How Barack Obama Violates Human Rights
Published in Elsevier
(Netherlands) on 1 April 2009
by Afshin Ellian (link to original)
The Afghanistan conference has successfully ended. The Netherlands has once again proven that it is able to organize a large international conference in a short time. A similar conference was held in the 1990s, but the safety measures now cannot be compared to other conferences: they were practically war measures. I am glad that most criminals did not know that police officers were not at their usual posts.
New Year
The conference was also marked by contact between Islamic Iran and the United States. President Barack Obama wished Islamic Iran and Iranians happiness for the Iranian New Year. So did George W. Bush. He did it via the radio, but Obama used TV and the internet.
As Obama addressed the Iranian government, a number of bloggers were arrested in Tehran on suspicion of attempting to throw over the regime. Can a blogger overthrow a regime with his text? Can I throw over the Balkenende government? Yet the American president referred to Iran as a "great civilization." Do great civilizations arrest columnists and bloggers nowadays?
Centers of Power
Obama legitimized the Iranian government by explicitly mentioning the Iranian state. For President Bush, the Iranian civilians were more important, and he often addressed them. At that time, the Islamic republic could only count on criticism from the American government. Times have changed.
But what did Obama legitimize? What kind of government has he justified? There are two centers of power in Iran: the government of Ahmadinedjad and that of the spiritual leader of Iran, Khamenei.
Terrorist Battle
What have these two done in recent years? They have armed the Hezbollah in South Lebanon. They have supported and encouraged Hamas in its terrorist battle against the Jewish state. Ahmadinedjad has called for the total destruction of Israel.
And as far as the nuclear program is concerned, they have knowingly violated all resolutions of the U.N. Security Council. In addition, Tehran has also turned down all of Europe's gestures of friendship (which were also expressed in the name of America).
Relentless
Inside their borders, the men have relentlessly suppressed their people. Students and women activists have been regularly arrested and subjected to inhumane treatment.
Dissenters, like the followers of the Bahá’í religion, have been prosecuted and convicted. The highest number of death penalties, behind China, were carried out in Iran. The regime would not even tolerate its own moderate opposition.
And yet Obama tells this regime that it represents a "great" civilization. Barack Hussein Obama? Is this the "messiah" who was supposed to save humankind? This messiah has been very sensitive to the rights of 250 terrorist suspects in America (the inhabitants of Guantanamo Bay).
Top Priority
In reference to his policy on China, the media wrote: "The human rights situation in China is no longer a top priority for the United States. This matter should not get in the way of recovering the world economy and tackling climate change, according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit to Beijing."
Please note that the human rights of 1 billion Chinese people have apparently become an unimportant matter.
Obama promised to recover the moral dignity of America after Bush's blunders. Is this the moral recovery? Or is this just the birth of a period of immoral American foreign policy under the guidance of Obama?
New Year
The conference was also marked by contact between Islamic Iran and the United States. President Barack Obama wished Islamic Iran and Iranians happiness for the Iranian New Year. So did George W. Bush. He did it via the radio, but Obama used TV and the internet.
As Obama addressed the Iranian government, a number of bloggers were arrested in Tehran on suspicion of attempting to throw over the regime. Can a blogger overthrow a regime with his text? Can I throw over the Balkenende government? Yet the American president referred to Iran as a "great civilization." Do great civilizations arrest columnists and bloggers nowadays?
Centers of Power
Obama legitimized the Iranian government by explicitly mentioning the Iranian state. For President Bush, the Iranian civilians were more important, and he often addressed them. At that time, the Islamic republic could only count on criticism from the American government. Times have changed.
But what did Obama legitimize? What kind of government has he justified? There are two centers of power in Iran: the government of Ahmadinedjad and that of the spiritual leader of Iran, Khamenei.
Terrorist Battle
What have these two done in recent years? They have armed the Hezbollah in South Lebanon. They have supported and encouraged Hamas in its terrorist battle against the Jewish state. Ahmadinedjad has called for the total destruction of Israel.
And as far as the nuclear program is concerned, they have knowingly violated all resolutions of the U.N. Security Council. In addition, Tehran has also turned down all of Europe's gestures of friendship (which were also expressed in the name of America).
Relentless
Inside their borders, the men have relentlessly suppressed their people. Students and women activists have been regularly arrested and subjected to inhumane treatment.
Dissenters, like the followers of the Bahá’í religion, have been prosecuted and convicted. The highest number of death penalties, behind China, were carried out in Iran. The regime would not even tolerate its own moderate opposition.
And yet Obama tells this regime that it represents a "great" civilization. Barack Hussein Obama? Is this the "messiah" who was supposed to save humankind? This messiah has been very sensitive to the rights of 250 terrorist suspects in America (the inhabitants of Guantanamo Bay).
Top Priority
In reference to his policy on China, the media wrote: "The human rights situation in China is no longer a top priority for the United States. This matter should not get in the way of recovering the world economy and tackling climate change, according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit to Beijing."
Please note that the human rights of 1 billion Chinese people have apparently become an unimportant matter.
Obama promised to recover the moral dignity of America after Bush's blunders. Is this the moral recovery? Or is this just the birth of a period of immoral American foreign policy under the guidance of Obama?