Monday, June 22, 2009

Why Obama needs to tread carefully in Iran

The tensions in Iran are not really about democracy. Neither side in the conflict has proven itself anymore democratic than the other.

Both sides are equally sectarian and are both products of the Islamic revolution.

The main differences between the parties is ethnicity. Mir Hossein Mossavi is supported more by Iran's ethnic minorities, while Ahmadinejad is supported more by the ethnic Iranian majority.

The U.S. has traveled down this road before and often with very undesirable consequences.

While the U.S. is right in protesting a corrupt election, any fueling of ethnic tension leading to bloodshed and strife carries great risk.

The eventual "winner," especially if it's Ahmadinejad might be even place Iran in even a more hostile posture than before. Also, there is absolutely no guarantee that Mossavi will be more pro-Western than Ahmadinejad!

He could turn out like other former U.S. "allies" i.e. Osama bin Ladin and Saddam Hussein.


US options limited on Iran

Duluth News Tribune - Peter P. Strzok - ‎15 hours ago‎
He is the son of an Azeri (Azerbaijani-Turkic) father; his mother was from Yazd, in southern Iran. Born in the most conservative major city in Iran, Mashed, ...
Iranian blackout Malta Independent Online

2 comments:

Joe Markowitz said...

It's not about choosing sides. It's not even about which candidate becomes the president. It's all about the process. It's about whether the Iranian people have the chance to exercise basic freedoms. That is what we need to support. We don't need or want to support political candidates in somebody else's election.

Barack Obama Online said...

hopefully progress is on the tip of Obama's fingers

Popular Posts