Random Thoughts

I’ve been following with great interest the recent goings-on in Iran because I see it as one of the most hopeful major events in recent memory.  Here we have a country whose government is the number one state sponsor of terror, whose president denies the Holocaust while vaguely threatening to unleash one on Israel, and the people of this country have finally indicated that they’ve had enough and are ready to toss the government on onto the street.

The cable networks were extremely slow to pick up this story — I guess the fall of the regime that is the No1 state sponsor of terror was simply less important than who broke up with who in Hollywood.  In any case, the best reporting on this — that I can find — is being done by Andrew Sullivan.  Most of the time I strongly disagree with his politics, but here he is doing a great job of aggregating information from all over to give you a picture of what’s going on.

Recently the New York Times ran a headline that said Iran Leader’s Warning Puts More Pressure on Obama (hopefully they’ve changed the headline by the time you click through).  Now folks, my response to this is WTF.  What can the president of the United States, a country known within Iran as The Great Satan, possibly say to make this situation better?  Are we going to send in troops?  No.  Would Obama throwing his support behind the opposition leader destroy Mousavi and allow Khamenei and Amadinajab to paint him as an American stooge? Yes.

Image if, after Bush v. Gore, protestors has taken to the streets.  Now imagine you read a French newspaper whose lead headline reads “Protests Put Pressure on Chirac to Intervene.”  Wouldn’t you be thinking WTF how is this any of their business? Of course you would.  And if we interject ourselves into the Iranian debate, the folks in Iran will be thinking the exact same thing.

The journalists who are bringing to the world, at risk to their own life, details of the events occuring are doing great work.  They should keep up their efforts.  For the government of the United States to interject itself, however, is entirely inappropriate.  When it comes to someone else’s election, we are simpy not center of the world.