Didn't they know

I can't believe all the people who complained that President Obama wasn't speaking out strongly enough about the election results, protests, and violence in Iran. How naive can those folks be? Don't they have a grasp on the reality in that area of the world to know that anytime an American President says anything negative about a situation in that region, the powers that be will have a reason to blame America.

Well...even without strong words from our chief executive, CNN reports that: Obama blasted allegations from some in Iran's government that the U.S. is "instigating protests" as "patently false and absurd."

How could politicians and well meaning citizens not know that this would happen?!

We'll just have to wait and see how this whole thing works out. But...to put fuel on the fire wouldn't have helped at all.

Let's hope that peace and fair representation reigns for our Persian friends.

The real leader in Iran calls for scrutiny

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei has called for scrutiny of the election between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his political rival Mir Hossein Moussavi.

We must realize how important this move is. It means there is a possibility that, while a democratic election may be flawed, it can still be reviewed by the government and perhaps even overturned or new elections scheduled. Hmmm...that would be an amazing thing.

But, of course, the rub here is that they person calling for of an investigation of the results is really the leader of the country anyway. So...while I give him credit for his decision, does it matter in the grand scheme of things? Will he cede real power to the electorate and its representatives?

It'll be interesting to see how the leadership situation in Iran really works out.

A superb speech from our leader

President Obama's speech in Cairo last week was superb. I think it's about time that someone of his stature stood up and addressed not only the Muslims of the world, but the entire population of this planet and said enough hate already!

As I listened to his speech I would say to myself..."Why don't you say something about..." and he would! Hmm, it was sorta like we had some telepathy. The man discussed everything relevant to the region. Oil, Iraq, Israel, Afganistan, freedom, women's rights, and so many other topics that it's hard to remember them all.

The beauty of it is that he's not condescending or verbose. He recognizes that everyone believes that they have a right to their opinions. Of course the trick is to make people feel equal and then hammer out a solution that each group can live with.

At least he's taken a big and solid step in that direction. And for that I just wanna say..."Finally!"