See also Iran Video: Hillary Clinton with Voice of America's Parazit
Earlier this week we noted US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's PR offensive and posted the video of her interview with the Voice of America. Now we put up the footage of her discussion with BBC Persian, broadcast on the same day.
Personally, I found this interview far more provocative --- and thus interesting --- than the Voice of America chat. Clinton's description of the US position on the Iranian opposition is far from diplomatic, chiding both the Green Movement and Iranians in general for not doing enough to seek US help in the aftermath of the disputed 2009 Presidential election.
I am not sure Clinton's account is entirely accurate: I recall footage from autumn 2009 in which protesters called on the Obama Administration, then preoccupied with possible nuclear discussions with Tehran, to note their challenge to the regime. At the same time --- and noting that a discussion about the tactics of the Green Movement is far from a footnote --- the Secretary appears to be exposing Washington's dilemmas amidst the mass protests of June 2009: her people wanted to do something beyond telling Twitter to delay maintenance but were uncertain if their actions would be counter-productive as they raised the image of US intervention in Iran's affairs and the "Velvet Revolution" of regime change.