Hello? Is anyone listening to the Iranian people?

I have just finished reading a good report from Opinion Journal about
Reza Pahlavi, the deposed Shah's son. He has some insights I have been promoting for some time now. I just wish the White House, the Congress, or anyone with authority would listen.

And yet a solution to all of this is percolating up today, Mr. Pahlavi says, and it's coming from the Iranian people. In fact, he insists, in dealing with a belligerent Tehran, "there is only one thing that the outside world can do, and that is to tell the regime: 'We are serious about supporting the people who are inside Iran who are against you.' That is the only thing that will make Mr. Khamenei [Iran's supreme leader] and everybody stand down. Because nothing else ruffles them. The only thing they are really scared of are the people themselves."

Peaceful revolutions from within have worked before, so why, he asks, isn't the West investing in the Iranian people--"the same way they supported so many movements in Eastern Europe that ultimately brought down communist governments that were under Moscow's umbrella?" Dissidents are everywhere, in the universities, workplaces, the conventional armed forces, he adds: "There are thousands of cells . . . each trying to bring as much pressure as they can--but with very limited resources. Imagine the cumulative weight of all these resistance groups in a civil disobedience act--nonviolent, we don't believe in violent change--that could begin sustained pressure to the point of paralyzing the system until it would collapse."

Indeed. Stop their travel, their phony companies that allow terrorists to arm themselves, freeze their bank accounts, and many other steps that could be taken.

After all, we helped with the Orange Revolution (Ukraine), the Lebanon situation where we kicked out Syria temporarily, and brought down the USSR by supporting the people. Have we forgotten how to do this? I do not think so! Condi, you were there. Remember! Damn it.

Anyway, read the article. It is a good one, and it can keep us from the brink of war. Thank you.

Category: Iran and the USA.