Denying the Green Revolution

WSJ ^ | Oct. 23, 2009

[nuconvert]

You won't hear it from the Obama administration, but there's still a revolution going on in Iran.

Massive protests—which began in June following the sham election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—persisted last month on Quds Day, when the government attempted to orchestrate nationwide anti-Israel marches. Refusing to follow the regime's script, marchers chanted "Death to Russia" and "Death to China" instead. (Russia was the first country to recognize Ahmadinejad as president in June, and China maintains rich commercial ties with Tehran.) State television abruptly stopped airing the marches.

Two weeks ago, the Islamic Republic sentenced three people to death for participating in the post-election protests. Meanwhile, dissidents continue to be tortured and raped in Iran's prisons.

The Obama administration—fixated on negotiating with Tehran to get it to abandon its nuclear-weapons program—has responded mostly with silence. To pursue engagement, President Obama needs his Iranian interlocutors to be durable leaders, not frauds on the brink. Iranian dissidents challenging the regime's legitimacy are thus being treated as obstacles to statecraft.

The Boston Globe reported this month that the Connecticut-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center recently lost its State Department funding. The Center—a nonpartisan group that documents Iran's human-rights abuses—had received $3 million over the past five years. It will shut down in May, said Executive Director Renee Redman, unless private donors save it.

[FourPeas]

Iran ping

[SolidWood]

Thanks FourPeas. I added you also to the ping.

[Canedawg]

The Boston Globe reported this month that the Connecticut-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center recently lost its State Department funding.

It's things like this, and also supporting the wrong side in the Honduras conflict, that reveal this administration's true colors.

[nuconvert]

pong