Eli Lake, Columnist

What a Soviet Dissident Sees in Iran's Unrest

A reminder of what happened when the West supported the Soviet regime rather than the Soviet resistance.

January 5, 2018 at 10:00 AM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Natan Sharansky has a message for the well-intentioned West.
Photographer: Emil Salman/JINI/AFP/Getty Images

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French President Emmanuel Macron is deeply concerned. His government has expressed tempered support for the demonstrations in Iran, but for now he is more worried about the reaction of America, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

This week he warned that the full-throated endorsement for the unrest in Iran by these governments "is almost one that would lead us to war." It reminds him of the "axis of evil."