NEOAVATARA

The second week of the protester revolt begins in Iran.  Though violence was heightened over the weekend, and several dozen died, there was no Tiananment like crushing of the protest movement.  The regime appears willing to threaten and enact some violence, and hope the protests die a slow death over time.

The British Embassy is pulling out families of its personnel in Tehran.  Embassy officials will remain.  Iran is threatening to expel all western diplomats.

The Guardian Council will start the week.  They have apparently rejected all election fraud protests.  And this was after they confirmed that over 50 cities in Iran had more votes than citizens.  Ah, repression at its best.  I am sure this will go over well with the protest movement, though after Ayatollah Khameini’s speech on Friday, no one expected anything less.

The Revolutionary Guard is threatening to crush any remaining dissent today.  A statement posted Monday on the Guard’s website warned protesters to “be prepared for a resolution and revolutionary confrontation with the Guards, Basij and other security forces and disciplinary forces.”

Word is spreading that organizers are trying to implement a countrywide strike.  This would continue the movement, while at the same time limiting violence.  People have been told to stock up on supplies like food and medicine.  This would be especially profound if the oil workers, who account for the bulk of Iran’s GDP, join in the strike. That would also harken back to 1979, when the oil workers strike greatly diminished the Shah’s power base.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

“America’s position in the world is one of moral leadership. It’s not about what takes place in the streets of Iran. It is about what takes place in America’s conscience.”

Sen. John McCain

Andrew Sullivan continues to bash the ‘NeoCons’ who are calling for Obama to be tougher.  To support his point, he uses…Zbigniew Brzezinski.  You gotta  be kidding.  One of the least useful statesmen in our generation.  This man was the most despised of Carter’s Cabinet, and he quietly waited around as the Shah was overthrown in Iran and the Soviets entered Afghanistan.  Is this really the best the liberals have to offer?  Pretty sad.

Again, liberals like Brzezinski don’t get it.  This isn’t just Republicans. And other than a very small sliver of ultraconservatives, these aren’t warhawks either.  The House of Representatives voted a measure supporting a strong statement 435-1.  Does that sound partisan to you?  Obama’s own Secretary of State and Vice President appear to disagree with Obama’s current stand…and remember, Obama brought them in because of his lack of foreign policy experience. There was also a real reason that the U.S. decreased in strength and the Soviets increased in strength under people like Brzezinski.  Oh well, liberals apparently never learn.

Even some Iranian protesters are starting to attack Obama. From Gateway Pundit:   Courageous Iranian student activist Ahmad Betebi was sentenced to death by the evil regime in Iran after the student protests of 1999. He was severely tortured for years in the notorious Evin Prison in Iran. Last year Ahmad Batebi arrived safely in the United States.  “His (Obama) lack of response will not be regarded lightly. We will watch for how much his response will help the people or the regime. We will know more this week… Obama can hold talks with the regime in Iran if he wants. Is it morally correct for Obama to support the regime?”

I guess Zbigniew Brzezinski considers John McCain a neocon.

John McCain had a strong performance on Face the Nation on Sunday.  McCain said he “appreciates” President Barack Obama’s statement warning Iranian authorities that the world is watching its crackdown on protestors, but said that the comments by other world leaders, such as France’s Nicholas Sarkozy and Germany’s Angela Merkel, have been stronger than President Obama’s.  “Every time that there has been a totalitarian dictatorial government that has faced protestors from their citizens, they blame the United States,” the senator reasoned.

And McCain has been exactly right.  Remember, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, and Bush 43 all in one way or another tried to form relationships with Iran.  Bush 43 was the most vitriolic, too be sure.  Obama’s demands, that Iran give up their nuclear program, is much MORE demanding than any of his predecessors outside of GWB.  No matter what America says, Iran needs the West as a foil; someone to blame all their ills on, much like they blame the ‘Zionists in Israel’ for all of their troubles.

Obama has been about as tepid as you could be.   He could only go further by voicing his support for the regime.  And yet, Iran is still blaming the US and the West for the dischord.  You can’t win with a lying regime.  They have accused America of fighting a ‘cyberwar’ against them because of Facebook and Twitter.  Heck, Obama has not rescinded his invitation to Iranian Diplomats to celebrate July Fourth at the White House. No, I am not kidding.

Schieffer asked what happens if the Iranian government does not heed a stronger condemnation from the United States.  McCain quoted Daniel Webster, who argued that rhetorical support could help those involved in the Greek Revolution of 1823. “I hope it may, it may give them courage and spirit,” Webster said according to McCain, “teach them that they are not wholly forgotten by the civilized world…The fact is, America has been and will be the beacon of hope and freedom,” McCain said. “We are on their side as they seek freedom,” he said of the protestors. He also spoke proudly of how American technologies such as Facebook and Twitter have been influential in allowing protestors to communicate.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.