The I’s Had It
President Obama has devoted a lot of time to foreign policy this past week, focusing like a laser beam on three countries that begin with the letter “I.” He gave star billing in Washington to the prime minister of Ireland (who was treated a lot better than British Prime Minister Gordon Brown), during the course of which each read the other’s prepared text, perhaps a new departure in international diplomacy. He also sent a letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano (a member of the now defunct Communist Party), expressing confidence that the United States and Italy would work together “to overcome the current global political and economic hardships and build a safer world.” The only problem with the letter was that the Italian president does not make policy; that power resides with the prime minister and his cabinet. Perhaps the White House czars have issued an ukaz stipulating that the American president writes only to his peers, and thus instead of addressing himself to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, President Obama wrote to a man who holds an almost entirely ceremonial position.
This imprecision produced the predictable kerfluffle in Rome, as the leftist media and intellectuals pondered the event and concluded that Obama had deliberately stiffed Berlusconi. The Italian prime minister thus joins his British counterpart in wondering what hope they are supposed to find in the recent change in diplomatic protocol in Washington.
Then the president turned his charm on the Iranian mullahs, releasing a video message to everyone celebrating Persian New Year, Norooz (or Nowrooz). He began by explaining the holiday to the Iranians:
“This holiday is both an ancient ritual and a moment of renewal, and I hope that you enjoy this special time of year with friends and family.”
If he was trying to make nice to the mullahs, he should have omitted the “ancient ritual” reference, since that ritual–featuring bonfires (symbols from the ancient Zoroastrian faith) through which people leap and around which they dance–is banned in Iran, and anyone who engages in the ancient ritual is subject to beatings, arrest, and torture. So, rather like the unfortunate “overcharge” button that Secretary of State Clinton gave the Russian foreign minister, the hoped-for change in our “relationship” with Iran got off to an unfortunate start.
The president continued with warm words for the Iranian people:
“Nowruz is just one part of your great and celebrated culture. Over many centuries your art, your music, literature and innovation have made the world a better and more beautiful place. “
True enough, but the whole idea of the Message to Iran was political, and he might have mentioned the long tradition of great and celebrated Persian political thought. After all, the first known human rights “document” came from Cyrus the Great, and its message is daily rejected by the regime of the Islamic Republic.
Then he provided his vision of the Iranian peoples’ belief in hope and change. “You will be celebrating your New Year in much the same way that we Americans mark our holidays,” he earnestly intoned, “by gathering with friends and family, exchanging gifts and stories, and looking to the future with a renewed sense of hope.”
NOT. Most Iranians look to the future with a deepening mood of despair. The mullahs have long since wrecked the economy, and things are getting worse now, what with the price of oil at one-third its recent highs. The single word that best describes the state of the Iranian people–to whom Obama explicitly directed these words–is “degradation.” The drop in Iranian birth rates during the reign of the mullahs is the most dramatic in the history of fertility statistics, and is now below replacement. The level of opiate addiction is five times that of China at the time of the Opium Wars. Any Iranian hearing the American president talk of renewed hope, would wonder if he was thinking of the Iranians in Beverly Hills, who rule the place.
To the country’s leaders, Obama offered still more hope for change: “We seek…engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect.” I don’t know exactly what that means, except that the “conflict management” crowd insists that Iranian leaders want to be respected. My own view is that they want to be feared, but let’s move on.
“The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations. You have that right…and that place cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization. And the measure of that greatness is not the capacity to destroy, it is your demonstrated ability to build and create.”
The mullahs no doubt loved the first sentence, not because of the happy thought about the “community of nations,” in which Iran’s leaders most assuredly do not believe (they want Islamic domination of the whole thing), but because you can read the phrase as a coded message that means “we’re not going to try to change the nature of the regime.” If so, it was a foolish concession, both because it condemns the Iranian people to continued oppression and misery, and because the very existence of America threatens the Islamic Republic. The Iranians would rather live like Americans, and despite thirty years of pathetic fecklessness from one president after the next, they still hope that the day will come when we rescue them–or at least help them rescue themselves–from the hated mullahcracy.
As for the president’s call for “peaceful actions,” it jars with the reality the mullahs have created. Nobody pays much attention to Iraq any more, but Coalition forces have arrested a considerable number of (Iranian) Quds Force officers there. Their mission was to kill as many Iraqis and Americans as possible, as they routinely confess to their interrogators. Incredibly, these killers are routinely released in a year or less, whereupon, like the terrorists at Guantanamo, they resume their murderous activities. They are now sponsoring a new tactic: exploding motorcycles. We’ve seen two already in recent weeks, and there will be more. And they’re fueling both Shi’ite and Sunni terrorists in Afghanistan.
So for Obama to say that Iran will only take its place as a major player if they embrace peace and abandon “terror or arms,” is nonsense. They have become a major player, at least on the American agenda, precisely because of terror and (nuclear) arms.
I suppose it’s possible that Obama thought that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nezhad would end the Islamic Republic’s thirty-year war against America, and sit down with him to define the details of Iran’s new status in world affairs. But they aren’t interested. The supreme leader gave Obama the back of his one good hand, starting with an important question: who is in charge in Obama’s Washington?
“We don’t know who is the real decision maker in America,” Khamenei wickedly responded, “the President or the Congress. But we underlined that the Iranians decide on the basis of definite calculations not on emotions.” And then, for the umpteenth time, he laid down the conditions for improved relations:
“Has your enmity with the Iranian nation ended? Have you released the Iranian assets or cut the sanctions? Have you quit negative propaganda against Iran? Have you ended your absolute support to the Zionist regime?” He even advised Obama to have his words translated, but not by “Zionist translators.”
In other words, Obama has to shut up about Iranian-supported terrorism, drop sanctions, release the Iranian money blocked in this country, and abandon Israel (oddly, this last condition does not seem to have been reported either in the New York Times–which ran an AP story–or the Washington Post. Probably they assumed we knew it already, so there was no reason to spend precious pennies on extra ink and newsprint). Happy New Year.
The most interesting part of Khamenei’s speech had to do with Iran, not the United States. More than half the speech dealt with internal matters, not international affairs. He warned darkly that the country was facing a severe internal crisis. He called for a campaign against “economic and social corruption,” and exhorted Iranians to fight the “disease of wasting,” stating, rather shockingly, that one-third of bread and one-fifth of water was currently being wasted. Thus, it is necessary to change the “pattern of consumption,” which Khamenei defined as both a religious and rational issue.
All of which brought him to the upcoming (June 12th) elections. Everybody must vote, he said (most Iranians have boycotted recent elections as a sign of contempt for the regime and its pretense of fair elections). He went out of his way to say that he would not endorse a single candidate, and that it was up to the people, not to him, to elect the next president. Then he added that, while he had felt it necessary to publicly support the government (meaning Ahmadi-Nezhad) on occasion, this should not be taken as an endorsement.
If I were Ahmadi-Nezhad, I would see this as a vote of no confidence from my boss. And you can be sure that many Iranians will see it the same way. The most interesting candidate is Mir Hossein Mousavi, the former prime minister (under Khomeini, during the Iran-Iraq War) who has been largely out of politics for twenty years. An artist and architect, Mousavi is an old “new face.” The Iranian version of Hope and Change, I suppose. Khamenei seems to like him (otherwise he’d endorse someone else), and perhaps, against all the odds, the internal situation is seen as so grave that even the supreme leader is willing to contemplate real change, and some small degree of freedom for the people.
One thing is for sure: having failed to gain Khamenei’s endorsement, Ahmadi-Nezhad’s best hope is support from Washington; that Obama makes unilateral concessions, thus demonstrating that the current Iranian policies are the right ones. The best American tactic at the moment is probably to shut up about “respect,” keep the Iranian terrorists in jail, step up the tempo of financial sanctions (Obama smartly renewed the existing ones a few days ago), and strike against the terror bases where the jihadis are trained and armed. That would further discredit Ahmadi-Nezhad, demonstrate that Obama’s velvet glove covers a mailed fist, and give hope for change to the Iranian people.
UPDATE: Jamie Kirchik at The New Republic has produced the video Obama should have. And Ron Radosh delivers another stern lesson to Roger Cohen, the New York Times’s candidate for the Walter Duranty 2009 award, bestowed on the journalist who has done most to advance the cause of tyranny.
Update 2: Obama won’t take no for an answer: “The President believes it’s time for that change, and regardless of any response, the President is hopeful that the Iranian leadership will work to change the way that they do business.”
someone somewhere said on some blog:
“When do we all look at each other and scream in horror at what is happening???”
But you have to admit, Obama looks great on the cover of Vanity Fair. We have that to comfort ourselves… and maybe the US should give a truckload of that photo to all the happy Iranians.
Mr. President Obama does not dare to sit down with the brave leaders, Mr. Berlusconi, IS one of the RAREST BRAVE MEN in the West, may God bless him.
Mr. President Obama, is like his sort, as Mr. Carter, they just love to embrace the Terror Masters and the evil leaders.
I would like to ask Mr. President Obama.
Why the Mullahs do NOT want to abandon uranium enrichment program of their nuclear project?
Does they need peaceful power or they lack to the Oil?
Did they SPEND enough of oil revenues on their education institutions and their people?
Why they are not interest in what the civilized world call for? Although the west has been suggested a great help to them for peaceful power instead of the uranium enrichment program in Iran?
Mr. President, I think you have a bit of courage to recognizing that the Iran is Rogue State, and that Iranian regime is a high-risk and pernicious regime. I think you have enough of evidences those Mullahs murdering you more than 29 year and in the name of Allah and the mullahs.
Mr. President, NO sane man and wise could deny that mullahs called the US in “the Great Satan”. No sane man could denies that Mullahs sworn to COMBAT the satanic influence everywhere on the earth. They are Islamic fanatic regime; they NEVER have a good faith toward you, their higher objective to destruct the Great Satan and to wipe Israel off the map.
Mr. President, PLEASE DO NOT deceive yourself more, a many American respected Presidents already they ran before you in order to kiss the mullahs turbans, it was just a loss of time. The Mullahs used the negotiations ONLY to buy time for their nuclear program. They NEVER intended to negotiate of good faith. Iran never suspends its uranium enrichment program, because it is inseparable from the Nature of the Evil Regime, and this is a fundamental part of the Mullahs political stubborness “hard-line”.
Mr. President, do NOT forget that Iran is the mother of terrorism, and that Iranian regime is the world’s biggest supporter of international terrorism. So, Mr. President, please do NOT waste more time with the evil leaders, JUST SUPPORT the freedom and democracy in the Middle East at any cost, i.e. Hard-line!!!
The last few paragraphs were particularly important. The more friendly Obama is to Iran now, the more Ahmadinejad is legitimized within Iran.
I am also worried that if elected Mousavi may be the “happy face” of the regime, thereby undermining Netanyahu as he tries to rally the world against Tehran. Mousavi will also be politically “easier” for Obama to invite to shake hands in the Oval Office than inviting the more inflammatory Ahmadinejad.
Michael, I notice that a wife of Ayatollah Khomeini died,( thanks to Joel C. Rosenberg’s blog).
The tighter the racheting, the more explosive the fallout. Right?
What the Presidents message also contained was a message to Israel that they are on their own. They already knew that. But even more important is the message to the Europeans that we no longer have their back. Watch foreign policy very closely in the next six months or so. The sellout of Western interests has begun in earnest.
Hell, even the Iranians don’t know what to make of it LOL
this administration is “more concerned with fantasy basketball picks than foreign policy”
even Chavez is saying that Obama is an ignoramus
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25227300-12377,00.html
for my part I am wondering if there is anyone in White House, seems we see a kind of small double of Ivan the terrible, who makes some fancy tricks, not yet crual, but they still could improve
He also wrote a letter to Chirac
he is kinda distributing some punitions à la mode de Chicago
With so many people being down on Bush for using fear tactics against real terror I have to point out that Obama instills fear for our freedom by just being his idiotic self!
Meanwhile ammunition and firearms sales triple in America and there is a shortage of ammo at Walmart.
Well, why not?
He’s already won the friendship of Hamas, so I guess Iran would be next:
http://trackacrat.com/category/barack-obama/
“…this administration is “more concerned with fantasy basketball picks than foreign policy”
The sad thing is not you may not be exaggerating. There is indeed a very good chance that Barack Obama spends more time worrying about fantasy basketball picks than foreign policy—or economic matters. This is a very shallow individual. The fact that he earned a law degree from Harvard University only guaranteed that he could likely pass a state bar examination. It was foolish to believe that this necessarily means Obama is another John Adams. He is intellectually incurious. The man never gave a damn about thinking thoroughly about serious issues. He was into “networking” and guilt tripping gullible white liberals. I am convinced that you could give Obama three hours to read a half way substantial book—and he would fail miserably if compelled to discuss it afterwards. It would be way over his head.
JASSEM OTHMAN, FROM THE TERRIBLE MIDDLE EAST
#3
Your comments are most compelling – more so coming from one such as yourself. Hopefully, prayerfully, the powers-that-be in our government will take heed of the conditions you so poignantly describe. Thank you for taking the time to illuminate the Iranian condition se eloquently (diction notwithstanding).
S.M.
Maybe, it would be better for the administration to send in their expert on foreign affairs, you know that guy he campaigned with. On second thought… Maybe their other expert, you know the one he campaigned against. Then again, maybe Carter would be willing to help.
Maybe this is just the administrations way of letting the world know that, apart from rhetoric, we are not going to be involved in the international scene. Things could be worse.
I remember his critism of Bush’s foreign policy; how Bush alienated Europe. So far, he has personally offended the heads of State of three allies: England; France; and Italy. He’s managed to do it out of his sheer ignorance of them and of protocol. Way to go!
Thinking of this, how is it the State Department allowed him to do these things? Does he not consult with them? Oh, that’s right, it’s run by Hillary! Has she ever demonstrated competence at anything either? Her childish ‘reset button’ made me howl with laughter! How cutesie, even if they had gotten the word right! OMG, you cannot make this stuff up!
Our allies must be truly deep-down disturbed by this administration. I can just see them lying abed at night, thinking, “Dear god, what is America coming to?” I’d love to hear their private conversations, see the sad head-shaking. Soon, they’ll be having nightmares.
Sorry, I can’t help my schadenfreude!
12. David Thomson:
“…this administration is “more concerned with fantasy basketball picks than foreign policy”
The sad thing is not you may not be exaggerating. There is indeed a very good chance that Barack Obama spends more time worrying about fantasy basketball.”
..my friands over on the Briuins Nation blog were all in a lather because their Golden Boy picked the UCLA Bruins to lose, which they did, by the way, to Villanova 89-69.
Hey, it’s a rebuilding year; too bad the same can’t be said for President Training Pants term as POTUS.
Drat!
friands == friends, of course.
After 35 years of secular humanism, and children wearing their pants down to their feet we can see what America has come to. That half of the country that voted for him still does not have a clue, and their children show disrespect to teachers just like themselves once.
Europe should be proud. The United States is becoming just like them. It is like San Fransicko values for everyone, or your just an evil WASP.
This country has earned Obama, now get your weapons BZO’ed, extra ammo, BDU’s, polish for your boots, and get a stinking hair cut!
Hussein Obama has proven again with his idiotic Nowruz message that he is a true foreign policy, and in particular Iran policy idiot!
Not one word about support for secular democracy in Iran. Instead, lots of giving legitimacy to an illigitimate regime in Iran.
Iranian people have taken this stupid move by Hussein Obama as a further sign of US weakness towards the regime that has all but pumelled all human rights in Iran.
I disagree: Ahmadi-Nejad should and must get re-elected. We will have a better chance of regime change under continued Ahmadi-Nejad prsidency. Moussavi is a Marxist-Islamist who had close ties with British elite as well as with the Tudeh Party(Communist Party of Iran).
Moussavi is the wrong one to support Mr. Ledeen, surprised at you!!
Surley, being a Historian, you must know the value of “Intensification of Antagonisms” to bring about a revolution faster within a dictatorial society like Iran’s mullahcracy: hence, long live Ahamdineajd for re-election! Common Dr Ledeen, why are you trying to make us believe Moussavi is the solution? That is quite unchracteristic of you.
B.O. is playing for the other team.
His crudeness, ignorance and lack of culture shows thru everything he does, so one is inspired to confusion about his intentions.
Nevertheless, I think his real and actual intentions and priorities shine thru the ham handed vulgarity of his delivery.
Ireland is more important to him than England. Think Valera. More important, think IRA.
The Italian fellow is a communist.
And the Iranian business? Give me a break.
I wouldn’t credit this guy with too much subtlety, or even cleverness. He and his team are neither sophisticated nor deeply knowledgeable.
His foreign policy outline is going to come right out of Edward Said and Frantz Fanon and their lot.
He’s playing for the other team.
Get used to it.
Don’t waste too much time on surprised head scratching.
It really is what it looks like.
Get busy!
JoeBlough; you’re right, it is a waste of time even talking about Hussein Obama’s intentions or his international cultural coarseness and awkwardness bordering on stupidity.
Iranian people now know that they are indeed alone and on their own when it comes to toppling this abominable Islamic fascist regime.
Especially when some American and Wetsern experts are indirectly supporting a fake candidate in the phony elections dog and pony show of the mullah regime!
When instead, they should call for the boycott of such election sharade.
Go figure.
19. Leatherneck:
now get your weapons BZO’ed, – Battle Zero Check
extra ammo, – 2k rounds per weapon Check
BDU’s, – No BDU’s, realtree is the redneck equivalent of Ho Chi Minh PJ’s Check
polish for your boots, – new boots are matte no polish needed check
and get a stinking hair cut! – Check
Texas ready for duty!
Rignerd,
That reads swell! At least, you will look good in the field in realtree, and those fancy boots. Lol.
Over.
#14. COL.SEBASTIAN MORAN:
Dear Moran, Thank you very much.
I never afraid to tell the true.
Yes, we must be an extremely tough against this sort of coward people and colorblind. It is our moral duty to fight them and strongly.
Disclaimer: I made this exact comment on another related PJM story.
I have a short term solution. He can be president, while we hire someone competent to actually do the work. Obama could then hold the office, but just function as the national spokesman. Granted, he isn’t doing a great job of that either (see: Gordon Brown gift, message to Iran), but since he would no longer have any real power, he couldn’t cause as much damage.
Instead, he could be like a sports team mascot. Every time there is a lull, he comes out and leads a cheer, but in the end his antics are harmless because everyone knows they don’t have to take him seriously.
Now c’mon everyone! Let’s do the Wave!
No ammo or guns at Walmart in western Minnesota either.
Appealing to Iranain leadership is SO stupid. It’s even beyond stupid. It’s shameful. The leftists have managed to convince themselves that the Bush policy of being openly opposed to Iranian leadership and the entire post-1979 theocratic system in Iran as well as being openly supportive of dissidents was dangerous, reckless, counter-productive, ignorant, provocational, cowboyish, etc, and was just making things worse. They want us to believe that Iranians WANT that kind of theocratic system and that we should respect their wishes and start supporting their leaders.
As someone who knows lots of Iranians who fled to America from Iran, trust me, that siimply isn’t the case. They HATE the leadership of Iran and think the islamic revolution was the worse thing that ever happened to that country. They’re angry that the islamist nuts totally ruined their economy, their global image, their human rights, etc. To the point that they actually had to ESCAPE that nightmare and leave their homeland.
Before the islamist revolution they had made tons of progress. Women were treated as equals, they had a very strong economy, they had a very stong military, they were pro-Western and they had an overall good human rights record which was improving. Then the islamists took over and turned the country into a hell hole where people were randomly executed and imprisoned for being against their islamist utopia. They started forcing women to wear tents as clothing and didn’t allow them to have lots of various jobs and they actually stoned them to death for being raped. How crazy is that?
They hanged people for being gay, for believing in witchcraft and for all kinds of other backwards barbaric reasons. They took Iran back hundreds of years and made them all look like unevolved savages. They also started supporting terrorism and started using crazy ass language about pushing entire nations into the sea and aiding organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah that run around giving each other Nazi salutes. The islamists started putting the militaristic spread and practice of islam before the best interests of Iran. Who the hell would want to see all that happen to their country?
LOTS of people in Iran HATE their government and can’t wait for another revolution to take place where they overthrow their current regime and return to being an advanced, respected and secular country once again. Don’t let any of the leftists convince you otherwise. Don’t let them trick you into supporting the islamist overlords in Iran. And acting like we need to reach out to Iranian leadership is TOTALLY counter-productive and immoral.
Mr. Ledeen looks like your chances for a people’s revolt looks dimmer. Opium use means escaping reality. Opium use is not a good catalyst for revolution. When the powerless truly believe they are powerless they lose hope and shrink from reality. It is a sign of submission. This is a sign that more and more are giving up. If more are resorting to opium less are fighting for freedom. I’m sure the mullahs do not care as long as they are in power, control everything, and can send enough puppets to carry out their agenda. Add this to the equation Mr. Ledeen and you realize the only way to oust the mullahs is through sheer force.
If, as is presumably the case, these Iranian special forces are not in uniform, why are they not simply executed as spies/irregular combatants, as has been the custom since time immemorial? If this were done publicly and unapologetically, it might demonstrate to the Mullahs that there are lines they may not cross, while stopping short of all-out war.
I finally get it. There are no more “evil” or “rogue” nations – only nations that haven’t yet spoken with our Teleprompter. How thick-headed of me.
Obama O what a fool.
This is ultimate madness from an inexperienced, naive and dangerous US president who thinks he knows more than any one else does.
“Nowruz for Idiots”: Ayd Mo-Barack!
Thanks to the idiotic and useless Iran policy of Clinton, Bush/Condi, and now Hussein Obama/John Kerry/Joe Biden; the Islamic Republic of the Turds of Tehran cannot be happier and feel more secure in their stinky clergy robes and boots today than any other time in their 30 year reign of terror and medieval rule.
And of course, the Islamist regime’s lobby in US are quite busy working towards full recognition of the regime by US and full diplomatic relations between their masters in Tehran and Washington. You know who they are, traitors and criminals like: Trita Treason Parsi, Ray Takkyeh, Houshang Amiahmadi, CASMI, Vali Nasr(and his Islamist anglophile father), Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak(subject of many a sexual harrasment claim by his female students), and other known and unknown Iranian regime operatives and lobby on American soil.
Prognosis: Iran has been and will be damned and doomed to either be destroyed in a fierce burning and devastating war, or languish in Islamist hell til its total destruction as a viable nation and race.
For a proud people, Death and total anihilation will be more honorable than Iran’s current situation.
But having said the above, we still do not know why Dr Ledeen seems to be promoting the Iran regime show elections in June and rooting for candidate Moussavi, glorifying him as an artist and architect who can give more freedoms to Iranian people??!!!
We wonder why that is, Mr. Ledeen.
Long Live Khamenei, then!
The ‘Appeasement’ Doctrine will have us pursue a cooling of ties with Israel by insisting the Jewish state blindly accept indefensible borders. It’s a criminal misdirection of national priority, condemning our closest ally to a state of insecurity while satiating the desires of our most committed enemy. A reckless & incognizant administration is squandering this crucial opportunity to exude any brawn concern amongst the reinvigorated Mullahs who’ll continue their unbridled nuclear drive. Obama “hopes” to “change” the ruling Iranian regimes sinister profile and welcome them with a smirk into the nuclear community. This will be one of the many, many ‘mistakes’ he’ll make but later ‘wished’ he could take back.
David P: @ 36
I think that your assessment of the situation is pretty good. However, I think that you should reread joeblough @ 21 to get a better handle on what is intended by this administration. I doubt that the TOTUS thinks, or ever will think, that this is a mistake. Joeblough got it right. “He’s playing for the other team.”
I can’t tell you how sad I am to arrive at that conclusion.
Obamateurism of the Day
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/03/27/obamateurism-of-the-day-6/
Our culture has rotted down to its predictable end: we have voted in the “People Magazine” Presidency, based on the same crucial good-government factors that this vapid rag uses to decide on today’s cover photo – photos, skin color, fashion sense, relative comfort speaking our cultural ghetto-slang, closest link to the Ivy League (Editor, Harvard Law Review – Maximum points offered!).
What a joke this administration is. Just like the Clinton 20-somethings, we need to get adults back into the White House, because running America is more important than “American Idol/Idiot”.
Obama’s “begging” Nowruz Message:
First, it was addressed to both the “people and leadership” in Iran. The intention was to show that Obama acknowledges the legitimacy of the current system and rejects all ideas of supporting Iranian patriotism against Khomeinism. http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=16195
The second novelty was Obama’s tone of supplication.
As Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami put it: the man is practically begging the Islamic Republic to take notice of him!
Obama’s message represents a return to President Jimmy Carter’s Iran policy. Carter, too, was prepared to flatter, cajole, and beg to win a smile from the mullahs.
Some analysts see Obama’s message as an indication of Vice President Joseph Biden’s influence in shaping the administration’s Iran policy. A supporter of dialogue with Tehran for years, Biden seems to have sidelined Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who has always espoused a tougher policy toward the mullahs.
…Joe Biden, regarded by Tehran as “a valued friend”.
…
Tehran knows that Obama desperately wants to be different from Bush and would be prepared to go far to de-Bushisize American policy.
The idea is to use Obama’s naiveté to buy the Islamic Republic another four years of insurance against its adversaries.
Khamenei’s “yes-but” answer gives Obama something to chew upon for a few months. Obama will then be invited to wait for Iran’s presidential election and the formation of a new administration in Tehran. Khamenei may even ask Ahmadinejad not to stand again, citing “health problems”.
That would enable Khamenei to engineer a victory for Mir-Hussein Mussavi Khamenehi, a fellow Azerbaijani from the same village.
Mussavi-Khamenehi has a long history of contacts with the US and is already praised in Washington as a promising “new-old face”.
Obama-idolators would hail Mussavi-Khamenehi’s victory in the June presidential election as a great success for their “wizard”. Ahmadinejad, the genuine anti-American and Holocaust-denier, will be gone, replaced by a politician with secret contacts with Washington since 1985, (the trouble with Ahmadinejad is that he really means what he says).
These developments would fill what is left of Obama’s term. During that period, Tehran will have its bomb, will spread its influence in Iraq and Afghanistan, will strengthen its hold on Lebanon and Syria, and will go onto the offensive in the Gulf and Pakistan.
you should call me – i think you might be interesting
“…by gathering with friends and family, exchanging gifts and stories, and looking to the future with a renewed sense of hope…”
That sounds like a Hallmark greeting card. BAD BAD BAD.
I would much rather hear the president tell the mullah to go to hell. That is the single thing that made me like GWB: when he told Yasser Arafat to go to hell.
to be fair, obama isn’t stupid. he’s just shallow, empty, a jew hater and anti-american as well as anti-western.
remember when we used to say anyone can be president. well, now anyone is.
Yesterday, National Iranian soccer team lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia. This was an important game for Iran to get closer to the possibility of going to the World Cup in South Africa. Now Iranians are convinced that Ahmadinejad is TRULY a bad luck for Iran in every way you look at it. How?
Well, few weeks ago, Iran lost its gold medal in international wrestling to Azerbaijan, which is almost a dingy country in terms of wrestling—It is also like Israel in soccer team that came to Iran and lost 8-0 (Don’t quote me the exact number, but looked like every minute Iran was hitting the Israeli team). Iranian wrestling team was doing fine, UNTIL Ahmadinejad entered the stadium to watch the game. Moments later Iranian team started losing concentration and they ended up losing the gold!!!
Then comes this shocking loss to Saudi Arabia IN TEHRAN, where ONCE AGAIN this SOB president showed up and shortly after Iranian team start losing to Saudi Arabia. I’m told that so many thousands of people were booing Ahmadinejad moments later he entered the stadium, and everyone started talking that now Iran will lose, since Ahmadinejad jinx was brought into the stadium. He is gone now, no matter what.
There is a Persian proverb that is exclaimed when anyone brings up a “Red Herring” issue to distract from the main point in a deliberate attempt to change a subject or divert an argument– In Farsi it goes: “Gooz Beh Shagheegh-eh Cheh Rabti Daar-eh!!”; and it loosely translates to: “What does something that comes out of your ass has to do with anything inside your brain.”
So I say this to Alireza who always is true to form and brings about irrelevant and often helter-skelter thoughts into this forum:
“Gooz Beh Shagheegh-eh Cheh Rabti Daar-eh!!”
No wonder Iran is in the melarkey it is in!
A recent article about Obama’s grovelling Persian New Year message; read it here: http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=16195
Alireza: “Gooz Beh Shagheegh-eh Che Rabit Daareh?”
Dr Ledeen, you don’t answer the question: Why in your blog above, are you promoting the election of Moussavi who is a Tudeh Party collaborator in Iran’s June elctions?
It seems you are not for regime chaneg anymore? What happened? You are now a Reformer too? LOL
I don’t have a candidate in the Iranian ‘elections.’ I want an end to the regime. Where have you been?
Saahel Manesh: I think you know the other Persian proverb that says: the guy is truly warmed up with his own choss. I think you fall in that category.
Saying Dr. Ledeen is somehow supporting Mousavi is clearly coming from your chossy-thinking. Otherwise, you would not have said that if you have read many many articles by Dr. Ledeen.
So stop goozing and chossing.
Alireza: “Gooz Beh Shagheeghe Cheh Rabti Daareh?” LOL
Dr Ledeen;
You said: “The most interesting candidate is Mir Hossein Mousavi… An artist and architect, Mousavi is an old “new face.” The Iranian version of Hope and Change, I suppose. Khamenei seems to like him (otherwise he’d endorse someone else), and perhaps, against all the odds, the internal situation is seen as so grave that even the supreme leader is willing to contemplate real change, and some small degree of freedom for the people.”
You seem to try to convey the impression that Moussavi will bring “real change and freedom for the people (in Iran)”. That could be construed as an endorsement, no?
Moussavi, when he was PM 2.5 decades ago, had secret ties with the west and the US as well. But he also had close ties with the Communist Tudeh Party, and he is an ‘Islamist-Marxist” as the term used to be common in Iran under the Shah.
So the notion that somehow this “artist and archotect”(again glorification, he is neither.) could “bring more freedom to the people” does not make sense. Not only that, but it also flies in the face of “regime change” mantra.
I’ve been here, that’s why I question this now.
p.s.
Ahamdi-Nejad all the way!
Dear Dr. Michael Ledeen,
Great Article as always!
Obama’s message for the Iranian New Years was a ‘betrayal’ to the Iranian resistance, and the Iranian people who are fighting for peace, freedom and democracy in Iran.
We do not want any mullahs in our country, Iran, any more. All we are asking is that the U.S. and all European countries stop supporting these savage mullahs. Please stop selling out the Iranian people for your own economic benefits. We do not have a candidate in our next elections. We want an end to this savage regime. We want peace and democracy for our country!!!
We just want all these policies of appeasement to be stopped, and then you can be sure that our people will be able to overthrow these mullahs. We want the entire world to increase their sanctions against the mullahs, stop supporting them, and after that, we know what to do with this inhuman, barbaric regime. We can do it on our own, but please stop supporting and giving these mullahs more of a chance to kill, execute, and torture our people in Iran.
I really do not know why Mr. Obama and Clinton are so naive that after thirty years they do not seem to understand who these mullahs are and what they are capable of. How is it that you can count on negotiating with these mullahs when every day they are killing their own people, Iraqi people, Lebanese people and even your own people in Iraq??!!!!
…. I am so sorry that Mr. Obama can’t hear the voice of the suppressed Iranian people; Iranian people are practically shouting “stop the policy of appeasement”, and stop supporting and giving the mullahs a chance to survive!
Sara
The below report shows why Iranian people don’t want mullahs regime any more in IRAN!
Iranian Political Annual Review
Date: 2009/04/05
Iranian people staged 6,480 protests against Iranian regime last year
According to recorded statistics and figures, various stratums of Iran’s society staged more than 6,480 protests against the clerical dictatorship in Iran last year.
The year 1387 (Persian year from March 24, 2008 to March 24, 2009) was the year of resistance and perseverance for the Iranian people in all fields. According to recorded figures, the Iranian people staged more than 6,480 strikes, sit-ins, gatherings, and clashes with suppressive forces.
According to these figures, approximately 540 protests were staged every month and about 18 protests daily. There were 1,590 more recorded protests last year than the year before. These protests included 1,800 student protests, 1,215 worker’s protests, 320 protests staged by teachers and 3,145 protests by other stratums in the society including political prisoners. We also witnessed uprisings in Ivan Qarb and Marivan. In the month of Ordibehesht (April 20, 2008 – May 20, 2008) the people of Ivan Qarb in the province of Ilam attacked government centers setting them on fire after state security forces opened fire on them killing three people. In the last month of 1387, people in Marivan in Kurdistan clashed with suppressive forces and set fire to RGC cars after the execution of a plan to close the border. The Iranian regime was forced to back down from executing this suppressive plan. Members of Tehran’s Bazaar also staged a strike for more than two weeks against the plundering policies of the Iranian regime. This widespread strike forced Ahmadinejad to back down. In the month of Isfand (February 19, 2009 – March 20, 2009) 1,500 students of Amir Kabir University in Tehran chanted “death to dictator” and showed their anger and resentment towards the plan to bury the bones of fallen soldiers who were victimized in the Iran-Iraq war in their university and clashed with State Security Forces.
On the eve of Ashura (religious Shiite ceremony for the death of Imam Hussein, son of Imam Ali) the Iranian people in Homayun Shahr, Darache, Zeinabieh and other cities clashed with government agents.
On Tuesday March 17, despite high security measures and even a de facto curfew set by security forces to prevent Feast of Fire celebrations, the Iranian people especially the youth turned these celebrations into widespread protests against the Iranian regime. Young people used handmade bombs and firecrackers to clash with security forces.
With their persistent protests and strikes, political prisoners also lighted the fire of resistance in the regime’s notorious torture chambers. On June 19, 35 imprisoned supporters of the PMOI in Gohardasht Prison and Isfahan Central Prison went on a hunger strike for 10 days.
Therefore, in the year 1387 the Iranian people met the Iranian regime face to face in various fields showing that they want nothing other than regime change.
Magnificent website. Plenty of helpful information here. I?m sending it to a few buddies ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thank you on your sweat!