On Aug 24, 2006, at 11:41 PM, Marvin Gandall wrote:
> Doesn't the issue for the left boil down to whether or not to
> support the
> Iranians and the Islamist movements, warts and all, in their
> confrontations
> with Israel and the US? I think they deserve support strictly out
> of respect
> for the principle of self-determination and non-interference, and
> I'd be
> surprised if you and most others on the list did not feel likewise.
Of course. But it's one thing to say that Iran has every right to defend itself against the US and Israel, even to the point of developing nuclear weapons, and another to do PR for the regime, and whitewash its horrible record on basic human liberties (and even to dismiss such concerns as out-of-touch "liberalism").
> With all due respect to Yoshie, then, I think her focus on the
> domestic
> policies of Ahmadinejad and the Islamists is politically misguided.
Exactly.
Doug