Posted on 06/28/2009 1:16:49 PM PDT by kellynla
President Obama finally found his voice on Iran this week, saying the world was "appalled and outraged" by the regime's suppression of peaceful protests. Mr. Obama also hinted that he was prepared to reconsider direct negotiations with the regime. "We have provided a path whereby Iran can reach out to the international community," he said. "What we've been seeing over the last several days, the last couple of weeks, obviously is not encouraging in terms of the path."
So where do we go from here, particularly now that demonstrations are abating in the face of increased repression?
One place to begin is by studying the example of U.S. policy toward Solidarity, the Polish trade union that challenged the Communist regime in the early 1980s. As with the "Green Revolution" in Iran, Solidarity did not begin as a frontal assault on the regime itself, but rather as a peaceful shipyard strike. But it quickly grew into a broad social movement, encompassing shipyard and factory workers, intellectuals, priests and nearly everyone who didn't have a direct stake in the regime's survival.
The U.S. initially adopted a cautious approach toward Solidarity. The Carter Administration rewarded the Polish government with foreign loans and credits for not cracking down on the movement. Then-Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan also took a restrained view, saying he "didn't believe it was our place to intervene in a purely domestic affair." But Solidarity gained greater traction with the American public and particularly with Lane Kirkland's AFL-CIO, which began collecting donations for Solidarity while refusing to off-load cargo from Polish ships.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Yeah, right. Obama study Reagan. He’s going to study Ahmadinejad, his true friend and ally, and his true role-model on how to maintain himself in office.
Obama was wrong when he thought he could deal with terrorists and terrorist states, but he still hasn’t figured that out.
He still believes other countries are as enamored of him as the dipsticks who elected him.
This is so incredibly painful... The messiah is not fit to lick dog crap off the bottom of the Gipper’s shoe.
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