The Iran protests

The latest protests in Iran by people angry over the Iranian military's missile launch that "unintentionally" downed a Ukrainian jetliner killing many Iranians, Canadians and others, is different from past protests over rigged elections, rising gas prices, and what Americans like to call "voter suppression."

This time, the protests are over a much wider area of the country. This time, there were no "death to America" or "death to his support for the protesters in English and in Farsi and warned "the world is watching." That's something President Obama failed to do when demonstrations over a rigged election broke out in the summer of 2009 and the regime began killing and imprisoning protesters. Obama, opting at first for a wait-and-see approach, once violence reached its zenith, was finally forced to , "The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings and imprisonments of the last few days," and strongly condemned "these unjust actions." Of course, his statement was too late to have much, if any, effect on the regime's actions.