I don’t think Twitter was ever concieved of as a tool for Revolution. But it’s just such personal media outlets that are fostering the growing reform movement in Iran. Such websites provide a public forum from which to broadcast the revolution! I maybe over dramatizing twitter here but roll with it.
In fact the internet should be at the center of the administrations response to the growing tensions in Iran. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have been doing a good job staying out of it so far, and that’s the way it has to be. Active US support for the reform movement in Iran would be like the Coyote endorsing Acme to the roadrunner.
The best thing the President can do is support the Iranian people, 60% of whom are under 30. It’s these young professionals, intellectuals, and students who wear western fashions, listen to western music and use western technology who need to be connected with and supported. Not only by the US, but by the free world.
It is through this new avenue that the US is in a unique position to encourage the more progressive elements of Iranian society by providing and encouraging their primary vehicle for organization and message dissemination, i.e. Twittering, blogging, facebooking etc.
It is important to note though that these are forums for debate, not a means of enforcing democracy. The internet is a vehicle for communication, nothing more. President Obama can gather the CEO’s and President’s of Facebook, Twitter, Google, et al, to ensure that the lines of communication are as open and free as possible, and that they remain that way. But he can’t use Twitter as a new marshall plan to contain facism or totalitarianism.
The Green Revolution, as I’ve heard it’s being called, maybe the first internet revolution in history.
History of US-Iranian Relations
http://www.cfr.org/publication/17701/
Latest News on the Iranian Situation
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/world/middleeast/25iran.html?hp
Pale Thunder 