Posts Tagged ‘Iran’

For some reason [Israel appears] paranoid about [the] people who want them dead having a nuclear bomb.

Stephen Colbert while hosting Jeffrey Goldberg:

According to Wikipedia, the 1953 Iranian coup d’état, on August 19, 1953 (and called the 28 Mordad coup d’état in Iran), was the overthrow of the the democratically-elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency.

Ray Takeyh, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes in the Washington Post that this common narrative suffers from numerous deficiencies:

[Today] marks the anniversary of one of the most mythologized events in history, the 1953 coup in Iran that ousted Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadeq. CIA complicity in that event has long provoked apologies from American politicians and denunciations from the theocratic regime. The problem with the prevailing narrative? The CIA’s role in Mossadeq’s demise was largely inconsequential. The institution most responsible for aborting Iran’s democratic interlude was the clerical estate, and the Islamic Republic should not be able to whitewash the clerics’ culpability.

Ray Takeyh: Clerics responsible for Iran’s failed attempts at democracy

… they can’t say we Obama never tried:

The Obama administration has decided to press for the establishment of a U.N. commission of inquiry to probe allegations of human rights abuses by Burma’s military regime, marking a retreat from earlier American efforts to engage the reclusive government.

The decision reflects mounting frustration that nearly two years of diplomatic outreach, including several visits by senior American diplomats to Burma, have failed to persuade the country’s military ruler, Senior Leader Than Shwe, to release Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest or to allow the political opposition to participate in the country’s upcoming election.

Turtle Bay / Foreign Policy: An end to engagement? U.S. to push for Burma inquiry.

President Barack Obama came into office committed to reducing tensions with Iran and transforming the troubled relationship between the two countries by offering an outstretched hand and an open dialogue with that country’s leaders. These are, of course, laudable goals that remain on the table. Ironically, however, if diplomacy is to still have a chance and he is to achieve these goals, Obama will also have to convince Tehran that his outstretched hand can be formed into a fist.

Foreign Policy: It’s Time to Get Tough on Iran

The Green Movement, he [Hossein Shariatmadari, an adviser to Khamenei] said, was part of a grand conspiracy—conceived by, among others, Michael Ledeen (a veteran foreign-policy hawk), Richard Haass (the president of the Council on Foreign Relations), Gene Sharp (an authority on nonviolent resistance), and George Soros (the financier and philanthropist)—with the aim of overthrowing Iran’s government. The protests were not against Ahmadinejad, he explained, but “against the whole system.” Fortunately, “the people” had been mobilized and had stopped the conspiracy in its tracks.

Daniel W. Drezner: What Iran doesn’t know about the United States will really, really hurt them

Anti-Semitism in conspiracy theories – Ahmadinejads’ turn:

“What was the story of September 11? During five to six days, and with the aid of the media, they created and prepared public opinion so that everyone considered an attack on Afghanistan and Iraq as (their) right,” he said in a televised speech.

No “Zionists” were killed in the World Trade Center, according to Ahmadinejad, because “one day earlier they were told not go to their workplace.”

He had previously said the “9-11″ attacks were a “big fabrication” and has rejected the historical record of the Holocaust. On Saturday, Ahmadinejad repeated his belief that the Holocaust had been invented to justify the creation of Israel.

Reuters: Iran’s Ahmadinejad doubts Sept 11 attack toll

Nicolas Sarkozy über das iranische Atomprogramm:

“There are the same leaders, in Iran, who tell us that the nuclear program is peaceful and that the elections were honest. Frankly, who believes them?”

New York Times: Germany and France Take Hard Line on Iran.

Realpolitik ohne Rücksicht auf Verluste – made by the Obama-Administration (via/via):

Nachtrag: Einen Tag später rudert das Weiße Haus zurück; man ist sich der Tragweite des Fehlers bewußt geworden. In den Worten von Robert Gibbs:

Well, let me correct a little bit of what I said yesterday. I denoted that Mr. Ahmadinejad was the elected leader of Iran. I would say it’s not for me to pass judgment on. He’s been inaugurated, that’s a fact. Whether any election was fair, obviously the Iranian people still have questions about that and we’ll let them decide that. But I would simply say he’s been inaugurated and we know that is simply a fact.

Mehr: Gibbs walks back Ahmadinejad recognition.

Certainly we have no desire or ability to intrude massive forces into Iran or any other country to determine the outcome of domestic political issues. This is something that we have no intention of ever doing in another country. We’ve tried this once in Vietnam. It didn’t work, as you well know.

(Barack Obama Jimmy Carter)

Angenehm schnoddrig in der wöchentlichen TAGESSPIEGEL-Kolumne Was macht die Welt? (WmdW):

Vier Fragen zur Außenpolitik an “Zeit”-Herausgeber Josef Joffe. Diesmal zu Obama, Island, Felicia Langer und Afghanistan.

Äußerst ernsthaft in der ZEIT:

Mission Possible. Und hochriskant:

Wenn Druck und Drohung in Teheran versagen: Wie Israel die iranische Atomrüstung zerschlagen kann.

Far from being the great Satan, I would say we are the great protector. The United States rebuilt Europe and Japan after World War II, defeated Communism and fascism and the only land we ever asked for was enough land to bury our dead.

(Great Satan – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)