(Washington Post) Charles Lane - On June 20, 2009, a government thug fired a bullet through the heart of Neda Agha Soltan, 26, as she stood watching protests against blatant fraud in the Iranian elections. Video of her dying moments went viral, and Neda became a global symbol of the Green Revolution. With the nuclear deal that the world's great powers, led by the U.S., signed last weekend with Ayatollah Khamenei's representatives amid much smiling and backslapping, no one's talking about Neda. Maybe we should be. If a regime would defraud, imprison and murder its people, or support terrorism throughout its neighborhood, why would it hesitate to deceive and manipulate other nations in its pursuit of nuclear weapons? The endgame of the mullahs in Tehran will not be Persian perestroika but endless discussion about Iran's nuclear capability, which would never be surrendered but would always be in play diplomatically - the better to secure the gradual loosening of sanctions. So much for the memory of Neda Agha Soltan.
2013-11-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive