Among life’s mysteries is this. At a time when the Western
media and Western politicians are up in
arms about the authoritarian regime in Saudi Arabia, at a time when Western European politicians are doing everything in their power to prop up the regime
in Tehran, precious few publications are reporting on the systematic oppression
occurring inside Iran.
Among those that have is the Guardian. Kudos to the
Guardian. It is reporting Amnesty International’s recent compendium
of the horrors that the Iranian regime has been visiting on its citizens. One
feels compelled to note that the this same Iranian regime also received considerable
support and sustenance from the Obama administration, even outside of the
appalling nuclear deal.
Lee Smith compiled a few Obama administration policy acts toward
Iran in the Wall Street Journal yesterday:
… a
2008 article written by John Brennan—who went on to serve as White House
counterterrorism adviser and Central Intelligence Agency director—advocated a grand
bargain with Iran. In 2009 the Obama White House conducted secret negotiations
with Tehran.
Mr.
Obama later sidelined Project Cassandra, an investigation of illicit
trafficking networks employed by Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese franchise. Launched
in 2008, the investigation was run by a multiagency task force, including the
FBI itself. Then for 18 months in 2014-15, the Obama White House gave the
Iranians $700 million a month in sanctions relief. In January 2016, Mr. Obama
sent Iran another $1.7 billion in cash. The administration also had a habit of
leaking news of Israeli strikes on Iranian arms convoys and depots in Syria.
You might imagine that the Obama administration felt
compelled to side with Iran, against Saudi Arabia, against Israel and against
America… in order to appease the regime and to give it a path to acquiring nuclear weapons. Still and all…
supporting the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism should have alerted
newsrooms around the world. It did not… because Obama was their god and could
do no wrong.
As for the human rights record of Iran, ignored by most of
the world, the Guardian reports on Iran’s year of shame. It involved arresting dissidents,
beating and shooting protesters. All told the regime was seriously involved in
repressing dissent. Western Europe and the American media turned a blind eye on
it all:
Iranian
authorities arrested more than 7,000 dissidents last year in a sweeping
crackdown that led to hundreds being jailed or flogged, at least 26 protesters
being killed and nine people
dying in custody amid suspicious circumstances, according to Amnesty
International.
Those
rounded up during violent dispersals of peaceful protests in what Amnesty
called “a year of shame for Iran” included journalists, lawyers, minority
rights activists and women who protested against being forced to wear
headscarves.
Iranian
authorities beat unarmed protesters and used live ammunition, teargas and water
cannon throughout the year – particularly in January, July and August –
with thousands arbitrarily arrested and detained, new figures assert.
“2018
will go down in history as a year of shame for Iran,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty
International’s Middle East research and advocacy director.
“The
staggering scale of arrests, imprisonments and flogging sentences reveal the
extreme lengths the authorities have gone to in order to suppress peaceful
dissent.
“From
underpaid teachers to factory workers struggling to feed their families, those
who have dared to demand their rights in Iran today have paid a heavy price.”
We have read the story of the women’s rights demonstrators
who have been jailed in Saudi Arabia. We have not read the story of Iran’s
repression of women’s rights protesters.
The Guardian continues:
He added:
“Throughout 2018, the Iranian authorities waged a particularly sinister
crackdown against women’s rights defenders. Governments which are engaged in
dialogue with Iran must not stay silent while the net of repression rapidly
widens.”
At
least 112 women human rights defenders were arrested or remained in detention
in Iran last year following sustained protests against compulsory veiling. Women silently
waved their headscarves on sticks in public, provoking a violent response and a
number of “grossly unfair” trials that led to some being jailed.
So, those are the facts on the ground. When it comes to Iran
the rest of the Western media and the Western European foreign policy
establishment hears no evil, sees no evil and speaks no evil. After all, Iran is leading the march against Western civilization... with money provided by the Obama administration. Who could be against that?
The media are very good at not covering what they do NOT want to cover. I am surprised that the Grauniad is covering this.
ReplyDelete"We have read the story of the women’s rights demonstrators who have been jailed in Saudi Arabia. We have not read the story of Iran’s repression of women’s rights protesters." (See first sentence above.)
How much money did the Obama administration give to Iran so that they could murder Jews with it? How much of that money went to torture and murder their own people? How much of that money is in Syria and Yemen right now being used to kill people and destabilize any hint of civilization? How many lies were told, knowingly, by people like Susan Rice and Ben Rhodes, to get almost every Democrat to support this complete fiction that Iran was a rational actor, worse, a partner? I think the only reason Schumer caved is because Menachem Schneerson came to him in the middle of the night and told him his soul was doomed if he supported the give Iran billions to murder Jews deal. The most dishonest, low-down act in US foreign policy history. Shame on everyone who supported it in word or deed.
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