"Will A Wise Man Give A Sharp Dagger To An Insane Person ?"

'I have a message for the international community' [Rich Lowry]

A friend is e-mailing around this excerpt from a CNN interview with a demonstrator this morning:

Mohammad: Excuse me, sir. I have a message for the international community. Would you please let me tell it?

Roberts: Yes, go ahead.

Mohammad: 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? We need your help international community. Don't leave us alone.

Chetry: Mohammad, what do you think the international community should do besides sanctions?

Mohammad: Actually, this regime is really dependent on importing gasoline. More than 85% of Iran's gasoline is imported from foreign countries. I think international communities must sanction exporting gasoline to Iran and that might shut down the government.


Israel & Iran [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Martin Kramer writes that the president should have used the word
"intolerable" not for the situation of the Palestinians (whose "president" has described that same situation as "good" and "normal"), but for the repression in Iran, whose courageous young people genuinely crave support.

BBQ Diplomacy Still On? [Greg Pollowitz]

The Iranian murderers are still invited to our Fourth of July celebrations:

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States said Monday its invitations were still standing for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 celebrations at US embassies despite the crackdown on opposition supporters.

President Barack Obama's administration said earlier this month it would invite Iran to US embassy barbecues for the national holiday for the first time since the two nations severed relations following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"There's no thought to rescinding the invitations to Iranian diplomats," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

"We have made a strategic decision to engage on a number of fronts with Iran," Kelly said. "We tried many years of isolation, and we're pursuing a different path now."

I wonder, How many young women must be shot before the invitation is rescinded?

There's No Nuking Talk Possibilities [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Fox News's Major Garrett tweets from the White House press briefing today: "Gibbs says admin still open to negotiations with ruling Iranian regime on nukes, despite it's 'unjust' acts."

So were the neocons right all along? [Tom Gross]

President Bush said liberating Iraq would have a regional domino effect and give people a taste for freedom and democracy. Is this what we’re seeing now in Iran?

As Bush said, liberty isn’t American, or British, or French. It is human. No, the morality police in Iran are not just “part of Iranian culture” as some critics of Bush have claimed. Nor are public hangings. Nor are arbitrary detentions of doctors, or Holocaust denial conferences.Peace comes through the spread of liberalism and democracy.

Whatever the “foreign policy realists” or “regime apologists” might claim, there is little doubt in my view that should Iran become a free nation the world will be a safer place for all, not just a better place for Iranians.

I have posted some videos of the Iranian uprising on my website and I would strongly urge you to watch them.

They show the reality of Iran’s dictatorship, a reality that many international TV networks are refusing to show. Some of these videos are disturbing but I feel they need to be watched to understand the true nature of Iran’s regime and why it should never be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.I have not included those which are too bloody to watch.

To state the obvious, this is not some video game or Hollywood movie. These events really happened, and they happened last week, and the leader of the free world, Barack Obama, has been extraordinarily slow to criticize them.