Obama's Right: Pragmatism Is Only Way

February 11 will test regime, international community

(NEWSER) - Feb. 11, the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, promises to bring tests for all parties with a hand in the nation's fate, writes Gerald Seib. Big marches traditionally herald the anniversary, and members of the opposition movement that has bloomed since last June's election will undoubtedly come out in big numbers. That's the test for Mahmoud "Ahmadinejad and his government, which will have to decide how hard to bring down their iron fist." More»

He's deserting the brave revolutionaries: Krauthammer

(NEWSER) - Electoral fraud fueled the protests in Iran, but now there is a full-fledged revolution brewing—and according to Charles Krauthammer, the demonstrators are desperate for just one signal that the US supports them. Instead, President Obama has pledged "dialogue" with a "clerical dictator" and left the green revolutionaries to fend for themselves. "The Khamenei regime is deciding whether to do a Tiananmen," writes the Washington Post columnist. "And what side is the Obama administration taking? None." More»

Iranian opposition leader may be under house arrest

(NEWSER) - Mir Hossein Mousavi said today that the Iranian regime has pressured him to drop his challenges to the disputed election, but that he would resist any efforts to abridge his "constitutional right to protest." The opposition leader has not been seen in public for days, reports the Guardian, and he wrote on his website today that his "access to people is completely restricted"—reinforcing speculation he might be detained or under house arrest. More»

Ex-PM has conservative record; change likely tough under ayatollah

(NEWSER) - Observers have heralded the candidacy of Mir Hossein Mousavi as a step toward a more moderate Iran—but in fact, Mousavi’s record shows support for some "controversial policies" in Iran, the Wall Street Journal reports. As prime minister in the 1980s, Mousavi was a social conservative, and he backs the ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution. More»

(NEWSER) - Westerners may well be wondering what happened to the articulate young Iranians who endorsed presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi on TV recently. Didn't those freedom-loving voters represent today's Iran? "Actually, no," writes Christopher Dickey in Newsweek. "It appears that the working classes and the rural poor—the people who do not much look or act or talk like us," have chosen Iran's president. More»