The situation there is degenerating so quickly; I can't help but wonder where my opinion should be.

It's pretty clear what's going on, and that the entire regime there needs to be forced out, ideally by its own people. I'd really like to see us help, but at the same time I'm still a person with strong non-intervention beliefs. Not to sound outright isolationist, but I always feel like its not our place as a foreign power to make those sort of decisions.

That said, I really want to see somebody do something about it, maybe even if it has to be us. I'm really conflicted. Do you feel this country should get involved?

My thought is, no. We've intervened in their politics way too much in the past, and in some circles- mostly older, conservative ones- there's still resentment over that. If we got involved, the current regime would exploit that resentment for all it's worth. Whatever bad stuff happens, the US would be their scapegoat. Hell, Ahmadinejad is even now trying to blame the US for tampering with the election (as if anyone rational listens to that fuckwit).

Obama has basically said, "We support the peaceful protests, but Iran has to choose its own leadership." That's about as supportive as we can be without giving the current regime more ammo.

For the sake of the protesters, I'd also like to see help offered. However, I think if international intervention happens, it would be better coming from countries that have strong ties with Iran, like Germany. Germany can leverage its economic clout- something the US doesn't have with Iran- to (hopefully) great effect.

My ultimate hope is that this potential revolution leads to more freedom for the Iranians, and to reestablishment of friendly relations with the US. I would love to go visit Iran, or have my family visit us in the States.

Edited at 2009-06-19 07:17 pm (UTC)

I hope Iran is able to take its own freedom, because that seems to be the only way that ends up well. Being a client-state is part of what created this mess!

Iran is one of the countries I've wished I could visit ever since I took a series of courses on the Middle East in college. Until this started happening, I never dreamed it would be possible.

It's possible, just not at all easy. And with no US Embassy there, if they decide to give you trouble, you're fucked.

By jumping through a ton of hoops, my mom was able to reclaim her Iranian citizenship. With dual US/Iran citizenship, she has no trouble traveling there and back. Of course, there are no direct flights; she has to stop somewhere in Europe, then catch a flight to Tehran.

This is one of the bits that gets me: Mousavi's supporters wanted the crowd to stay calm and stage a peaceful demonstration, so as not to give Ahmadinejad's supporters a reason to resort to violence. They don't NEED a reason. They're doing it for the sheer assholery of it, because people are daring to speak out. Repressive governments hate that like a tourist hates fire ants.

But they forget that fire ants swarm like crazy when they're pissed off, and there are WAY too many of them to defeat in the end. >:)

*hugs*

*hugs* Yeah. They can't get enough Iranian military and police to turn on their own people, so they're importing fucking Hezbollah thugs from Lebanon.

Khameini is now trying to get everyone to STFU and GBTW. I don't know how or if Mousavi will respond to that, but the nightly chant of "Death to the dictator" and "Allahu akbar" continued in Tehran despite the announcement.

Haven't heard from my cousin in a few days, but from what I understand, the government keeps cracking down on new sites, and this crisis has stretched Iran's bandwidth to the limit. I hear that it can take up to 20 minutes just for Yahoo! to load =(