Actions Still Drowning Out Words, Everywhere But Here
And that’s why this award must be shared with everyone who strives for justice and dignity — for the young woman who marches silently in the streets on behalf of her right to be heard even in the face of beatings and bullets; for the leader imprisoned in her own home because she refuses to abandon her commitment to democracy; for the soldier who sacrificed through tour after tour of duty on behalf of someone half a world away; and for all those men and women across the world who sacrifice their safety and their freedom and sometime their lives for the cause of peace.
That has always been the cause of America. That’s why the world has always looked to America. And that’s why I believe America will continue to lead.
— President Barack Obama’s comments on accepting the 2009 Nobel Peace Price, October 9, 2009
This is what sharing looks like to Barack Obama.
A court has sentenced three people to death over unrest that erupted after Iran’s disputed election in June and links to exiled opposition groups, the ISNA news agency reported on Saturday.
ISNA, citing the head of the publication relations office of Tehran provincial court, did not identify those who received the death penalty, giving only their initials.
“The execution sentences were handed down because of involvement in post-election developments and affiliation with the Iran monarchical association and the PMOI,” the official, Zahid Bashiri-Rad, said.
Sure, we’ll share the award with all those folks. Well, we won’t share the prize money. That’s Barack Obama’s. And we won’t actually share the considerable power of the United States with anyone wanting a little help lifting the tyrant’s boot off their throat. That’s hegemonic and likely to get a shoe thrown at us. But so far as our sharing ensures that we continue to get accolades from various international institutions, we’ll keep on doing that.
As for those all those folks the President rhetorically trotted out to prop up his democratic cred, they’ll just have to understand that our real policy tends more toward “sucks to be you”. The truth is our President is just going to keep talking big stuff about freedom and the rule of law while placating dictators and crushing democratic nations in the name of stability.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Powell and Obama, Not as Different as All That
- I See What You Did There, Mr. President
- Is Our New Foreign Policy Really “Do The Opposite of Bush”?
Category: Our Foreign Policy
