As the world turns favorable eyes on America again, there is one group that is upset. Outcast. Disowned, discouraged and disenfranchised.
Terrorists, Extremists and Despots.
We’ll just call them TED. TED ain’t happy.
The Jerusalem Post is among the first to report on the coming temper tantrum. (ht to RandyMI)
the conservative hard-line camp in Iran is worried about the overwhelming enthusiasm and support for the US that Obama’s election has created around the world. A popular American president who talks about peace and wants to negotiate with Iran would take away their justification for leading the anti-American front in the Middle East. Furthermore, increased international support and credibility for the United States represents a more serious challenge to Iran, especially if the international community initiates new sanctions against Teheran.
What is that, you say? Whatever happened to the prognostication by talk-radio hosts that the TEDs of the world would rejoice at the sight of a President Obama?
Turns out those radio hosts are idiots.
Of course our rivals don’t want to see us admired. Of course those who wish us harm do not want to see the rationalizations that made them powerful reversed. You don’t need to be an expert in international policy to understand this (though if you are that doesn’t hurt either), being a teenager in highschool teaches you all you need to know.
Ahmadenijad is doing everything he can to pre-empt the Great Turning Away. In the Iranian press – an organ of free speech if ever there was one – the impotent propoganda has begun:
“A hawk in a dove’s outfit” is the way the right-wing newspaper Keyhan described Obama in a front page article the day after his election. The article puts special emphasis on what it calls “Obama’s praise of America’s actions in Afghanistan and George Bush Sr.’s war in Iraq.” It goes on to say, “Obama has never been peace-seeking.”
…and more from the Ahmadinajad Free Press:
Jomhuriye Eslami, another right-wing newspaper, has gone a step further. It headlined an editorial, “That Black Man Will Never Change US Policy.” It went on to say that despite Obama’s victory, US policy will remain the same because of “the structure of the American regime, which was established by capitalists, Zionists, and racists.”
But if you are an Iranian publication that says anything good about Obama, watch your step:
A Tehran news weekly that featured a smiling photograph of the American President-elect on its front cover last week and asked “Why doesn’t Iran have an Obama?” has been closed down.
It appeared to be a taunt too far for Iran’s notoriously thin-skinned president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and saw the magazine Shahrvand-e Emrouz (Today’s Citizen) promptly banned by Iran’s Press Supervisory Board.
The closure of the propular reformist weekly suggests that Mr Ahmadinejad is determined to silence his critics as he prepares for elections next June that could hand him a second-four year term. Where victory had once seemed assured, now he must expect a bruising contest with an uncertain outcome.
Numerous problems, all widely covered by the Iranian media, have bedevilled Mr Ahmadinejad in recent weeks. His expansionary budget is blamed for rampant inflation, oil prices have plummeted, aides have admitted that he suffers from strain and exhaustion, and an embarrassing forgery scandal claimed the scalp of his interior minister last week.
This same article correctly reflects TED’s problem:
Most Iranians were delighted by Mr Obama’s victory
And being nobody’s fool, I expect that President Obama will follow this piece of obvious advice as well, to the consternation of TED In Iran:
“A major overture from the United States before the elections could redeem his (Ahmadinejad’s) management style and increase his popularity,” Mr Sadjadpour continued. “For this reason, it is better for Washington to begin with cautious limited engagement with Tehran until June 2009, when Iran’s domestic situation will become clearer.”
So, the world is turning to America. Because of Barack Obama. Because of Barack Obama, Ahmadenijad is shaking in his boots, Putin is gnashing his teeth and Bin Laden is pacing his cave trying to dream up a recruiting poster that doesn’t have George Bush or John McCain scowling out of it.
Who would have thought that leading the world would be good policy for those trying to lead the world?
Poor TED. Sucks to be you.
11 comments