Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Roger Cohen Wrong Again: Does He Read The New York Times?

In his op-ed entitled "Obama in His Labyrinth", which appears today online in The New York Times, Roger Cohen asserts:

"The president’s groundbreaking outreach to Iran, which I applaud, has unsettled a regime that does not know how to respond."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/opinion/24iht-edcohen.html?hp

Horsefeathers! Iran knows exactly how to respond. Ahmadinejad has figuratively spat in the face of a president, viewed as feeble and wavering following his refusal to back Iran's dissidents, and ignored each of Obama's successive warnings of "potential steps" (whatever that means) pertaining to Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran continues to develop nuclear weapons, undeterred by Obama.

If Cohen were to read today's New York Times, he would learn how Iran's government is further responding to Obama's overtures:

"It is implanting 6,000 Basij militia centers in elementary schools across Iran to promote the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, and it has created a new police unit to sweep the Internet for dissident voices. A company affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards acquired a majority share in the nation’s telecommunications monopoly this year, giving the Guards de facto control of Iran’s land lines, Internet providers and two cellphone companies. And in the spring, the Revolutionary Guards plan to open a news agency with print, photo and television elements."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/world/middleeast/24iran.html?hp

Congratulations to both Obama and Roger ("Iran is not totalitarian") Cohen.

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