IRAN - AT 7:29 A.M. ET:  There were new street protests in Iran yesterday, but the oppression continues even off the streets.  Reliable reporter Martin Fletcher documents Iran's agony for the Times of London:

More than 2,000 Iranians have been arrested and hundreds more have disappeared since the regime decided to crush dissent after the disputed presidential election, a leading human rights organisation said yesterday.

“A climate of terror and of fear reigns in Iran today,” the International Federation for Human Rights , an umbrella body for 155 human rights organisations, said as it released the startling figures.

Last night 3,000 protesters tried to gather outside a mosque in Tehran where they believed that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated presidential candidate, was going to speak. The police rapidly dispersed them and Mr Mousavi never appeared.

Having largely suppressed such protests, the security forces are engaged in a purge of dissidents in an apparent effort to decapitate Mr Mousavi’s so-called green movement.

And what is America's reaction to this obscenity?  Now that the president has made some "tough" statements to strengthen his poll numbers, his appointees crave business as usual, as the Israeli press reports:

Despite questions about the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election and his belligerent anti-American rhetoric, the White House remains open to discussions with Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

"It's in the United States' national interest to make sure that we have employed all elements at our disposal, including diplomacy, to prevent Iran from achieving that nuclear capacity," Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday.

COMMENT:  Yeah, right.  The Obama administration sure looks like it's willing to employ all elements at our disposal to stop an Iranian nuke.  These are really men and women of steel.  Tigers all.

The illusions continue, even as Iran arrests dissenters by the truckload.   Obama really believes the Iranian "leaders" will negotiate an acceptable nuclear deal with him, apparently because he is The One.  But they've already rejected every overture.

My own suspicion is that Obama will try to get some piece of paper out of the Iranians, Chamberlain style, to present to the American people before the 2010 midterms.  He will contrast his "success" with the "belligerence" of BUSH (!!).  Of course, the paper will have as many holes as Swiss cheese, but a compliant press will still portray it as a "successful first step."  I stress that this is my speculation, but I'd bet on it.

June 29, 2009