Outside of the United States, the news that U.S. President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize resonated perhaps most strongly with Iranians.
The traditional anti-US groups in Iran, who view any event as an enemy conspiracy toward their country, this time too declared the granting of the award a political move, for what they called “covering up American complicity in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gaza.”
“Obama pledged to close Guantanamo in three months — so why are the doors still open?” said Roshan. “He promised to withdraw troops from Iraq — instead the military bases were just relocated outside of Iraqi cities. He added a surge in the hell that is Afghanistan. Obama also maintained an ugly silence about the women and children massacred in Gaza. Is this the resume of a defender of peace?”
But Obama’s Nobel weighed more critically with the Iranian opposition.
Most Iranians appeared to favor improved relations with the world prior to June’s tainted election. But judging from an exhaustive reading of the Iranian blogosphere in reaction to President Obama’s win, the mood has shifted. After facing off with Iran’s hardline government in mass protests, and witnessing scores of their compatriots killed or arrested, tortured and raped in detention, refusal to recognize the legitimacy of Iran’s current government was the minimum support many Iranians looked to from other countries.
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