MORE Adjectives (& a couple'a adverbs, too)

Human Rights on the Backburner Obama has accepted the Iranian government’s smothering of democratic dreams. By Anne Bayefsky Just as the thugs on Iran’s Guardian Council were confirming Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president, Barack Obama and his top officials were unveiling the administration’s Iran policy. From a news conference and a series of Sunday-talk-show appearances we have learned that the Obama plan is this: Speak loudly and don’t carry any stick.

It began on Friday at Obama’s joint press conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel. First came the hot air: “The violence perpetrated against [the Iranian people] is outrageous. . . . We see it and we condemn it. . . . What’s happened in Iran is unacceptable . . . and we call on the Iranian government to uphold . . . international principles.”

The obvious follow-up question was this: Given that the Iranian government never had any interest in upholding the “international principles” you mention — such as “universal rights to assemble, speak freely, and have their voices heard” — what impact will that government’s actions have on your administration’s Iran policy? ...

... President Obama, the human-rights paragon, turns out to be the human-rights victim’s worst nightmare. The façade says he cares. But as soon as defending human rights proves inconvenient to his larger goal of rapprochement with Muslim dictators and “engagement” with fascists in Tehran, Gaza, Ramallah, and Damascus...

...he 'cuts and runs' (THE #1 Democrat military strategy).

— Anne Bayefsky is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and at Touro College. She is also editor of www.EyeontheUN.org.