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The Wave: Man, God, and the Ballot Box in the Middle East
The promise of democracy for Muslims offers something historically unparalleled. Where Islamist groups once dreamed of revolution, quietly developed paramilitary cells, and assassinated their secular opponents, mainstream Islamist groups today see elections as a means for society to maintain akhlaq; the mores that define good Muslims.
Learn MoreAnalysis & Commentary - Iran Human Rights Project
Iran Sanctions: Strategy, Implementation and Enforcement
The topic of my testimony is sanctions relief as the Obama administration approaches the P5+1 talks with Iran over its nuclear weapons program next week in Baghdad. more...
Terrorists or Fall Guys?
The Treasury Department has issued subpoenas to the speakers’ agencies of 11 prominent former U.S. officials, including a governor of Pennsylvania, a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. more...
US Sets New Sanctions Against Technology for Syria and Iran
The White House said that the restrictions were primarily aimed at entities based inside the two countries, but that American technology companies had been consulted and understood that compliance would now be part of their standard due diligence in international contracts. more...
Liberate ‘Zones of Electronic Repression’!
Islamists shouldn’t be allowed to use Western technology to crush dissent. more...
Tearing Down Iran’s Electronic Curtain
Three hundred and sixty seconds. That's all it would take for Iranian security services to identify and track an encrypted message sent to a mobile phone somewhere inside Iran, kick in the door, and seize the phone. more...
The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted
In June 2010, the U.S. State Department led a high-level delegation of technology executives to Syria. Comprised of representatives from, among other corporations, Cisco, Dell, Microsoft and Symantec, the purpose of the trip was to improve relations with a nation that... more...
Defcon 3
Can we stop Iran from getting nukes? FDD's Mark Dubowitz discusses the sanctions on Iran. more...
From Tehran to Tahrir Square: Is Freedom Really Sweeping the Middle East?
At the start of the Arab Spring in early 2011, Western nations around the world held their breath and hoped that the chaotic uprisings on the streets of Egypt and neighbouring countries would herald democracy in the Middle East. It’s been a year since the movement began and much has changed – or has it? Real and robust democracy has a long way to go before becoming commonplace in the Middle East. What is really happening behind the scenes and away from the news cameras? And how can the West help this transition? more...
The Iranian Regime’s War on Christians
Former Maldives foreign minister and current U.N. special rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed issued his report on Monday that Iran executed 670 people in 2011, including more than 20 for offenses against Islam. more...
Can Israel Really Aid Iran’s Opposition, as Meir Dagan Suggests?
Michael Ledeen, a freedom scholar at Foundation for Defense of Democracies and one of the biggest supporters of regime change in Iran, said he was happy to see Dagan’s remarks about aiding Iran’s opposition on 60 Minutes. more...
Iranian Carnival (aka “Elections”) Redux
The Basij — the radical thugs who beat up Iranians for violations of the dress code and other sins against the official version of Islam — will be voting early and often in Iran on Friday. more...
Secret Memo Suggests White House Ignored SOS from Iranian Opposition
"It's clear that the administration was not being asked to stay away," said Michael Ledeen, a scholar with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies who worked as a senior official for Republican administrations. "The opposition represented the best option for the West." more...
Obama To Iran Green Revolution Dissidents: Drop Dead
The Obama administration is oddly proud that it does "not provide financial assistance to any political movement, party or faction in Iran." But Foundation for the Defense of Democracies scholar Michael Ledeen has argued for years that supporting Iran's real opposition can keep it from becoming the first jihadist nuclear power. more...
Obama Administration Ignored Iranian Opposition’s Advice
When mass demonstrations against the Iranian regime erupted in the summer of 2009, the Obama administration found itself facing a totally unexpected problem. more...
Dear General Dempsey
Every time I hear some policy maker talk about “destabilizing” (as you did the other day, discussing a possible Israeli military attack on Iran) my heart sinks. For two reasons: more...
Are Sanctions Working?
There’s pain and then there’s pain. Getting stung by a bee hurts. Having a Doberman sink his teeth into your thigh is a more intense experience. By the same token, there are sanctions and then there are sanctions. more...
When Will the West Act Against Persecution of Christians in the Middle East?
The case of the Iranian pastor sentenced to death for his faith has attached a human face to the horrible situation of Christians in the Middle East. more...
An Iranian View
Roya Hakakian, an Iranian-American public intellectual who recently visited Israel, was born and raised in Iran and has a great deal to say about her birthplace. more...
The United Kingdom Bans Iran’s Media Outlet
The Guardian reported on Friday that Press TV, the English-language news outlet operated by Iran’s clerical regime since 2007, was stripped of its license for violating broadcasting regulations. more...
Christians in Iran, Syria Face Rising Persecution
There has been a wave of violence targeting Iranian and Syrian Christians over the past month, say Christian news reports. In addition, Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been on death row since 2010 for seeking to register his home-based church, refused to renounce his Christian beliefs in exchange for his release from prison. more...
EU States Agree Gradual Ban on Iran Oil, Sanctions on Central Bank
Emanuele Ottolenghi of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington said the oil embargo was possibly the last card Western governments could play to avoid military confrontation with Iran. more...
Arab League Mulls Unity Gov’t Plan for Syria
Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is providing significant quantities of weapons, technology and assistance to Assad. more...
Who’s Really Killing Those ‘Nuclear Scientists’ in Tehran?
They run the banks, the press, all Western governments, the universities, the spooks (most everywhere). And if you can’t find any evidence for it, well, that shows how diabolical the Jews are, right? more...
Inside Story
Is Iran finding new friends in Latin America? more...
You Cannot Reform a Totalitarian (You’ve Got to Defeat Him)
Back when I was even younger, and living in Rome, the main topic of conversation was of course Communism. Italy had the largest Communist Party outside the Soviet Union, and it was forever on the cusp of becoming the biggest party in Italy, thus forming the government, thus taking over. more...
A Ph.D. in Torture
When NATO planes launched their air campaign over Libya’s skies last spring and Western leaders said that Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi had to go, the first regime to change was at the London School of Economics. more...
Why Tyrants Fall
What spells the doom of dictators? Nobody really knows, and there are so many “whats” that the whole subject defies quantification. Coups and assassinations, revolutions, defeats in war, and even sudden collapses, are all to be found in the texts, ancient and modern. more...
Who’s REALLY Blowing Up Iran?
It just has to be Israel, according to the pundit class. You know, that warmonger Netanyahu. Or maybe it’s us. Maybe it’s Obama, who after all killed bin Laden and Qadaffi, toppled Mubarak and bin Ali, and has proclaimed that “Assad must go.” more...
Europe Waives Diplomatic Sanctions Against Iran
Continental Europe's zig-zag course with sanctioned Iranian officials remains a counterproductive leftover vestige to the EU's nearly 30 year failed policy of dialogue with Tehran's clerical rulers. more...
Dismantling Iran’s Clerical Regime
Legislative devotion, including potent oil and bank sanctions, to stop Iran from creating a nuclear weapon device is largely exhibit A in US policy toward the jingoism of Tehran’s rulers. more...