Iran remains tense but is calmer this morning. Violence flared over the weekend and at least 10 people died as a result of clashes between protesters and police. The Iranian government has accused the west of backing the protests and trying to undermine the stability of Iran. Britain, Germany and France came under heavy attacks for trying to meddle in Iranian affairs, something which Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Miliband,denied.
But other than condemnation and calls for vote recounts, what can the world do for Iran? With police clampdowns and media being prevented from reporting inside the country, is the world powerless to help Iran? And is it actually the right way so? Should the world leave Iranians to sort their own matters? President Obama was criticised for being too ‘timid and passive’ with the Iranian crisis. But is he right to be very cautios about what he says?
This live guardian blogsays that Mr.Mousavi can’t count on the backing of the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, who stated that the world should respect the ‘triumph’ of Ahmadinejad.
Reporting from inside Iran has become nearly impossible. The BBC’s permanent correspondent in Iran, Jon Leyne, was asked to leave the country on Sunday. Other journalists have been detained but pictures, amateur videos and facebook and twitter feeds keep coming out of the Islamic Republic. Has the world let Iran down?
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Iran is a proud country and they need to feel like they are controlling their own government without outside influence and they should and should be.
The rest of the world needs to keep it’s mouths shut so they will not be able to try and other for their own troubles. I mean they are already blaming the west for interfering.
No, as far as I’m concerned we have already said too much and we just need to butt out and let them sort it out for themselves.
The US and the rest of the world are not the all knowing saviors of the world, shoot look at us we have enough problems of our own, what makes us think we can offer any useful advise to anyone. How would the US feel if the republicans of the US got all pissed and threw a fit because they lost the election and started riots, protests and stuff? Yea that would go over like a lump of crud. Just like it is there.
Definitely the world is powerless to help Iran. If democracy has to flourish in Iran it must be that the overwhelming majority of the popoulation endorse it. Any move by the West or Obama will be highly criticised by those inside Iran as well as the Islamic world.
The Republicans want Obama to fall into the same trap they fell into so they are criticising Obama, but Obama should be aware that he doesn’t repeat history and meddle in Iran’s affairs. Statements made by the West will be used as propaganda to further the cause of those in power in Iran therefore the West should add no fuel to an already volatile situation.
Is the world only made up of the West?
The reason I ask this question is that the silence of the Arab and Middle Eastern countries has been deafening.
Are there any official comments from leaders in the Middle East? I would love to know.
@Deryck.Iran is worth than those Middleeastern countries in democratic terms, Why? many of these countries especially Egypt,Syria,Saudia arabia and so many others are much in plutocratic or autocratic terms except Israel which is a bid democratic believe me dear.
I don’t agree with Aboye. When your neighbours house is on fire, you shouldn’t: laugh, keep quiet or do nothing. Carry a can of water to extinguish the fire, you neighbour might just get to know that you don’t mean bad after all.
The world definately needs to act, albeit cautiously. We can’t afford to let to be seen as meddling than helping. I don’t know how that could be done. Any ideas please?
If Iran was to be part of another world, we’d say, ‘…shut up world…ain’t your business…’ But, such help should come at a time that we could clearly see failure on the governments part as regards when the world should ‘come’ in. I don’t wish to see another square murder.
So, do we think Iran has failed to resolve its problems? Hell, no. Do we shut up? Hell no. What do we do? Sit and wait if we’re needed. Is it that time though? I don’t know, what do you think?
I rest my case.
Is the world powerless to help Iran?
It all depends, on Iran’s Citizens getting the support they need and that need is confidence. Freedom means being able to say what we know, against the adversity of ignorance and fear. The media is not the voice of the worlds people. I see barriers that should not be there, written and spoken.
The worlds governments, I think fear a true democracy. They don’t afford the confidence that the Iranians need to hear much less truth that should be told about the hideous crimes they commit, that make even the angels cry.
Before we try to help anyone, we should find out who we are getting into bed with. The US once helped the Afghans throw out the Russians by supporting the Taliban, and look where that got us.
The government has a short window of opportunity to crush the revolution. The world, as well as the Iranian people, have been taken by surprise and there is little organization among the protesters. To survive, the government must crush the protests with overwhelming force, using live ammunition, fury, and sheer terror to spread instant and widespread fear among the populace. The Iranian government is obviously no stranger to this technique. What will be interesting to see is whether they can survive the onslaught of Youtube videos, Twitter tweets, blogs, and other 21st century communication techniques for shedding light on the atrocities.
If the government fails to act quickly, the protesters will have time to organize and contact foreign governments for money, logistical support, equipment, training, and intelligence. There will be no shortage of such support, since Iran has foolishly made itself the pariah of the world with it’s bombastic, lunatic threats and macho, egomaniacal nuclear weapons production.
If the protesters are smart, they will realize they have the support of a large part of their nation and the world, will quell the violence for now, and buy time to get organized.
Once a cottage anti-government industry takes root in Iran with foreign support, the current government is finished.
Is the world powerless to help Iran?
Has the world let Iran down?
The world is not powerless to help mediate ,arbitrate and concilliate the compromise process in Iran’there are plenty of countries organisations and individuals who could do the job.
Has the world let Iran down ,yes the hysterical media feeding frenzy of coverage has not shone any light on what is behind the failure of the opposition to accept the election result nor how and why the incumbent fiddled the polling.
The world should have a global election commission which would oversee free and fair elections.
The Russians took the pragmatic approach and accepted the result quickly.
The Iranians are in the process of deciding whether they prefer the big end or little end of an egg(like the lilliputians).
To the rest of the world it won’t really matter who is in charge of Iran.
The choice is between either the Vladmir Putin or Lilliputian approach .
President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei are all in Ahmadinejad`s camps where Obama seeks good terms with Mamoud Ahmadinejad while Khamenei want to cling onto his divine rules over Iran with a present of Al Amhadinejad believe me or not.The fact is fact!!!…US-IRAN relationships is base on people of Iran including those protesters that Obama didnt speaks on their behaves though they die day by day on Tehran`s streets.I know that words cant solves everything nor would it stops malicious,MP`s or Riots police from carrying out their brutality on anti-govt movements either but “do president Obama really have that freedom of expressions in America like his citizens”? therefore why is he kept silent on humanrights abuses by Tehran? So i dont see the world is letting down Iranians but political leaders and their supreme leader are letting them down.I fear that Iran will no longer be democratic state nor will it hold any new elections in a nearest future time anyway…
Hello All,
United States can surely help….and a couple of days back after much pondering, deliberation, hesitation Obama did issue his STERNEST statement…that to the Iranian powers would have paraphrased like..
”
Sir,
Please I humbly request you not to stop or hurt the protests on the streets of Iran as we Americans believe it is not a nice thing to do.
We Americans and the world are watching ( and will continue to watch and will conitnue telling you it’s mot a nice thing to do, if unfortunately you turn down our request).”
Yours sincerely,
Barak Hussien Obama
Hello again
And hello Crispo. An interresting analogy, that about the neighbours house being on fire. If your house were on fire would you welcome help from those whose only interrest is to fan the flames and destroy the house? Probably not. Iran has problems of course but it’s biggest problem is the fact that it has oil that the ‘neighbours’ want to own. Another problem is the zionist squatters in Palestine straining at the leash like angry dogs.
In my opinion the West’s biggest fear is that the fire will be brought under control before they get to ‘helping’.
To answer the question. The world has been powerless to help in so many other instances, I cite Iraq, Afganistan, Columbia etc. Why does one ask the question precisely in connection with Iran?
Jim
Hello,
(1)The protesting segment of Iranians( which to me doesn’t appear to be representing more than 5% of Iranian voters–the blogging, twittering, facebooking online modern minded middle class community)…. have made a logical case with documented evidence to prove that there is anything seriously wrong with the elections results.
(2)The arguments of protestors have varied from “results don’t smell right”, “margins are too big” type vague and unconvincing to outright emotional rejection of the result because their favorite candidate did not win.
Give me another election, because I don;t like the results of this one !
(3)And the favorite candidate, can’t believe his luck appears like letting flow it’s own course and ride the convenient wave of sympathy hoping half heartedly that any other scenarios would be better the defeat he may have resigned himself to.
While I condemn any loss of lives….these protests are inevitably heading towards a damp dead end for the lack of :
(A)a Water tight motive and
(B)a leader
anu_D
‘The world’?
Let’s see. First remove from ‘the world’ those countries that are dictatorships or sham democracies and so can’t speak or act over Iran without provoking laughter (e.g. China, and most of Africa, Central Asia & the Muslim world). Then substract those countries whose governments and people really don’t give a damn what happens outside their borders (Latin America, Japan, Spain, Italy, Portugal, India, the Baltic states, Russia & most of Eastern Europe).
Of the countries left, cut out Denmark (still recovering from previous trauma involving Muslims), forget Israel (obvious reasons), & drop Indonesia (Muslim states never criticise each other when infidel states are watching – see Darfur). So what’s left? ‘The world’ roughly amounts to the countries of the Anglosphere, France, Germany, the Scandinavian states, Belgium, Holland, & the Czech Republic. And if you were to exclude from this list those countries whose populace (as opposed to the political elite) don’t care what happens in Iran, you’ll find that ‘the world’ shrinks to about zero countries. So, the question for me is, ‘By what right do a few dozen, mainly white ‘Christian’,males, comprising the Western world’s political elite, take it upon themselves to interfere in the internal affairs of a brown-skinned, sovereign Muslim state, re a dispute between rival Islamic fundamentalists, unrelated to any Western interest?’.
I’m small part Native American, can I speak?
A religious saying this agnostic likes is ‘God helps those that help themselves’. It is wrong for us to do *anything*, military, humanitarian or political, until there is one clear voice speaking. Then they need to be treated as any other country.
Right now, yes they are. Because what are you going to do to help the protestors?
Iran has had sanctions against them for how long now? What are we going to do? Do we now secretly ship arms into the protestors? What good will that do?
All of the people in Congress who say this is a good idea are the usual idiots that only care about getting elected. Most of them also said that the Iranian National Guard is a “terrorist” organization. Yet, Obama wants to now talk to and neogtiate with “terrorists.” If you were the Iranian President, would YOU trust the States?
The quest of democracy is a hard nut to crack. Many think that the world should get involve in the Iranian crisis. I strongly believe that Iranians will meander their way out of this political quagmire. Western involvement usually engenders double standards.
All these people want is the same thing that a chance for life, Liberty. Long live freedom!
@ Crispo
You might not agree but the truth is if your neighbour hose is on fire you need to wet your house.
Any attempt to intervene WHEN NOT INVITED by those in power will be met by strong resistance.The world already has enough inter-country conflicts and you don’t want this situation to escalate into one which it can if the Iranian government feels significantly threatened from the outside.
Nejad won by 11m votes. Such a scale of rigging is impossible. And the verdict testifies to his commitment to the villagers and the middle class, not to mention the resistance of imperialism. However, we expect more freedom to Iranian people, good relations with Iran’s neighbours and reconciliation with its critics for the sake of development, peace and tranquility. He is known to be simple and humble in his personal life. If he applies the same qualities in his official and foreign policies, he could win the world. If he tends to listen to the world with equanimity, the world will listen to his words sincerely. On the other hand, heavy protests on Iranian streets cannot be condoned. Who is wrong, and who is right is to be proved by a system which stands for justice. In that context, Khamenei is the man to stop the crisis. But the protesters are not satisfied by the way he has approved Nejad’s victory. In democracy, people may question the authority until they get satisfactory reply. Foreign meddling, fabricated reports, fake photos add fuel to the fire. In 21st century, there is no place for war mongers. We have to love each other and try to remove the word WAR from all the lexicons. We hope Ahamedinejad and his people will become part of that campaign. Let peace doves spread their wings from every hand.
Yes, to a point the International Community is powerless to help Iranian people right now…
~Dennis Junior~
Well was I right or what? It’s all over. The government has crushed the revolt. It’s dead for the next 15 to 20 years. The only mistake the Iranian government made in this whole affair was in misleading it’s citizens that there was even a modicum of democracy in Iran.
The revolt is practically over. The rioters’ HQ has been condemned, the staff have been arrested, sensitive papers confiscated, and the protesters are diminishing in numbers as we speak. There is no regime change because this is a dispute within the regime.
After what happened to us in 53′, for you to think somehow we desperately need the world’s help is a sham, a farce. ‘The World’ itself is the least appropriate to interfere. We may disagree internally in Iran, but we all still agree that we loathe the Shah and Britian and the CIA’s involvement in dethroning our democratically elected Mossadeq.
For Iran to be the number one news subject in a country in a time when a nuclear regime in North Korea may strike America’s paradise (Hawaii) with a nuke, is propaganda at it’s best.
Life goes on Neocons, don’t waste your time with us.