Walking the Iranian Balance Beam

Lots of good stuff to read on Iran, perhaps too much... much like clicking on the #Iranelection feed on Twitter. So far I think President Obama is doing an excellent job of walking the fine line between expressing support for democracy and not being seen as meddling or taking sides.

First read the op-ed in the New York Times from an anonymous Iranian student, who states that all our outside opinions, beliefs, and assumptions about Iran are likely to be at best outdated and at worst dead wrong. As both the student and Walt point out, even if a recount or re-vote occurs and Mousavi is declared the winner that doesn't necessarily mean a more pro-U.S. government or one that will stop pursuing nuclear weapons.

Also check out Tom Ricks' post about how the current situation reminds him of the aborted Hungarian revolution in 1956. Although my memories of Budapest are entirely from history books and The Company I had the same thought, and would hate to egg on the protests into a revolution with veiled promises of support only to leave the protesters holding their limp... lets just say empty handed and alone.