Two Days in a Row: New York Times' Op-Eds Oppose Iran Sanctions

Remarkable how much attention Iran is receiving in the opinion section of The New York Times. Yesterday, there was an op-ed, "Buying American in Tehran", written by someone who described himself as "an analyst for a hedge fund in Tehran this summer", claiming that sanctions against Iran would be misguided. Today, Roger Cohen followed this up with another op-ed, "Iran's Flip-Flopper Supreme", which concluded:

"For the United States and its allies to threaten [Iran] — through sanctions or otherwise — would be worse than foolish. It would be pointless."

My response:

"Well, sir, which is it, flag-bearer or flouter, torch or torturer, that best describes the Islamic Republic’s relationship to human rights?"

Roger, you still don't know? Do only the victims of this tyrannical regime's most recent "election" disturb you? What about the thousands of Baha'is, Kurds, Jews, Sunni Muslims, homosexuals and political dissidents who were murdered by the Khamenei regime prior to the election?

But in case, for any reason, you remain in doubt, The New York Times today reported that with the full support of the the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, Iran's parliament:

"approved all but three of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 21 nominees for his cabinet Thursday, handing a victory to the beleaguered president who now has close allies overseeing key ministries of oil, interior and intelligence. Iran’s new government will include as defense minister Ahmad Vahidi, wanted by Interpol on charges that he helped organize the bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina in 1994. . . . For intelligence minister, the cabinet approved Haidar Moslehi, a former adviser to Mr. Ahmadinejad who had served as a representative of Ayatollah Khamenei in the paramilitary Basij organization. His appointment was likely sanctioned by the Supreme Leader, who has a hand over all security related appointments". (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/world/middleeast/04iran.html?hp)

Also worth noting that two of the three women nominated by Ahmadinejad were rejected by Iran's parliament.

As noted in several comments to Cohen's op-ed, the only "supreme flip-flopper" is Cohen himself. In my blog entry in response to the "summer hedge fund analyst", I stated:

"This almost makes me miss Roger Cohen . . ."

Sorry, Roger, I take it back.