Shirin Sadeghi: The Iran and Obama Dance

[Louisiana1976]

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It's not Obama's fault that Iraq and Afghanistan happened, but it will be his fault if he rushes into a threat-laden, pseudo-engagement with Iran at this historical crossroads in US-Iran relations.

This summer's significant events in Iran -- rife with authorized gang rapes of young street demonstrators, imprisonments and killings of suspected dissidents and threats to their families -- have undoubtedly impacted the Obama administration's plans for engagement with Iran. To overlook this and instead maintain the pre-Iran-election engagement time line is not prudent, and worse, it is dangerous.

The now weakened and openly factionalized Iranian government, courtesy of the blood and tears of millions of Iranian people, was a gift to America's Iran policy. Balancing on one leg, the Iranian government was wavering on a significantly reduced footing of regional and international legitimacy and support. Recall that even many of Ahmadinejad's allies were hesitant to congratulate him on the election. The Iranian government's biggest and most threatening opponent was no longer the US government, but the Iranian people.

Instead of grasping this opportunity to stand by the Iranian people and to position itself as a wiser, more legitimate, and less threatening regional authority, the Obama administration has stepped in to reinvigorate the Iranian government's most appealing scenario: that of the formidable opponent of modern-day Western imperialism. And not just any imperialism, but one which targets some countries' nuclear programs while ignoring other countries' nuclear bombs.

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Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shirin-sadeghi/the-iran-and-obama-dance_b_304672.html

[Lilith Velkor]

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