Post by dgriffin on Jun 22, 2009 13:05:00 GMT -5
Telegraph.co.uk
Analysis: Barack Obama's call for change rings hollow in Iran
"Change may be the word he made his own during the election campaign but President Barack Obama's uncertain and timid response to the Iran protests suggests he views it as a slogan with little application beyond America's shores.
Just over two weeks ago, Mr Obama stood beneath the dome of Cairo University's Great Hall and gave a speech that stirred hearts throughout the Middle East and won him plaudits across the world.
Promising a "new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the West, he proclaimed his "unyielding belief" in a set of universal principles.
These included "the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed, confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice, government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people, the freedom to live as you choose".
Yet although his statements on the events in Tehran grew tougher over the weekend, Mr Obama has given the protesters – who are calling for the enactment of his Cairo principles – the cold shoulder. Change in Iran, it appears, is the last thing he wants.
Mr Obama stunned supporters of a potential nascent Green Revolution – perhaps a successor to the "colour revolutions" in Ukraine, Georgia and Burma and Lebanon's "Cedar revolution" – by stating that one Iranian leader was pretty much the same as the next.
Careful to avoid what he said could be seen in Iran as "meddling" or "moralising", Mr Obama has tried to maintain a restrained, neutral stance, brushing aside the advice of Vice President Joe Biden, who in off-the-record comments has been forcefully advocating a full-throated endorsement of the protesters."
MORE:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5604417/Analysis-Barack-Obamas-call-for-change-rings-hollow-in-Iran.html
Analysis: Barack Obama's call for change rings hollow in Iran
"Change may be the word he made his own during the election campaign but President Barack Obama's uncertain and timid response to the Iran protests suggests he views it as a slogan with little application beyond America's shores.
Just over two weeks ago, Mr Obama stood beneath the dome of Cairo University's Great Hall and gave a speech that stirred hearts throughout the Middle East and won him plaudits across the world.
Promising a "new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the West, he proclaimed his "unyielding belief" in a set of universal principles.
These included "the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed, confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice, government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people, the freedom to live as you choose".
Yet although his statements on the events in Tehran grew tougher over the weekend, Mr Obama has given the protesters – who are calling for the enactment of his Cairo principles – the cold shoulder. Change in Iran, it appears, is the last thing he wants.
Mr Obama stunned supporters of a potential nascent Green Revolution – perhaps a successor to the "colour revolutions" in Ukraine, Georgia and Burma and Lebanon's "Cedar revolution" – by stating that one Iranian leader was pretty much the same as the next.
Careful to avoid what he said could be seen in Iran as "meddling" or "moralising", Mr Obama has tried to maintain a restrained, neutral stance, brushing aside the advice of Vice President Joe Biden, who in off-the-record comments has been forcefully advocating a full-throated endorsement of the protesters."
MORE:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5604417/Analysis-Barack-Obamas-call-for-change-rings-hollow-in-Iran.html