Déjà-vu all over again?

Originally posted on June 18th, 2009.

On June 4th, 2009, United States President Barack Obama addressed the “Muslim world” from Cairo. His speech was subject to two very immanent tests prevailing from the respective peoples of two Muslim majority countries.

The Lebanese election on June 7th resulted in a victory for the pro-West “March 14th” coalition. The West won’t use this phrasing, but it was essentially a problem averted. Barack Obama made it very clear in his speech in Cairo that no country should impose any form or system of government on another country.

Would the Obama administration have officially recognized a potential victory for the “March 8th” coalition to which Hezbollah, officially listed as a terrorist organization, belonged? Something tells me that, despite the imperfection of the ruling coalition, there were many sighs of relief emerging from the White House after the official results came in.

Five days later, the Obama administration was presented with an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of citizens of a foreign country. Once again, due to an extremely weak foreign policy, this administration has failed Americans, Iranians, and the citizens of the world.

The June 12th Iranian presidential election was a hoax. Everyone knew it once the results came in. The people were not given the power to democratically elect someone who would lead them out of the current economic recession.

Four candidates were given permission to run for President. Due to the overwhelming support for both incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and reformist Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and to the non-negligible support for both other candidates, no single candidate was expected to reach the 50% of the vote necessary to be elected. A runoff the following week was expected.

Instead, President Ahmadinejad ended up with well over 60% of the vote, despite the extremely high voter turnout that was easily viewed as a protest vote. The irregularities are flagrant: in Mousavi’s hometown, a town in which he campaigned very successfully, Ahmadinejad obtained an overwhelming majority of the vote, despite the ethnic ties Mousavi shared with the people of the region.

The ensuing protests, in which hundreds of thousands of Iranians participated, have resulted in dozens of deaths and multiple beatings. In addition to this tragedy, the reactions of two leaders have left people scratching their heads.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supposed Caliph whose role is to preserve the integrity of the Muslim world as a whole, has reached an all-time low. Khamenei, unlike the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, has involved himself directly in the political aspect of the regime. Despite the fact that Khamenei already controls nuclear and foreign policy in addition to the military, he thought it necessary to not only endorse Ahmadinejad for President, but also to confirm the electoral results.

Khamenei now finds himself in a bit of a pickle. Send in the army to stop the protests? He wouldn’t risk another Tiananmen Square massacre. Such a move would damage Iran’s international image and would prove its lack of true democracy. Do nothing? He’d risk losing not only his preferred presidential candidate, but potentially his own claim to power as well.

In the case of Supreme Leader Khamenei, his actions have defined him. Instead of staying above the political world, he chose to descend from his ivory tower, and is paying the price. However, in the case of President Barack Obama of the United States of America, it is his lack of action that has defined him.

Obama wishes to be able to deal with whatever regime emerges from the dust. Because of this, he isn’t taking a stance. Hillary Clinton’s position? “We hope the elections reflect the will of the people.” How about, first acknowledging that they don’t reflect the will of the people, and then doing something about it? That would make your administration look much stronger on the international level, Mr. Obama. And even more importantly, it’s the right thing to do.

For the second time in less than a two-week span, Barack Obama has proven that he doesn’t care about citizens of the world who aren’t citizens of the United States of America. Iranians are standing on their rooftops screaming “Allahu Akbar”, reminiscent of the 1979 Islamic revolution, and the world’s only superpower remains paralyzed by its own weak foreign policy.

My congratulations to President Barack Obama for attempted diplomacy. However, he has still to learn that the latter isn’t to be used for convenience, but for establishing true peace and a better life for all.

My message to the reader? Don’t be afraid to speak your mind. Be who you are. Your actions, or sometimes lack thereof, define who you are as a person, as a member of your community, as a citizen of your country, and as a human life on our planet that is home to billions of others.

One person can make a difference. Don’t ever think that that person can’t be you.

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