Iran’s presidential election and protests, at least for the U.S., has turned into a political hot potato. While Russia, China, and most of Europe have predominantly remained neutral or silent, U.S. and Israeli political rhetoric and actions are just beginning to heat up.Initially, President Barack Obama stated that “It’s not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling, the U.S. president meddling in Iranian elections.” By the end of the week as protesters took to the streets, Republicans were accusing him of doing nothing and being timid and feckless. FOX News criticized him for not intervening and interviewed CIA paid Iranian-Americans. In response, President Obama said he was “deeply troubled” by the violence and called on Iran’s government to stop every “violent and unjust actions against its own people.”
President Obama told Iran “the world is watching” its actions, and how Iran decided to “approach and deal with people” who “were, through peaceful means, trying to be heard” would indicate “what Iran is and is not.” He then expressed concern of the “tenor and tone” of comments by Iranian leaders. This came as rumors spread that Vice-President Joe Biden was dissatisfied with President Obama’s handling of Iran’s election. Meanwhile, Congress voted in favor of a resolution condemning Iran’s Government and the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and how they were responding to demonstrators.
Only one congressional representative, Ron Paul from Texas, voted against the resolution. He warned about condemning the actions of governments overseas, sitting in judgment of foreign governments of which Americans know very little about, and challenged Congress to adhere to the foreign policy of the Constitution and U.S. Founders who advised not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. He too accused colleagues of selecting only certain countries to criticize and using such resolutions to make political points.
While some Israeli officials have said little about Iran’s election dispute, Israeli President Shimon Peres lauded Iran’s protesters saying they should continue to “raise their voices for freedom.” Since Israeli officials believe Iran is on a path of developing nuclear weapons and dislikes President Ahmadinejad, President Peres said he hoped Iran’s “poor government will disappear.”
On Friday, when Ayatollah Khamenei led prayers at Tehran University and called an end to demonstrations and violence blaming foreign media and Western countries of trying to cause political divisiveness and chaos, the U.S. press started an electronic information war against Iran’s Islamic theocracy and Ayatollah Khamenei. They interpreted and reported his message as a clear warning that a “bloodbath” would occur if protests continued.
Through building and maintaining an electronic empire and electronically colonizing individuals through the internet, cell phones, Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter, America’s business class and political elites believe they can project American values to the ends of the earth. As people around the world emulate this American global corporate culture, few casualties and even less expenses incur. These American conglomerates believe U.S. “democracy” is great for business, whereas Islamic republics are more questionable.
This is one reason why the U.S. State Department asked Twitter, the micro-blogging website, to delay maintenance shutdown to avoid disrupting communications between Iranian protesters. Twitter investors stand to make millions of dollars from Iran’s protesters. In fact, the Guardian just published an article about Twitter: The Tweet That Shook The world. It was in reference to Iran‘s protests. Twitter has also claimed partial responsibility for starting a “revolution.”
Movement, yes. Reform, maybe. Revolution, probably not! Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution started in 1923 when clerics started criticizing Britain’s backed Shah. It reignited in 1953 when the U.S. toppled Iran’s democratically elected leader and continued through to 1979 when millions of people and thousands of martyrs expelled the Shah, including 20,000 CIA and U.S. military personnel and their military bases and corporations.
Iran’s protests also serve as free advertisement for Twitter, cell phones, and the internet. Even now there is a push to change Google’s logo to reflect Iran’s demonstrators. As the U.S. and its oil cartels continue to encircle the Persian Gulf (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq), there is only one more nation that stands in their way: Iran. America’s “perception” of Iran’s election and its aftermath might someday be used to justify a war, especially over Iran‘s nuclear enrichment program. Some in the U.S. are already calling for a “brutal end.”
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