Ronald Reagan with Natan Sharansky. Wikipedia
Eli Lake, Bloomberg: What a Soviet Dissident Sees in Iran's Unrest
A reminder of what happened when the West supported the Soviet regime rather than the Soviet resistance.
French President Emmanuel Macron is deeply concerned. His government has expressed tempered support for the demonstrations in Iran, but for now he is more worried about the reaction of America, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
This week he warned that the full-throated endorsement for the unrest in Iran by these governments "is almost one that would lead us to war." It reminds him of the "axis of evil."
Macron, ever the keen student, believes the consensus of most regional experts, who say that the leaderless protests in Iran are likely to fail. What's more, any full-throated expressions of solidarity will probably endanger the precious nuclear deal his government helped negotiate in 2015. Best to call on both sides to refrain from violence and continue the post-2015 policy of integrating Iran into the community of nations.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The similarities on how Western governments are responding to the unrest in Iran to how Western governments responded to the dissident movement in the former Soviet Union are striking. What Natan Sharansky is saying in the above post is what I have also been saying on this blog for years .... when people rise against a brutal regime they should not be told by the leaders in the West to tone down their protests, what they should be told is that we support you, and that we wish you success. That moral support means a lot .... and for those who support the regime (or who are in the regime), a message that always makes me shudder and uncomfortable to hear. I should know .... I lived it.
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