In The Mullahs Move, AS rightly and importantly takes note of changes going on inside Iran.
The Iranians have an entire "Mullocracy" that is devoted to finding new reasons to 'hate America' and disparage all things "non-Islamic" or not "revolutionary" enough for them. This has been and continues to be an effective public diplomacy for them, from time to time.
The question then becomes, who is keeping the dossier on Iran, so to speak? Who is doing the detail work of public diplomacy? There are Senators and strategists who are ready to pull the levers of CIA black-ops and even "strategic bombing" campaigns. Iran continues to distinguish itself as a 'bad actor', if you believe reports of how they support lawlessness (perhaps even terrorism). All this suggests that Iranian-style 'fundamentalism' is job one.
Now, if you go to VOA you find that "Iraq" is a "topic", but you won't find Iran broken out. If you go to the major news outlets, you will find the proverbial 'Iraq' page, but few are tracking Iran. Instead, we have Israeli officials like Netanyahu making visits to the U.S. to prompt the international community to 'live up to its obligations and responsibilities' vis-a-vis Iran. (Elsewhere, we are left with barely serviceable catch phrases that may not even be accurate, like the oft-repeated "wipe them off the map".)
Groups like Amnesty and HRW aren't dropping the ball, but 'CIA Detention' still outranks HR abuses in Iran on the list of action priorities ...
Meanwhile, the 'authority' of the Mullahs and the desired permanace of 'The Islamic Revolution' is gravely in question:
By VOA News 21 June 2007
An international human rights group is urging Iran to stop executing people under the age of 18.
Human Rights Watch says Iran executes more minors than any other country in the world. It says Iran has carried out 17 such executions since 2004. It says some juveniles were given death sentences for crimes they committed when they were 15.
...
Human Rights Watch says the only other countries known to have executed juveniles since 2004 are Sudan, which executed two juveniles and China and Pakistan, which each executed one.
