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Entries in Soft Power (1)

Monday
Aug242009

Welcome to the Irony: Iran's Parliament Passes Bill to Defend Human Rights

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IRAN MAJLISPress TV's website reports, from the Iranian Labor News Agency: "A majority of Iranian lawmakers have approved a bill that will fund a program intended to expose “breaches of human rights” in the US. In a vote on Sunday, the parliamentarians voted by a margin of 189 to 21 to pass the bill which will allocate $20 million toward the efforts."

The irony lies not in the Parliament's underlying motive, which is to counter US "soft power" efforts to establish links with groups inside Iran. The head of the Parliament's National Security Committee, "The Americans have repeatedly approved measures to assist Iranian opposition, especially recently [they approved] a $55-million allocation by the US Senate."

Instead, the irony lies in the language of the one-sentence bill (just to help, we've dropped in a bit of boldface): "To counter the unfair restrictions imposed by the United States and other Western powers in the arena of information technology, and in order to expose the numerous and increasing instances of breaches of human rights and to defend legal trends that stand against that country's methods, the sum of $20 million is allocated from the currency reserves fund."

But to get serious, if I may. Gentlemen of the Parliament, if you really want to watch out for those breaches of human rights, not just in the US and the "West" but on an unrestricted basis, do feel flick to click on our (unrestricted) "Buy Us a Coffee (and Keep EA Growing)" link.

Thank you in advance for your contribution!