Monday, June 16, 2003

Pro-Democracy, Pro-West protests in Iran have been gathering steam in the past week.

  • The Washington Post

  • This could be the direct result of the United State's action in Iraq. Prior to the fall of the Hussein regime, the Pro-West reformers were limited in there efforts because the radical clerics controlled most of the security organization. The reformers understood that if the security apparatus were weakened significantly, Iran would be open to attack from Iraq. Now that Hussein is no longer in power, the pro-Democracy elements in Iran are free to operate in a relative safe environment free from the threat of foreign invasion. President Bush, this past week, reaffirmed the national policy towards Iran and Democracy by praising the reformers in Iran. This response resulted in a verbal condemnation from the ruling Clerics in Iran. But once again, US foreign policy is at odds with many of the European and Asian nations who continue to support the radical clerics. While a revolutionary tide begins to sweep Iran, Russia continues to give nuclear support to radical elements in Iran, and France continues to do business with the unpopular ruling clerics, disavowing the popular trend in Iran. By doing Business with an unpopular regime, those nations that continue to bolster the radical clerics make a democratic movement in Iran much more difficult while facing the loss of their investments much like they did in Iraq.