Earlier I wrote about President Obama’s outreach to Iran and lamented the fact that he didn’t mention the imprisonment of Roxana Saberi in his Nowruz message to the Iranian regime.
Bret Stephens mentions a parallel concern in Will Obama listen to Iran’s bloggers?
Whether Mirsayafi’s death cows or emboldens Iran’s dissident bloggers remains to be seen. Not the least of their considerations will be the attitude of Mr. Obama, who in his videotaped address went out of his way to speak of “the Islamic Republic of Iran,” thereby giving the mullahs claim to a nation, and a civilization, they have done so much to oppress and degrade. Yes, an American president must look first, second and third to American interests. But a presidency predicated on the view that our values are our strength should not forsake those values for diplomatic expediency, much less betray our friends abroad who live, and have died, by those values.
President Obama reached out unconditionally to a brutal regime. He should have included some acknowledgment of the the regime’s nature in his message.
Unfortunately in all likelihood he encouraged the regime and not its dissidents:
But my favorite line is Obama telling the Iranians that force, military power, and terrorism won’t work for them. Oh, really? Well they’ve worked pretty well so far. They think America and the West is weak and fearful. Unless these factors stand up to Tehran, the Islamic regime will walk all over them.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
That’s the scariest part about his foreign policy.
He seems to believe stuff that just isn’t so.
Like reaching out to “moderate” Taliban.
I laughed and said at the time that “moderate Taliban” are the ones who sharpen their knives before hacking your head off.
Turns out, the Taliban thought it was funny too.
In this case, he’s accepted the idea that everything bad in the world is because of the US and is acting on that belief.
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