dirt thrown at you by these in-style liberals who don’t know what they are talking about. I am amazed by the hatred that I see in their comments here. Where does all these come from? Who made these people so rude? Aren’t they the ones who are the liberals and support eloquent speeches and “resets” by being nice? Are not we – the realists, according to them, supposed to be the always rude and hateful?
I think you are right, because I am from the country of Georgia, for those liberals out there, that is the tiny country that today is occupied by Russia and divided into three. My hometown – Tbilisi – was being bombed by Russian air force less than a year ago. My friends died in fight to stop the powerful invaders that outnumbered and outgunned us. I could not stop my daughter crying shocked by fear when Russian bombers raided over our house in the middle of the night. She could hear not only the terrifying sound of the jet engines, but also the explosion of bombs from here and there. And the only reason these was happening was because Russia does not like the idea that Georgian people want to be independent, just because Putin wants to restore the Soviet Union.
I want to say to those who hate Claudia so much, you like liberalism and guess what – we love it too. We had thriving economy for the last few years, with annual growth of 10-12 percent. For its liberal reforms, Georgia was named the world’s number 1 economic reformer by the World Bank. We were building economy so liberal that in the easiness of doing business my country came at number 15th by International Financial Organization’s global ranking (and it’s after we were at 137th only 4 years ago). Today my country’s economy is near dead thanks to Russia’s imperial ambitions. Yes, in the 21st century.
Guess what, we hate wars not only because we think it’s the result of “outdated thinking”, but because its killing us.
We hate military alliances of any sort, but we dream of joining NATO… not because we like playing tough, but because its our only way to survive Russia.
We, the Georgians are very creative people, we have amazing folk songs and dances, are very hospitable and love to dream of the illusionary perfect world. However it is so unfortunate that we have to live in the real world and believe me it’s a very tough place to live.
I love hearing beautiful words spoken by political leaders and admire great speechmakers. President Obama is certainly the one. He is awesome to watch and listen. I would not ask for a better president in a perfect world. But the problem is that the world is yet very far away from being perfect. Unfortunately it’s far away from being in a condition where nice words could change the course. And it’s certainly far away from being liberal.
I don’t ask for the United States to be the guardian of the world order, I don’t expect that my country, or any other, should be saved or protected by the US. I simply cannot ask for such a favor. It’s the decision of the American people that have my utmost respect and love. Its up to you to decide to what extent you want to stand up against the injustices that are happening around our mother Earth. We can only be grateful.
But please, please don’t get so angry if sometimes the “resets” of your liberal euphoria bring ironic but sad smile on our faces, on the faces of those who live in the real world. Believe me the irony comes not from us who are the victims, the first place it comes from those who are being addressed and called for reset.
And don’t be angry if someone dears to describe this world the way it really is. Instead of being angry, try to think bout it more. Try to put yourselves in the others shoes.
Get real, or face the irony.