United States and European Union issue joint statement on Iran human rights obligations

You have to play a pretty good game of chess to keep up with the diplomacy being displayed by the United States and some of its allies in regards to Iran. President Barack Obama issued a joint statement today with the European Union calling on Iran to examine its obligations to human rights in the wake of the June 12th elections. 

February 11th is the anniversary of the Islamic Republic's founding. Both sides know there will be more than fireworks going off that day. With every public gathering Iranian citizens in the green reformist movement grow bolder. The Iranian government had its hands full dealing with public demonstrations for most of last year. 

The United States is sticking to its game plan on the diplomatic front. Continuing to put public pressure on Iran to live up to  its international human rights obligations. Even going as far as to demand the Iranians hold accountable those who have committed the abuses and to release those who are exercising their rights.

All of this rhetoric from the United States, which Israel is watching closely, creates an atmosphere for uprising. It gives Iranian citizens the courage they need to take to the streets and demonstrate their anger with the current regime. The United Nations will be watching to see how Iran deals with the situation. In a country where public hangings have become more and more popular of late, the tolerance for civic unrest is very low. 

We will have to wait and see how the diplomatic strategy of the United States and the European Union plays out. Iran still wants nuclear power. As the West continues to pressure Iran with sanctions. Iran's ties with China increase. China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil. An energy source that China has to respect and does not want to lose. They also would have huge concerns with any western led military operation. 

The U.S.  recently sold Taiwan 8 billion in weapons. China took a largely symbolic hard line. Does the U.S. have the resources to pressure China in regards to Iran? The U.S. is not the super power it used to be 12 years ago. Years of financial decline have made the U.S. have to respect a lot of decisions made by China. We just don't have the arsenal of weapons somebody like Drew Brees has right now. China knows this but so far has not overplayed its hand in regards to global issues. 

Like the Super Bowl game, the only difference is there are four or five teams competing and coming in second or third place on a few issues is not all that bad. Except when the issue is a short supply of energy reserves.

The recent talk of China beng upset about the U.S. meeting with the Dalai Lama is not a big issue though. That's old news that President Obama and President Hu when they met in Beijing talked about repeatedly. 

White House press secretary Robert GIBBS: There are issues that are of mutual concern and then there are issues that are of great concern to each of the individual countries. A nuclear Iran is not in the interest of the American government or the Chinese government. An arms race in the Middle East is not a good thing for us or for them. And a worldwide arms race and the destabilizing nature that that could have throughout the world is not a good thing for the American government or for the Chinese government.

The problem the U.S. is having right now when dealing with Iran and China is that the age of global human-rights advocacy has collapsed. Much to do with the global recession, many countries find themselves looking the other way on human rights violations.