Obama and Iran

Last week I wrote a bit about Iran being caught (by Afghan border guards) smuggling heavy weapons and explosives into Afghanistan – a story that cropped up in the European media and has yet to be given any attention by the American press.

That fact alone should wake up the current administration to the need to intervene on some level in the future leadership of the Islamic Republic. But what is their reaction to the questionable results of this weekend’s election? The Washington Post quotes Joe Biden;

“There’s an awful lot of question about how this election was run,” Biden said, noting that the high voter turnout in Iran’s urban areas would argue against such a wide margin of victory for Ahmadinejad, whose conservative populism holds more appeal in rural areas. “I mean we’re just waiting to see.”

The cautious response illustrates the balance that the Obama administration is seeking between condemning what increasingly appears to be a fraudulent election and the likelihood that it will be dealing with Ahmadinejad after the dust settles.

Certainly, the Obama Administration saw these results coming, so why wasn’t there an appropriate response prepared to make them look less stupid? But, see, that’s why Ahmadinejad thinks he can get away with vote fraud – he’s pretty sure no one will stop him. The same reason that North Korea continues launching rockets and conducting nuclear tests. There’s a reason that George Bush put those countries on his “Axis of Evil” list.

Despite the announcement today that the Guardian Council of Iran has ordered an investigation into fraud charges, does anyone really thing Ahmadinejad will be replaced by the Council under any circumstances?

During the Bush Administration, we saw our allies moving closer to our our side of the political spectrum as Bush policies proved effective and made us safer. Now, under Obama we see our enemies moving further away from us – a sure sign that the governments that should fear and respect us see the Obama Administration as weak and ineffective. Even the Israelis fear for their safety with the Obama Adminstration and elected a tougher government to protect themselves.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Foreign Policy, Terror War