Washington Post Editorial, "Iran’s ludicrous conviction of Jason Rezaian": You Think Obama Gives a Damn?

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In an editorial entitled "Iran’s ludicrous conviction of Jason Rezaian," The Washington Post writes:

"This travesty ought to shame the Iranian government into releasing the journalist — if only to forestall questions from would-be international investors in Iran, who have to wonder whether their personnel will be vulnerable to similarly arbitrary arrests and secret trials.

. . . .

That he has been unjustly imprisoned for longer than the American hostages were held in Tehran in 1979-81 makes a mockery of Mr. Zarif’s claims that Iran wishes to improve its relations with the outside world. It reveals Iran as a country where the most basic norms of justice are still grotesquely flouted and where taking prisoners to use as pawns is still regarded as an acceptable form of diplomacy.

Iran has done extraordinary injury to Mr. Rezaian over the past 14 months. But the longer it holds him, the more damage it does to its international standing."

"Forestall questions from would-be international investors in Iran"? Sorry, boys and girls, but these money-crazed investors don't give a damn.

"It reveals Iran as a country where the most basic norms of justice are still grotesquely flouted"? Apparently WaPo's editorial board is unaware that Iran hangs homosexuals, stones to death women accused of adultery, brutally persecute Baha'is, Christians, Kurds and Sunnis, and executes poets for "waging war on God." The "most basic norms of justice" have been and will continue to be "grotesquely flouted" in Iran, and nobody - not the Europeans, not Russia, not the Obama administration, and not Iran itself - cares about Iran's "international standing."

Most remarkable, however, it that there is no mention by WaPo's editorial board of Iran's violation over the weekend of UN Security Council Resolution 1929, which provides "Iran shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using ballistic missile technology." But once again, Obama and friends prefer to pretend that it didn't happen. The nuclear deal with Iran is a sham, but Obama's legacy must be protected at all costs.