Lebanese militant Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah on Sunday welcomed the election of new Iranian President Hassan Rohani, calling him a "beacon of hope."This apparent incongruity will not stop the West from gushing about the non-existent 'reformist' bona fides of Rohani -- and why should it? After all, Rohani is not the first the West has embraced with open arms in this fashion.
"The Arab and Muslim people... who have always seen the Islamic republic as a supporter of the oppressed... and every fighter who resists for God, consider you today a beacon of hope," AFP quoted the militant group as saying.
As The Muqata points out, Iran's New President Hassan Rohani is just as Moderate as Syria's Bashar al-Assad:
When Syria's leader Bashar al-Assad assumed the mantle of leadership after his father's Hafez's death, he was portrayed as the new hope for Western-Arab relations. Labeled as a "moderate" Bashar was sent to the West, and attended postgraduate studies in London specializing in ophthalmology.Read the whole thing.
Western liberals swooned over video game-playing Bashar, who was head of the Syrian Computer Society which introduced the Internet to Syria in 2001. In an interview, Bashar stated that he saw democracy in Syria as 'a tool to a better life.' Even as late as March 2010, Italy bestowed their highest ranking honor to Dr. Bashar -- the Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. US Secretary of State, John Kerry has even referred to Bashar al-Assad, as "my dear friend.” Diane Sawyer dutifully informed her viewers that "Bashar Assad is ready to work with the United States.
Whether the West was fooled or simply used wishful thinking to drive their foreign policy, Bashar has managed to brutally slaughter over 100,000 including via the use of chemical weapons. Good thing that Israel didn't seriously consider taking to Bashar about giving up the Golan Heights for peace with this brutal dictator (despite ongoing pressure from Israel's left).
For his part, Hassan Rohani unleashed attacks on pro-democracy student protesters in 1999.
And as luck would have it, John Kerry -- who was best buddies with Assad -- is now the US Secretary of State and may have an opportunity to rub shoulders with Rohani.
Kerry after all was Assad's Man in Washington:
For the last decade, he [Kerry] has been the federal government’s highest-ranking apologist for Assad. It was Kerry who made numerous efforts to undermine the Bush administration’s attempt to isolate the Syrian dictator after their courtship of him ended in failure in 2003. Kerry has made repeated visits to Syria, meeting with Assad five times between 2009 and 2011.
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| Dinner with a tyrant: John Kerry and his wife dining with Bashar Assad and his wife in 2011. Will Kerry now make room on his dance card for Rohani? Credit: The Weekly Standard |
As he [Kerry] said last year, “my judgment is that Syria will move; Syria will change, as it embraces a legitimate relationship with the United States and the West and economic opportunity that comes with it and the participation that comes with it.”Who better to determine what US concessions will be necessary in order to properly take advantage of this special moment. The sanctions against Iran -- which have been full of holes and exceptions till now -- are unlikely to around for long, if Kerry can help it.
Kerry has always been confident that Israeli concessions, namely handing over strategically vital territory to Assad, would prompt peace. As disclosed by WikiLeaks, he has told Middle East leaders that Israel should surrender the Golan Heights to Assad and hand over East Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
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