A Daily Briefing on Iran, A Conversation with Natan Sharansky

Sharansky: Dissidents must be your partners. The Free World must support the dissidents. The world is much different today than back when there was a Soviet Union. How different things would have been if there had been an internet back then. Today, dissidents can get their message out much more easily via the internet.

The US is being blackmailed by nuclear weapons development by the Iranian regime. There are trade unions and student unions that are very powerful in Iran. We must support them.

As an example: Poland- The union Solidarity was praised and watched by the whole world. We need to support with strong statements and not come in agreement with the Ayatollahs like the current administration is doing.

The Bush Administration is using the policy of the Clinton administration.

It did not work with North Korea. It will not work with Iran. You must never make deals with brutal regimes.

Others on the line:
Boker Tov, Boulder (Anne Lieberman), Excerpt:

"Imagine how different the world would have been if when I was a dissident there was Internet...we had to got to great risk to have meetings with just one journalist...It was so difficult to communicate with citizens in Soviet Union...That you can have from your home, free access behind the Iron Curtain...it's a great, great power."

Powerline (Scott Johnson), Excerpt:

Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit has an excellent summary of the bloggers' conference call arranged by the Heritage Foundation with Natan Sharansky yesterday. Sharansky addressed two issues: the administration's engagment of Iran and the destruction of Christian and Jewish religious antiquities on the Temple Mount as a result of actions taken under the supervision of the Waqf Authority. (Sharansky invited us to visit his One Jerusalem site and sign the related petition there.)

Regime Change Iran (Dr. Zin), (ibid) Excerpt:

I have long admired Natan and jumped at the chance to find out his thoughts. I asked the first question: Regarding the US backtracking on Iran: how do we help the US to refocus on democracy in Iran?

Right Wing News (John Hawkins), Excerpt:

During the Q&A phase of the press conference, I asked if there would be a Fatah/Hamas civil war?

He said it would really be more like a bloody battle of gangs, with most people sitting on the sidelines, rather than a civil war. It may be very bloody, but won't be a civil war per se.

Other bloggers weigh in:
vital perspective - Sharansky Speaks with Bloggers on Affairs in Israel and Iran, Democracy, Excerpt:

Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident, anticommunist, Zionist, Israeli politician and writer, coauthored The Case for Democracy with Ron Dermer, which had a major influence on the President Bush and other government officials, who urged their subordinates to read the book. His life and his view on world affairs is indeed one of the most important stories -- in terms of foreign policy implications -- to be told in years.

One Jerusalem - Sharansky Announces Campaign To Save Temple Mount, Excerpt:

Natan Sharansky announced the launch of a petition drive (directed at Prime Minister Olmert and President Bush) to stop the Muslim religious authority (Waqf) in Jerusalem from continuing to destroy irreplaceable artifacts from King Solomon's Temple and Christian Churches from antiquity.Sharansky told the bloggers that the Waqf is turning the Temple Mount into a mosque to make it off limits to non-Muslims.

Compass Points

Milton J Madison - Neo-con Natan Sharansky...., Excerpt:

Sharansky: What the Clinton Administration did in Korea was wrong and did not work. You can see what it resulted in. The North Koreans have nuclear weapons today. Likewise, when President Clinton refused to demand democratic change from Arafat for Palestine, fearing it would cause instability, he did not help the peace process at all.