The situation in Iran is bringing out the usual blather from people who have no idea what they are talking about or who seek to settle scores with those who have had the temerity to be right about other events in the Middle East.
I can say unequivocally that I deeply dislike the rule by the mullahs in Iran -- we left wing atheist types are not typically enamored of theocracies -- that's a right wing dream -- and would love to see that little shit of a president there sent packing. That being said, I think the appropriate response by Obama and the U.S. is a low key embrace of the human rights of those who have taken it to the streets in Iran, with little said about the legitimacy of the election, absent compelling evidence of fraud. In the end, however, this is not about the U.S. and shouldn't be made to appear to be.
Let me repeat that -- this is not about the U.S. We are not always the center of the universe that we imagine ourselves to be. Let the Iranians try and sort this out for themselves. If we can help the forces of liberalization, terrific, but let's try to avoid doing harm. Making those people look like instruments of American policy is the worst thing that we can do.
The other thing of which people need to be mindful is how utterly fucking serious this is -- truly a matter of life and death. People should not be deluded about the magical power of twitter, cell phones, the net, etc. If the guys with the guns decide to shut this thing down it will be over, and over fast, see e.g. Budapest 1956, Prague 1968, and, of course, Beijing 1989, among others. The Berlin Wall fell not because of the magic of the Velvet Revolution or the continued awesomeness of Ronald Reagan -- it fell because Gorbachev, to his everlasting credit, lacked the stomach to kill people that his predecessors had in spades.
There are limits to the powers of repression, but we should not underestimate the ability to control people through violence and fear. I hope fervently that the forces of civil society prevail in Iran and that they are able to create openings that may lead to a more free and more secular society. But I have no illusions that the bad faith baying of idiots like John McCain (who was willing to kill these same said people without hesitation) will be helpful to the people of Iran and their plight.
