Human behavior is too often illogical and this is extraordinarily so, in international politics.
Recent post elections uproar in Iran witnessed internal and external manipulations. I wholeheartedly supported and still support Iranians who seek a better society and a better country.
However, I will be remiss if I fail to mention the outside hand and outside influence that was so palpable in the entire process. I take the view that the election outcome in Iran, which Iranians want, should engender our support, and election results that suit Lebanon, should be the one we all support. Election results should never be the dictates of what outside powers demand and prefer, over and above the desires of the local electorates. Why I would I want a puppet in Iran that can be manipulated by people outside of Iran?
I believe in democracy, freedom and liberty without pre-conditions. And this is best for all countries, not just Iran. We are entitled to have the same or similar expectations of every country, and in particular, countries in the Middle East or so-called Arab World. Those who pretend otherwise are doing so, for purposes other than in the best interest of the peoples of the countries in question. There is no democracy of any description in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, Brunei, Egypt etc Why then is this fixations on Iran? Mr. Mousavi. the opponent of Mr. Ahmadinajad, is part of the old brigade in Iran! Mr. Mousavi is by no means a hero of democracy.
It does appear as if the focus on Iran is motivated other than by the recent elections. Iran’s nuclear ambitions is written all over the spate of criticisms from the outside.
Why are we in the United States not showing similar concerns for democracy, freedom and liberty in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, Egypt etc where there are NO elections at all and none scheduled
Countries where women are still treated like furniture and things? Where women are not allowed to drive.
The current fixation on Iran is informed, not by Iran and Iranians’ best interests, but, rather, an agenda which is driven by the interests of others and outsiders! And why was there this predominance and prevalence of protest signs written in English? Could this be an indication that there is some outsourcing and external engineering, orchestration and choreography in what the world just witnessed in Iran? Why so many posters in English? Whatever happened to Farsi and Arabic? Who were the Iranians talking to? Oh, the international community? I thought this was an internal issues for Iranians?
Why are some showering this disproportionate attention on Iran? If democracy is so good for Iran, it is equally good and desirable in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, Brunei, Egypt etc
History is my witness, expediency, as substitute for a sound and fair foreign policy does not work, it is fraught with chickens coming home to roost, as we see in the short sightedness of arming Mujahideen in Afghanistan in the1980s and funding and propping Saddam as proxy warrior against Iran (Iraq versus Iraq war) millions dead and maimed, and Saddam became expendable! No condition is permanent, Saddam.
A consistent foreign policy will actually engender respect for American preachment of ideals of democracy, freedom and liberty etc ; Whereas, a policy which is selective in its application, a haphazard application based on expediency, is hollow and open to ridicule, disdain and is seen for what it is, hypocrisy.
US Government role in this choreography?
June 16th at 3:50PM
U.S. Government Asked Twitter to Postpone Scheduled Maintenance
POSTED BY: Dennis DiClaudio
Apparently, Twitter needed the U.S. State Department to step in and tell them that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to shut down their website right in the middle of one of the biggest citizen-uprisings in recent history…
The U.S. State Department contacted the social networking service Twitter over the weekend to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that could have cut daytime service to Iranians, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
So, on the plus side, Iranian citizens got to tell each
U.S. State Department speaks to Twitter over Iran
Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:26pm EDT
By Sue Pleming
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USWBT01137420090616
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it had contacted the social networking service Twitter to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that would have cut daytime service to Iranians who are disputing their election.
Confirmation that the U.S. government had contacted Twitter came as the Obama administration sought to avoid suggestions it was meddling in Iran's internal affairs as the Islamic Republic battled to control deadly street protests over the election result.
Twitter and Facebook have been used as a tool by many young people to coordinate protests over the election's outcome.
President Barack Obama said earlier on Tuesday he believed "people's voices should be heard and not suppressed" in Iran.
Obama, who has sought direct engagement with Iran, also said he did not want to be seen as "meddling" in Iranian internal affairs, given the two countries' rocky history.
But his spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama has "deplored and condemned the violence that we've seen, and underscored that the world is seeing in Iran a yearning for change."
Twitter Inc said in a blog post it delayed a planned upgrade because of its role as an "important communication tool in Iran." The hour-long maintenance was put back to 5 p.m. EDT/2100 GMT, which corresponds to 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday in Iran.
The upgrade originally had been planned for Monday night in the United States, which would have cut daytime service in Iran on Tuesday.
The State Department declined to give immediate details of the contact with Twitter, which has been used particularly by young urban Iranians who are disputing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election last Friday.
"We highlighted to them that this was an important form of communication," said a State Department official of the conversation the department had with Twitter officials.
Any sign of U.S. involvement in the actions of Twitter or any other social networking service could be seized on by Iran as U.S. interference in the electoral process.
Iranian officials declared that Ahmadinejad defeated his more moderate challenger, former prime minister Mirhossein Mousavi, in last Friday's election, triggering massive street protests by Iranians questioning the election's legitimacy.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly strongly rejected that contacts to Twitter amounted to meddling in Iranian internal affairs.
"This is about giving their voices a chance to be heard. One of the ways that their voices are heard are through new media," Kelly told reporters.
He said there were contacts with Twitter over the weekend.
(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles and Ross Colvin; Editing by Will Dunham)