Robert Dreyfuss in the Nation, from Tehran:
And then there was the Obama factor. Countless Iranians watched his June
4 Cairo speech, and its transcript was parsed word by word. By offering
to respect Iran rather than locating it in the "axis of evil," Obama
appealed to secular nationalists, activists seeking greater individual
freedom and businessmen hungering for an end to the sanctions strangling
Iran's economy. Nearly everyone I spoke with during the ten days I was
in Iran brought up Obama, whether I asked or not. At a frenzied Moussavi
rally in the city of Karaj, west of the capital, I met a campaign
organizer, Hojatolislam Akbar Hamidi, 48, a distinguished cleric who's
known Moussavi for more than twenty years. "I listened to Obama's
speech, and it made me very happy," he told me. "But we're afraid that
some Iranian authorities do not understand the positive message of
Obama." In interviews at polling places on election day, dozens of
voters praised Obama's opening to Iran. At a Tehran mosque where
hundreds of people were lined up to vote, several dozen crowded around
as I asked an older woman why she supported Moussavi. When I suggested,
"Perhaps Moussavi and Obama might meet someday soon?" the crowd,
translating for one another, erupted in cheers, laughter and thumbs-up
signs.
More prosaically, many plugged-in Iranians told me that nearly the
entirety of Iran's business class is fed up with Ahmadinejad's bellicose
rhetoric, and they want to put an end to sanctions.
So let's get this straight, Obamessiah inspired all those Iranians to protest, huh? And you are also convinced American CIA operatives had a hand in it, along with the Jews, of course….or at least at the insistence of the Jewish lobby, right?
Your propaganda is becoming vague, you want to portray something negative, any sleight detail you can exaggerate into a story, but if Obamessiah is the one that gets the credit through his disingenuous appeasement speech, then that needs to be promoted….awww what is a story teller to do. How will you work the angle, Weiss? I'll be staying tuned for the entertainment value.
Well, since I'm a capitalist the idea the entire "business class" wants to toss out the religious fundies is music to my ears.
The timing ,location and content of the speach was made to "influence" the elections in Iran.
I'm half expecting someone here to suggest that Obama himself is part of the CIA orchestrated green revolution in Iran. After all, how perfect is it that his middle name is that of the most revered saint of Shia Islam.
Obama's speech must have been an example of intruding in Iranian affairs.
Yes and he had no right to since he doesn't advocate immense foreign aid to Iran akin to what we give Israel, but instead apparently wants to continue the last 30 years of economic sanctions against Iran! Next thing you know our MSM will make it look like Iran has the same values as we do.
The business class is quite deluded if it thinks that electing Mousavi will mean an end to sanctions, and if only the business class is driving the opposition to Ahmadinejad, then Ahmadinejad probably won, and the anti-Ahmadinejad protests really would be comparable to the failed US supported coup against Chavez.
example of intruding in Iranian affairs. Here I sit and scratch my head???? Intruding??? Was Peres' attempt at parroting Obama's new year address intrusion too?? Was the very address intrusion too? Interesting. Could you explain? Good article by Dreyfuss.
Even if one remains agnostic on whether or not there was cia/mossad involvement (and this can't explain everything we saw in Iran) the idea that getting rid of Ahmadinejad will lead to an end to sanctions on Iran and normalization of relations is painfully naive. Remember that Bush included Iran in David Frum's Neocon "Axis of Evil" when the reformer Khatami was president (before Ahmedinejad). As long as the zionists see Iran as the latest incarnation Amalek, Haman, Hitler, etc., Iran will be in their bullseye regardless of who is nominally the leader of Iran or of the US.