Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Well, nobody is claiming that Iran's failure to qualify for the World Cup is making the protests last longer. But as I stated before if Iran had defeated South Korea then the regime might have been able to stop the revolt quickly. Now the ending is not in sight and the regime may have to use even more force. While people are not out there because of soccer, the symbolic gesture by the national team in Seoul of wearing green wrist bands had to have encouraged the protesters. I can't imagine Chinese athletes like Yao Ming would have the courage to buck the Chinese government as these Iranians soccer players did on national tv. They are well recognized by the government and thus they put themselves and their family at risk by their actions.

A few days ago I disagreed with people like John McCain who say that Obama has not done or said enough. What did they want him to do? We are not going to send troops so what is the point of meddling in the early part of the protest. It just gives the regime a chance to blame everything on the west and use force against the people. It is not the mind of the hardliners that we are going to change by coming out against the government. It would have actually hurt our standing with moderates and the majority of the Iranians. We have no credibility there. We supported the Shah, we helped Iraq in their war, and we called them the axis of evil. It would be the kiss of death for the demonstrators if we come out strongly agaisnt the regime in the beginning.

Now, however, I think Obama should come out with stronger rhetoric. Again we can't do anything concrete to help the demonstrators but now our moral support will be seen as genuine and not meddling to the average Iranian. You see, the government has resorted to violence already and has already tried to link us to the demonstrators. So we are not endangering the people anymore by condemning the regime. The average Iranian and the world has seen the violence of this regime against its own people. The woman Nada shot by the police has become the face of this revolt. Now Obama can come out and say in no uncertain term that the Iranian government is illegitamate by virtue of actions. Even the Muslim world would have to agree that this is not the doing of the west but of Iranian government itself. It is time for our president to shout out our support for the brave demonstrators.