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President Barack Obama is wrapping up his meeting with the G-8 leaders and a stop in Russia. And with it comes some very troubling developments regarding the Middle East, and our changing policy vis-a-vis meddling in Iran.
First, you wouldn't know it listening to the silence out of the Obama administration, and the mainstream media still coming down off of their Michael Jackson wall-to-wall coverage, but the Iranian protestors are still protesting. They are literally in the streets fighting for their lives, hoping that somebody in the free world, anybody, hears their cries for freedom and self-determination. The thuggish theocracy is still brutishly cracking down on any public dissent against the regime. Michael Ledeen is consistently following the latest developments. You should as well. President Obama was slow to respond to the Iranian crisis, citing that he didn't want to be seen as "meddling". Obama eventually publicly deplored the violence taking place, because after the violence escalated, he couldn't not speak out on it. Yet this week, when the rest of the G-8 leaders hinted they wanted to impose stiffer sanctions against the oppressive regime in Tehran, it was President Obama who worked to derail that idea. Meddling for the regime must not seem to count as actual meddling.
In Iraq, as the much-promised withdrawal of American forces is underway so that the President can make good on his campaign pledge, violence is beginning to pick back up. During the surge, many insurgents were killed. Some were captured, including some members of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds forces. Today, the Obama administration ordered the release of five of those Quds forces to Iraqi officials, for the specific intent of turning them back over to the Iranians. No trial, no quid pro quo from the Iranian regime, just good faith appeasement on our part.
In a speech to Moscow's National Economic School graduates, Barack Obama signaled that he was willing to cede former Soviet bloc satellites in Eastern Europe by withdrawing plans for covering them under our missile defense umbrella if Russia stepped up and took care of the growing Iranian nuclear threat. In one part of his speech, President Obama said, "In 2009, a great power does not show strength by dominating or demonising other countries. The days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chess board are over." I wonder how Ukraine and Georgia reacted to this line, especially when they have just been declared to be pawns. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton notes that Russia is having their way with the young President.
And then there is the Joe Biden factor. Last Sunday, the Vice President appeared on American television and gave the green light for Israel to do what it needed to in order to protect against the existential threat posed to them by the Iranian nuclear program. Yet not even 24 hours later, the President had to quickly reverse course, specifically not giving permission for the Israelis to act, hoping that he can somehow engage in direct negotiations with the Iran theocrats.
I'm sure glad the President is keeping his word about not meddling, because I'd sure hate to see what would happen if he did.
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