 AP Photo Iran's elections last Friday and their dramatic aftermath provided the Obama Administration a unique opportunity to put into action key elements of the government's public diplomacy strategy. Unfortunately, as President Obama has carefully positioned himself on the fence between the alleged winner, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the candidate supported by Iran's hundreds of thousands of protestors, Hossein Mousavi, the message from the U.S. government has been muted.
While Web 2.0 technology has the potential to play a role similar to that played by fax machines in the Solidarity uprising in Poland in the 1980s and cell phones in Ukraine's Orange Revolution, America has done too little to support Iran's widespread and growing democracy movement. A golden opportunity to reach... TAGGED: United States, America, Obama administration, Islamic Republic of Iran, U.S. government, Department of State, Ukraine, Poland, Obama, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President , Twitter, Hossein Mousavi, Judith McHale, social Web site, 2.0 technology, cell phonesRECOMMENDED ARTICLES| Over the past 72 hours, the city of Tehran has become a glass house. The windows are a bit dirty due to media censorship, but through Web sites like YouTube and Twitter -- and simply by word of mouth -- the world has gotten a... more ›› |
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