The World Desk

 The World Desk

Michael Petrou writes about international news and Canadian foreign policy.

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Another unarmed protester shot dead in Iran

by Michael Petrou on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 10:41am - 15 Comments

The exact date this footage was filmed is disputed. What it depicts is not: another innocent Iranian has been shot dead, this time through the head, while protesting Iran’s rigged presidential election. 

Although President Obama has not yet officially dropped his policy of engaging with Iran, it is difficult to see how such a policy can still be justified. Iran has already committed widespread atrocities against its own people, and it appears this repression and violence will escalate. As Payam Akhavan, a professor of international law at McGill University, notes today in the Ottawa Citizen, such actions constitute crimes against humanity, and the Iranian leaders responsible for them deserve to face justice, as did Slobodan Milosevic and as will, one hopes, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. 

This isn’t to say that Obama’s strategy of extending a hand to Iran was foolish, only that it has failed. Iran will not unclench its fist. Obama needs to recognize this and reconsider his options.

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  • http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

    "This isn’t to say that Obama’s strategy of extending a hand to Iran was foolish, only that it has failed."

    Of course it was foolish, and that's putting it mildly. What's happened in the past month that would change Obama's mind? Iranian rulers are still the same collection of gangsters and murderers that Obama was gung-ho to talk/negotiate with when he was campaigning so I don't see what the problem is. The mad mullahs are killing citizens and Obama thinks it is a 'debate'. Why can't Obama negotiate with reasonable chaps who like to 'debate' with their people on the proper nature of government.

    • Blues Clair

      Got any ideas for Obama Jolyon?

      "Ardeshir is opposed to economic sanctions against Iran, arguing that they will only punish Iran's people, not its government."
      - MICHAEL PETROU
      July 2, 2007

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

    "Got any ideas for Obama Jolyon?"

    Yes, I would tell Obama to do the opposite of whatever his first instincts are.

    And while we are posting random quotes, I quite liked this one from Mohammad on CNN last week:

    "Americans, European Union, international community, this government is not definitely — is definitely not elected by the majority of Iranians. So it’s illegal. Do not recognize it. Stop trading with them. Impose much more sanctions against them. My message…to the international community, especially I’m addressing President Obama directly – how can a government that doesn’t recognize its people’s rights and represses them brutally and mercilessly have nuclear activities? This government is a huge threat to global peace. Will a wise man give a sharp dagger to an insane person?"

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

      Oh dear. They're not insane. They're not "illegal." They've been a hell of a lot less brutal China was in 1989 and we've literally spent the last 20 years clutching China to our breast. It's called Realpolitik, jolyon, ever heard of it? Obama has not engaged in dialogue with Iran because the Iranian regime is good, he's done so because the USA cannot invade Iran and therefore can only control its actions diplomatically. Why are you so keen to give the mullahs a free hand? Because isolating them like you suggest would do absolutely nothing to influence their behaviour, let alone topple them.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

    Oh, surely we have more than one hand …..

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/…

    Sometimes they're used for a shake, sometimes for a slap …

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

    Mr. Petrou, what is your opinion on Kent State? Should the Governor of Ohio have been indicted for crimes against humanity? A few volleys of live ammo from a platoon are of course not as terrible as posting snipers to shoot your own citizens at random — which is surely what these rooftop gunmen are — but I do think you're overreacting just because this instance of extreme state repression was caught on video.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

      while I can't say i see anything that puts the Iranian leadership quite on par with Milosevic just yet – genocide – invocation of genocide as allegation or as a comparative case should not be made loosely – I am not sure what a reasoned reaction to this is Jack, in the context of what is actually on and off the table (and a ward was not reasoned).

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

    well put Jack. Jolyon who might want to read this: http://www.harpers.org/archive/2002/11/0079384

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

    Surely what Iran needs is one or more of these …..

    http://rebelreports.com/post/130052229/paramilita…

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

    I certainly agree there should be some response, sea&mountains, especially if we conclude that the revolutionaries have been stymied. Ideally we could act together with Russia; methinks Russia will be the key player in the region in the next 10 years.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

      Ah. The Great Game. Which contributed mightily , through twists and turns , to the current kerfluffle.

      Time to dig out and dust off the Flashman. Again.

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

        Right! Isn't that amazing, to think that the frantic politicking & sabotaging of the 1880's is still going on? I can't think of another unbroken thread of policy and war that goes that far back, all with the same actors and the same aims.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

      i think you are likely right re the Russians. the ability to demonstrate that their is not 'another side' to play ball – and perhaps to continue to try to sway the Iranian leadership through informal continued communications – maybe the only valid option here.

  • http://thespiritofman.blogspot.com Winston

    Isolate the regime, empower the Iranian people and get rid of this regime. Imagine the potentials that a free Iran can have for the rest of the world.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/SophiaGeffros SophiaGeffros

    Oh god.
    It's enough to make you realize that the 'scandals' in our countries politics that we obsess over and complain about are so petty, and it's only because we are blessed with freedom that we are able to take the time to compain.
    I wish there was a way to stop it that wouldn't result in MAD.

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