Anticipating a Coup (Iran)

Newsletter 2009/06/22
German-Foreign-Policy.com

In spite of explicit warnings, German organizations are trying to escalate the internal power struggles in Iran. The state-financed Deutsche Welle radio station is one of the foreign broadcasters, whose Farsi-language program is firing the protesters on, with hourly reports on reactions from the west. Party-affiliated foundations, including the German Free Democratic Party (FDP) -affiliated Friedrich Naumann Foundation are offering their partnership to those opposing the central structures of Iran's government. After initial hesitations, the German Foreign Ministry has also begun to openly intervene in the domestic affairs of a fellow UN member nation, making "demands" on the government of a sovereign country. Over the weekend, the chancellery also assumed the position of a challenging partisan in the Iranian domestic power struggles. German press organs are indulging in blood-lecherous anticipation of the "chaos in Teheran." Every intervention in the current power struggles is "highly detrimental," assessed Bahman Nirumand an expert on Iran. It makes the protest demonstrators appear to be "guided by the West, their leaders will be branded as collaborators." Indeed, the current support for the Iranian opposition is essentially motivated by foreign policy objectives. As long as the West had its Shah regime in power in Teheran, the Iranian movement for democracy was repressed, in a bloodbath, with western help.

Over the weekend representatives of the government in Berlin issued numerous statements intended to teach the Iranian government how to behave democratically. The Iranian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, in a colonial hegemonic manner. The Iranians are rejecting this interference and threatening to break diplomatic relations with Berlin. Still, German organizations close to the government are continuing unabated their activities, fanning domestic protests in Iran. Among the main perpetrators of foreign seditious propaganda are the official German foreign radio station, the Deutsche Welle and several German party-affiliated foundations....

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