Obama's Iran Policy
August 1, 2009 8:08 PM Subscribe
Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam (Hardcover)
posted by @troy at 8:37 PM on August 1, 2009
posted by @troy at 8:37 PM on August 1, 2009
The whole Gates fiasco seems to have hurt the President badly. Even my liberal friends think that he overstepped his boundaries. Plus the whole "lets discuss this over a beer" thing seems like a overplayed attempt to put the controversy to bed.
That plus Biden and Clinton's Iranian chicanery combines to make him look a little weak. I hope he reverses course by getting his cabinet under control and leaving ZOMG MEDIA CONTROVERSY to the DOJ where it belongs.
posted by Avenger at 10:46 PM on August 1, 2009
That plus Biden and Clinton's Iranian chicanery combines to make him look a little weak. I hope he reverses course by getting his cabinet under control and leaving ZOMG MEDIA CONTROVERSY to the DOJ where it belongs.
posted by Avenger at 10:46 PM on August 1, 2009
I don't really know what Obama could do to help Iran. Any attempt to help the resistance will be viewed negatively inside Iran - it could easily ruin its legitimacy and popular support inside the country, and that will get it destroyed faster than anything else could. Really aside from sitting back and repeating the standard line about hoping democracy succeeds and whatnot, he shouldn't be doing anything.
posted by Mitrovarr at 10:54 PM on August 1, 2009
posted by Mitrovarr at 10:54 PM on August 1, 2009
Obama can help the Iranian resistance considerably by improving their capacity to communicate. How about supporting people who set up proxy servers for dissidents? Ain't much connection that route.
posted by jeffburdges at 6:51 AM on August 2, 2009
posted by jeffburdges at 6:51 AM on August 2, 2009
I don't care who is in the White House. The United States doesn't have a sterling track record when it comes to interventions in other countries. A two-decade voluntary respite from deliberate interference in the elections and whatnot of other countries might earn some respect back for the U.S.
I understand that, just by existing, the United States is still powerful and wealthy enough that it cannot help but create ripples, even if it is scratching the odd flea. We have all kinds of obligations in terms of treaties and foreign aid. Our economies are interwoven. We interfere just by existing.
But I'm thinking a little break from dispatching troops and deposing one guy so we can put some other guy in there and tweaking elections so "the good guys win" would be a good way to refocus our energies on our own problems, which are numerous, and might even soothe the fears of those who see the United States as the puppeteer behind their local tragedies.
posted by adipocere at 7:33 AM on August 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
I understand that, just by existing, the United States is still powerful and wealthy enough that it cannot help but create ripples, even if it is scratching the odd flea. We have all kinds of obligations in terms of treaties and foreign aid. Our economies are interwoven. We interfere just by existing.
But I'm thinking a little break from dispatching troops and deposing one guy so we can put some other guy in there and tweaking elections so "the good guys win" would be a good way to refocus our energies on our own problems, which are numerous, and might even soothe the fears of those who see the United States as the puppeteer behind their local tragedies.
posted by adipocere at 7:33 AM on August 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Not much hope there adipocere with Mr Dennis "realpolitik" Ross being the US Special Advisor for the Gulf and Southwest Asia.
posted by adamvasco at 8:14 AM on August 2, 2009
posted by adamvasco at 8:14 AM on August 2, 2009
Additional thoughts on this article from Spencer Ackerman.
That plus Biden and Clinton's Iranian chicanery combines to make him look a little weak.
Not to me, to me he appears confident enough in his own judgment to hear it criticized by informed, articulate people who disagree with it.
posted by shothotbot at 6:47 PM on August 2, 2009
That plus Biden and Clinton's Iranian chicanery combines to make him look a little weak.
Not to me, to me he appears confident enough in his own judgment to hear it criticized by informed, articulate people who disagree with it.
posted by shothotbot at 6:47 PM on August 2, 2009
Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi says opposition detainees put on trial have been subjected to "medieval torture".
posted by homunculus at 1:36 PM on August 3, 2009
posted by homunculus at 1:36 PM on August 3, 2009
Clashes, Boycotts attend Certification of Ahmadinejad
posted by homunculus at 11:24 AM on August 4, 2009
posted by homunculus at 11:24 AM on August 4, 2009
The Biden and Clinton Mutinies
This article is absolute and complete speculative horseshit. Behind the scenes Obama is actually overseeing a Democratic Party reunification that has brought the Party machines together in a way unseen since the fracture at the end of the Clinton administration. You want proof? How about Billy Bob going to bat for Al Gore? Talk about mending fences.
posted by Pollomacho at 11:55 AM on August 4, 2009
This article is absolute and complete speculative horseshit. Behind the scenes Obama is actually overseeing a Democratic Party reunification that has brought the Party machines together in a way unseen since the fracture at the end of the Clinton administration. You want proof? How about Billy Bob going to bat for Al Gore? Talk about mending fences.
posted by Pollomacho at 11:55 AM on August 4, 2009
Human rights group notes 'alarming spike' in Iran executions
posted by homunculus at 2:42 PM on August 8, 2009
posted by homunculus at 2:42 PM on August 8, 2009
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week named his cabinet. His choices suggest that, in the face of ongoing political turmoil, he prizes personal loyalty over competence.
posted by homunculus at 7:27 PM on August 22, 2009
posted by homunculus at 7:27 PM on August 22, 2009
ReTweet Revolution: A visual exploration of Twitter conversation threads in the days following the Iranian Elections of June 2009
posted by homunculus at 7:29 PM on August 22, 2009
posted by homunculus at 7:29 PM on August 22, 2009
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the prosecution of Iran's top opposition leaders Friday, backing hard-liners pushing for escalation of the postelection crackdown.
posted by homunculus at 2:27 PM on August 28, 2009
posted by homunculus at 2:27 PM on August 28, 2009
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But Hard Liners Question Brutal Tactics
posted by homunculus at 8:10 PM on August 1, 2009