Thank you, sir.
On the question of U.S. policy, I'm not sure I understood completely. Once again, I'm not an expert on U.S. foreign policy. I think that on a bipartisan basis there clearly still is some sympathy on the human rights issue, but certain decisions have been made to take certain projects off the table. It really remains to be seen how U.S. policy unfolds.
Despite my expressions of regret over the funding decisions, I think once they come to the realization that any concession on the nuclear issue is only temporary and is not going to solve the fundamental problem, there can once again be more enlightened understanding of what role the west can play in supporting the democratic movement.
I think the advisers now in the Obama administration are those who, during the Bush administration, were against what they characterized as sort of cowboy diplomacy, making military threats, which only helped Ahmadinejad to unite the Iranian people against American imperialism and all this rhetoric of the revolution.
They now are moving in the opposite direction, but many of them are completely ignoring what happened over the summer. They have these views that Ahmadinejad is there to stay, we have to be realistic, we have to engage him, we shouldn't be making military threats. But they are completely disregarding this explosion that took place over the summer, which should fundamentally make them recalculate the equation in Iran and how much power Ahmadinejad really has.
In terms of change within, I want to be very careful with my words. The change within was the idea that through elections one could move forward with a reformist agenda. The question of changing the regime is not one, as I've repeatedly said, of replacing one group of tyrants with another group of tyrants. Of course, everyone speaks about human rights and democracy until they're in power; then they resort to the same methods.
The promise of Iran is that there is now a grassroots social movement calling for democracy. This is no longer just factional politics. The protestors, the millions in the streets, may have used the elections as a pretext to come out on the streets, but there are women's groups, human rights activists, student leaders, unemployed people, and just grandmothers and grandfathers and children who want freedom. They want hope.
That is the reason why I think a bright future lies ahead. Any leader who comes to power today must now answer to those people. We know that is ultimately the basis for a democracy rather than holding a few elections in a system where the people are disenfranchised and really have no real power or say.
Just underneath this very unfortunate image of Iran is a new, pragmatic, post-ideological, highly idealist, and highly capable generation of people who are truly human rights champions. So long as they maintain their discipline and keep their non-violent ethos, sooner or later these leaders will be put aside. Fortunately Iran is not like North Korea: it cannot be ruled through terror and intimidation indefinitely.