More and more cities have fallen to the opposition. Dozens of regime officials and diplomats have resigned in protest of Qaddafi’s crackdown. Generals and soldiers have defected to the people. Indeed, fighter pilots ordered to fire on the people have refused with a couple flying their planes overseas in defiance. Reports indicate that he’s bringing in mercenaries to do what his Libyan soldiers won’t. He’s holed up in his stronghold in Tripoli refusing to leave and pledging to fight until “the last man.” Towns closer and closer to Tripoli are falling to the protesters. Some analysts are expecting a bloody showdown in Tripoli. A couple of my friends predict that his own generals will murder him to prevent a bloodbath. This would have a major psychological impact for other tyrants and it could contrast with those like Ben Ali who fled by airplane. Make no mistake about it, should he die at the hands of his own generals or from his own people storming his residence, it would send a icy chill down the spines of all the dictators of the region who stubbornly cling onto power in the face of a concerted protest movement. Furthermore, if Qaddafi, one of the most senile and notorious dictators of the Arab and Muslim world, falls from power, it would be give an immeasurable boost to the wider protest movement gripping the region.
The Obama administration is trying oh so hard to place itself “on the right side of history” by rhetorically siding with the street demonstrators in Egypt and Bahrain, and also trying very hard to spin or “direct” the uprisings there againt Iran. This is yet another example of a fine mess the US has gotten itself into because of an inability to deal with reality. U.S. attempts to intervene in the Islamic Republic’s internal politics are typically maladroit and often backfire. But the Obama administration’s performance is setting new standards in this regard. Among other consequences, the administration’s latest initiative to stir up unrest in Iran will put what is left of the reform camp in Iranian politics at an even bigger disadvantage heading into parliamentary elections next year and the Islamic Republic’s next presidential election in 2013, because reformists are now in danger of being associated with an increasingly marginalized and discredited opposition movement that is, effectively, doing America’s bidding.
In short: Keep pushing the Green Fantasy in hopes of regime-change instead of actually engaging Iran, and see where that gets you.
SOROS IS WRONG: THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC WILL SURVIVE AND BENEFIT FROM THE ARAB AWAKENING
We take billionaire financier George Soros up on the bet he proffered to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria this week that “the Iranian regime will not be there in a year’s time.†In fact, we want to up the ante and wager that not only will the Islamic Republic still be Iran’s government in a year’s time, but that a year from now, the balance of influence and power in the Middle East will be tilted more decisively in Iran’s favor than it ever has been.
http://www.raceforiran.com/
I am not Syrus nor the Leveretts (and I read both of their blogs), but I concur the IR will be further empowered by events in ME.
I will go even further, the US will get more desperate (unfortunately for us) as the dollar will weaken, Washington will look for a “final solution” to the perceived Iranian problem. I don’t believe our imperial global presence will withdraw into the shadows quietly.