Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Iran: Where Are We Now?

(This entry was composed primarily in the early part of this week - June 29th and 30th. I have been away for several days since then, but I intend to bring my coverage of Iran up to date over the next few days.)

Ya, sure. We believe you. Ahmadinejad votes up after partial re-count

So why do we need this, hmmm?

Terry Glavin's three part column in The Tyee exposes the bankruptcy of the Canadian left, made clear by its response to the Iranian freedom movement.

Also from The Tyee,

'We Are Iran' : Blogging, where the act can be a 'cyber crime'
"In September 2001, Hossein Derakhshan, a young Iranian journalist who had recently moved to Canada, set up one of the very first weblogs in Farsi, his native language....In response to a request from a reader, Hossein created a simple how-to-blog guide in Farsi. With the modest aim of giving other Iranians a voice, he set free an entire community.

Today, Farsi is the fourth-most frequently used language for keeping online journals. There are more Iranian blogs than there are Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese or Russian."
EU threatens mass pullout of ambassadors from Iran
"European Union members are threatening the collective withdrawal of their ambassadors from Iran to secure the release of the British embassy employees being held by the authorities."
---

"Yesterday, EU foreign ministers warned Iran that any "harassment or intimidation" of embassy staff would be met with a "strong and collective" response. Most of the 27 EU member states have their own ambassadors in Tehran.

Silvio Berlusconi, who will next week host a meeting of the G8 rich nations said today that they would discuss sanctions against Iran. Asked about sanctions, he replied that Iran "will be the first issue we will deal with".

Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Regime With a Death Wish

Behesti's Ghost
"The sequence is one we are getting used to: Gather, disperse; march, run away; chant, get hurt; hide, tremble with others and share your common rage. The crowd didn’t seem tired of the game though. Good thing to know: The game is not over yet."
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Protests continue today!!! These people will not allow themselves to be intimidated!!
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Now they've arrested British embassy employees, accusing them of "playing major parts" in the recent unrest. What ditzes!! Where is Maggie Thatcher when you need her?

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Day Fifteen

Always one to read between the lines and see what usually isn't there, I have an uncontrollable urge to figure what might be behind these ones:

Arab sources also say Shalit to be handed over to Egypt soon
"The Arabic language newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on Saturday quoted Arab officials as saying that abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be moved to Egypt soon as part of a deal with Hamas to secure his release -- in exchange for the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners by Israel, most of whom women and children, as well as some Hamas members of parliament."
---
"Israel is expected to release a total of 1,100 Palestinian prisoners under the deal, according to the sources."
Aside from the fact that it takes 1,100 Palestinians to equal one Israeli, which is pretty funny, I wonder if this was on the agenda at Obama's recent visit to Cairo? Would it explain his reluctance to speak forcefully about the Iranian situation for fear of upsetting a delicately balanced diplomatic deal? Certainly Egypt and other Arab countries seem to have softened their anti-American/Israel stance in recent months, primarily because of their growing concern about Iran's nuclear program, just as Washington has been distancing itself from the US's longstanding support for Israel. Perhaps Obama's fear of confronting the Iranian regime with a clear and strong message my have actually been a fear of foiling some backroom intrigue worked out with the Arabs to weaken Iran. Cozying up to a cabal of dictators while confronting a brutal theocracy may not have been in the Democrats' best foreign policy interests.

Now this one, of course, isn't really directly related to whatever may have transpired in Cairo, but it's part of the realpolitik that world leaders have to deal with:

Hariri steps out of his father's shadow

Hariri is pro-Western and is promising to unite Lebanon (read: quash Hezbollah).

All this leads me to suspect that (and here comes the "reading between the lines and finding what isn't there") a pincer operation meant to isolate and de-legitimize both Hezbollah and Hamas may be at play.

Further fueling this speculation are these articles:

PA to release Hamas prisoners in unity gesture


Hamas loses it's sugar daddy

"The infighting in Iran since its contested election has made it a “weaker patron” of Hamas and Hezbollah, the two principal terrorist groups abutting Israel, but it is too early to know the ramifications, according to an Israeli political analyst.
“Iran was weakened by the Gaza war [in January between Israel and Hamas] and Hezbollah’s loss in the Lebanese elections,” said Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Bar-Ilan University. “Now Iran is going to be totally absorbed in its own internal issues.

“They may try to foment incidents to create nationalist support in Iran, and some of their targets may be Israeli. But Iran as a source of power behind Hamas and Hezbollah is going to be weakened, and it will take a long time to see how that plays out."
Is Fatah hoping to absorb Hamas and deflate the influence of the pigs that run it? If so, and if successful, which I doubt, will such a feat ultimately fracture the terrorist network funded and assisted by Iran?

And what does Iran have to do with all this? Could it be the recent spate of bombings in Iraq are meant to draw attention away from its own troubles, deflect their people's attention elsewhere while plotting the election coup d'etat and the rally the troops in Hamas and Hezbollah? We've heard many accounts over recent days that among the goons on the streets charged with crushing the revolt are many who speak Arabic.

Whether any of this speculation is true or not, and I'm sure it could be spun in a variety of other ways, it all goes to show that the Middle East has received a very big shaking, both by the liberation of Iraq and by the turmoil in Iran, and when the dust settles, we could end up with a very different dynamic than the one which has prevailed for the last thirty years, or even the last sixty years. And if Obama knows stuff that the rest of us don't, which one must assume to be true of all heads of state, maybe his reluctance to "rock the boat" so to speak, can be forgiven - somewhat.

Meanwhile, we all wait to see whether and when Iranians can join the free world and kick radical Islam out of the country for good. I, for one, would like to see Ahmadinejad and Khamenei hanging on a rope at the top of a crane.
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While the Iranian revolt has slipped off the radar/YouTube screen a multitude of editorials are appearing analyzing the events of the past two weeks and including an historical summary. A good one by one of my favourite political scientists, Salim Mansur, is up on the Proud to Be Canadian website.

Ironically, he also compares the Mullahocracy to the Bolsheviks and their record of human carnage.
"Since 1979 Iran has been held in the tyrannical grip of the Shia Muslim version of the Russian Bolsheviks. Like their Russian counterparts, the turbaned Iranian Bolsheviks, led by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, rode the slipstream of a popular revolt against the monarchical rule of the late shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Being better organized and more ruthless, they seized power.

The 1979 revolution provided legitimacy to Khomeini and his clerical vanguard in the making of the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, the sheer brutality of the regime, the fascistic nature of the Islamist ideology and widespread corruption among the elite revealed over the years, had washed away the gloss of the republic some time ago."
---
"Iran’s tyrants likely will meet the same fate of Russia’s Bolsheviks, overthrown by their own people. The reason is simple.

More than two-thirds of Iranians were born after the 1979 revolution or were not yet adults then. They have known only the clenched-fist ineptness of the regime, the squandering of their future through war, support for terrorism and bigotry and expect more of the same unless the regime is overthrown.

Seyyed Hossein Khomeini, grandson of Khomeini, visited the holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq a few months after American troops liberated the country in April 2003 and gave a public interview.

He said, “There is absolutely no freedom in Iran, people are suffering from a totalitarian religious rule. Just like the Iraqis, the Iranians are desperate to be free and if all other methods fail they may welcome American military intervention.”"
---
"The recent election was designed to show the world Islamic democracy at work. But the quarrels among regime players let the Iranian people break through existing cracks in the regime’s facade to tell the world they are restless for freedom."
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Iranian protesters avoid censorship with Navy technology
"Iranians seeking to share videos and other eyewitness accounts of the demonstrations that have roiled their country since disputed elections two weeks ago are using an Internet encryption program originally developed by and for the U.S. Navy.

Designed a decade ago to secure Internet communications between U.S. ships at sea, The Onion Router, or TOR, has become one of the most important proxies in Iran for gaining access to Web sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook."
---
"According to the Tor Project, connections to TOR have gone up by 600 percent since mass protests erupted after the June 12 vote, which gave a purported landslide victory to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
---
"Iran, a country of 70 million people, has more than 20 million Internet users - the highest percentage in the region outside Israel - and a well-developed blogosphere."

Friday, June 26, 2009

The Fourteenth Day

Iran gets another dis-invite. Canada rebukes Iran, cancels invitation. No Canada Day parties for them.
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No shit, Sherlock!

Violence may hinder talks with Iran, Obama says


What the hell good would "talks with Iran" do anyway?
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More green balloons.


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Iraqis back Iranian protesters' call for change

"But for many Iraqis, who have only recently witnessed the emergence of democracy at home, their neighbours also should have the right to be "free".

"Here, we are free," said Aziz in Baghdad.

"Freedom to vote, to speak, to criticise. When I cast my ballot, it is taken into account. Why should Iranians not have this?"

h/t Iraqi Mojo
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From The Corner:

"More Disgusting than Forced Confessions

Word from Iran is that the authorities have forced Neda's father to appear on state television and say that the protestors, and not the regime, killed her."

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More evidence the regime is cracking.

"More than 180 Iranian MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, local press reports say.

All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night, but only 105 turned up, the reports say."

---

"Separately, key protest leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said on his website that he was facing "recent pressures" to withdraw his election challenge. "Access to people is completely restricted", the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.

Earlier, his website said 70 university professors were arrested immediately after meeting Mr Mousavi on Wednesday, and it was not clear where they had been taken.

Hundreds of opposition protesters and activists are believed to have been taken into custody and at least 17 people have died in the unrest that followed the 12 June election."
---
"The Washington Times on Thursday said one of its freelance reporters, Iason Athanasiadis, a Greek citizen, was arrested at the airport as he tried to leave the country at the end of last week."
h/t Barce Pundit
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Green balloons fly over Tehran.


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A good source of information on what is happening in Iran is the website of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. Click on "Latest Videos" or "Latest Audios". Clips in English are signified by a British flag.
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Back on topic: Plan to execute protest chiefs

Come to think about it, maybe the Lenin statue does have some relevance. Estimates vary, but most establish the number of people killed during his reign of terror were between 6 to 8 million.
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OT. This one's from Simply Jews. This is a statue of Lenin in St. Petersburg. Theories vary, but I vote for the fart thesis. I hope Putin is standing downwind.

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From Winston's Twitter page:
"Tonight, anti-regime chants continued to be heard in #Tehran & other cities in Iran #iranelection"
KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!
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Looks like Obama finally woke up.
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According to Winston, this is ex-pat Iranians storming the Iranian embassy in Sweden. Two can play this game. Now lets see some Iranian diplomats held hostage for 444 days. Or make that 1,294 days when a new president assumes duties in the Oval Office. And if there are any Iranian embassy officials not in the embassy at the moment, let them be seized by the Canadian embassy staff and shipped to some country that will put them on trial for crimes against humanity.

And for you folks in Florida who are in Mr. West's congressional district, you know how I want you to vote in the upcoming election.
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Well, DUH!! Obama Raises Doubts About Dialog With Iran

It's not about "dialog" with fascist thugs. It's about letting their victimized citizens know that we are with them.
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For Canada's chief fascist-dictator-wannabe, Balbulican, who is so obviously superior to all those right wing bloggers who are calling Obama to task for his wimpish stand, I would just like to point out a few remarks from Iranian blogs and websites:

From Azarmehr Potkin's blog: "People are cursing Obama and Gordon Brown in the streets of Tehran for their silence..."

From Winston, at The Spirit of Man:
"Obama is Charlatan in Chief and I agree..."
"It's refreshing to see that Swiss and the Danish gov'ts are siding with the people of Iran while Dear Leader Obama is not yet sure whom to side with."
"I guess the mullahs are laughing their arse off seeing this shameful coward man in the White House giving them international political cover while they're massacring the sons & daughters of Iran in broad day light.

US gov't says the 4th of July BBQ party is still on for the Iranian diplomats.

Are they serious about this amid the bloodbath in Iran? This moron in the White House has his hands stained with the blood of Iranian people if he really negotiates with the murderers or keeps covering for them. Shame on you Obama! You're a coward tyrant! We don't need your help and I want you to stay the fuck away from us, you piece of #%#%#%#."
And that's just a sampling from Winston.

Then there's Iranian Freedom:
"US Moral Support Must Be Louder and Clearer"
and from Prince Reza Pahlavi:
"Reza Pahlavi of Iran’s response to President Obama’s statement on Iran (June 23rd, 2009)

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
“President Obama’s strong support for human rights in Iran is greatly appreciated. But so is the dilemma of his policy of engagement. Obviously, it cannot succeed in an atmosphere when the clerical regime is revealing its insecurity by forcing arrested demonstrators to admit to Western plots.

But a secure Ahmadinejad government means that people have to go home and submit to the authority of usurpers. That is a lot to ask for!

It is clear that engagement has to be suspended until there is a stable government supported by the Iranian people. Continuing engagement now is not only a slap in the face of my compatriots in their quest for democracy; it will not work.”"
Actually, Balb, what you really should have said is "While Obama and the left fiddled, the right stood up and demanded action." But of course, it's always more important to bad mouth the right than to stand united with anyone who supports Iranian's quest for freedom, isn't it. You scumbag.
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Israel's Lieberman lambastes Western governments and Obama in particular for their wimpish stand on Iran's protesters. Good for him. (I'm not too crazy about his position on building new settlements, though.)
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Wow!! Two stunning reports.

Mullahs cannot stop Persian reawakening


"I've seen many women who look like Neda since February, 2007 when I met my first Persian."
---
"I was at the office of the New York Sun when I kept getting a call from a mysterious man who insisted on meeting me in person."
---
"It turns out the gentleman was an Iranian dissident and he wanted me to know what was going on in Iran because no one in the media wanted to publicize it. Frankly I was fascinated by what I learned and wrote:

"There are, in fact, two Irans, and the lesser known one to most Americans is undergoing a renaissance that the ruling Iranian mullahs fear the most. If the Persians are awakened to their identity as children of Cyrus the Great, who wrote mankind's first charter of human rights, these oppressive regimes will topple domino-style. Besides Iran, the Persian heritage is embedded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and were it to be rekindled, a revolution unheard of in scope could occur."
---
"My new friend and former Muslim, whom I will call Babak Iran, told me that Korans are being burned in Iran, and that there is a strong movement toward the philosophy of Zoroastrianism. This man showed me the pendant he now wears, a symbol of the ancient religion (it is older than Judaism). This symbol, carried by many of the parade marchers in New York City, can be seen at persianparade.org. Slide # 24 in the 2009 parade is where one can see many beautiful Persian women like Neda."

"The Persian Renaissance, known as Anjomane Padeshahi Iran, was spearheaded by a charismatic leader, Dr. Froud Fouladvand who tried to offer Iranian people the reason to fight by awakening their semi-dormant national identity, an identity that was overshadowed by radical Islam. He is believed to have been captured and executed by the Islamic government in Iran.
It has been said that perhaps President Obama's March speech to Iran is what has fueled the current unrest, and when I look back at what my Iranian friend said in March, that may be true -- not because he inspired it, but because he angered the Persians. I asked Babak Iran if the Farsi subtitles of Obama's speech were accurate. He assured me that while the translation was accurate, the message itself had infuriated the Iranian people who are not in league with the mullahs who wish to destroy their Persian heritage. I had his permission to provide my readers with his reaction:
""I can tell you that Iranians are infuriated with the message, as am I. Iranians do not think that the Islamic regime of Iran is their government. They look at it as an occupying army of Muslim killers determined to destroy what Muhammad and his killers could not do for 1400 years. The mullahs have done all they can to prevent people from celebrating the norooz and a dozen other celebrations such as Charshanbeh soori (the fire festival) for the last 30 yeas. They hate and try to destroy the Iranian culture, like they did in all other previously known Muslim countries. But the more they try to stop the many celebrations in Iran the more the people resist.""
RTWT

and Dear Israeli Brothers and Sisters

Iranian anti-regime activists are hoping for an Israeli technological hand to help them fight the Islamic Republic. As of now, hundreds of protesters have been killed by the regime, which is evidently using Arabic-speaking armed thugs from Hizbullah to help perpetrate the violence.

"Dear Israeli Brothers and Sisters," writes Iranian dissident Arash Irandoost, "Iran needs your help more than ever now. And we will be eternally grateful. Please help opposition television and radio stations which are blocked and being jammed by the Islamic Republic (Nokia and Siemens) resume broadcast to Iran. There is a total media blackout and Iranians inside Iran for the most part are not aware of their brave brothers and sisters fighting and losing their lives daily. And the unjust treatment and brutal massacre of the brave Iranians in the hands of the mullah's paid terrorist Hamas and Hizbullah gangs are not seen by the majority of the Iranians. Please help in any way you can to allow these stations resume broadcasting to Iran.

"And, please remember that we will remember, as you have remembered Cyrus the Great's treatment of you in your time of need," Irandoost concludes, signing his blogged call for help "Your Iranian Brothers and Sisters!"

---

"More generally, Imani said, the Iranian people are lionizing any leader of any nation who comes out strongly against the Islamic Republic at this time."
---
"As for the basijis themselves, Imani reported, many of them are Lebanese and Palestinian Authority Arabs hired by the regime to do its bidding. Iranians reportedly captured seven basijis who spoke no Persian, only Arabic. According to Imani, 10,000 more Arab hired guns arrived in Tehran to serve the mullah-led regime."

---
"But they are not the only ones thinking about guns at this point. Some Iranian protesters, Imani reported, have taken to threatening their oppressors, "God help you when we get weapons!""
Someone has to give these people those weapons. Maybe it will be Israel. Time to pay back the debt to Cyrus the Great. It sure as hell won't be Obama the Wimp! And man, what a difference that would make to the Middle East. Syria, Hezbollah and the Pals would be starved into submission - maybe.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Iran: What Now?

Ahmadinejad demands apology from Obama

No, sweetheart. You should call off your goons and be apologizing to the people of Iran.
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Street rioting (yesterday):


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Posted at Azarmehr's blog today:



As Jesse Jackson used to say, "Keep hope alive!"
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Canada disinvites Iranian diplomats to Canada Day celebrations and rebukes the regime for appointing the butcher, Saaed Mortazavi, to oversee the treatment of Iranian dissidents and protesters. God help them. This man is the one responsible for the beating death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in 2003.

Iran has very few friends left. Poor thing. They don't get invited to any of the parties. I wonder why. /sarc

But seriously, this cannot help them at all. They have become even more of an international pariah than they were before, although that's hard to imagine.
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Ahmadinejad says blah, blah, blah, blah. In the meantime, Mousavi sticks to his guns.
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A deal to save Iran?
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12:37 pm @ niacInsight: Shirin Ebadi, Nobel peace prize laureate, is being targeted by the regime.
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Statement from Mousavi (translated at niacINsight webpage @ 11:02 am):

"Kalemeh posted the text [Persian] of Mousavi’s latest statement addressing the people of Iran, where he criticized the state media and internet sites related to the government and Kayhan newspaper for distorting the truth. “They have used the resources that belong to you to not only cover up the violations and recent hurtful events but also to blame the person who has accompanied you in demanding your rights.”

Mousavi says the government is trying to ignore the violations that occurred during the elections and the violence and murders that ensued afterward. “If those responsible for the 18 Tir 1378 [July 9, 1999] were legally dealt with, we would not have witnessed a repetition of those atrocities in broader dimensions and bolder distortion of the facts.”

Mousavi announced his readiness to respond to all the “accusations” and said that he is not willing to give up in the face of threats or for personal interests. In the end, Mousavi asked the people to continue the protests while remaining peaceful and avoiding the “trap of ill-wishers” who try to attribute the movement to foreign elements. “It is up to us to offset this evil conspiracy with our behavior and speech.”

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Two plans, both equally valuable and both implementable:

Michael Ledeen's and Ryan Mauro's.

Sistani speaks
.

Fallout for Russia?
"Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sees not a great reformer in Mikhail Gorbachev but a leader who was too weak to hold the Soviet Union together. Others have learned from China's Tiananmen crackdown the value of brutal force. So it is interesting that in the midst of the upheaval in Iran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a trip to the Kremlin.

Mr. Putin has a great deal riding on the outcome in Iran. With the Russian economy teetering, he needs a steep increase in oil prices to stave off the collapse of his government. So he has been working to increase tension in the Middle East and now sees the Iranian crisis as potentially helpful -- if Ahmadinejad comes out on top."
---
"For Mr. Putin, the unknown factor in all of this is how the West will respond to what's happening in Iran. It could give him pause if Iran faces penalties of real significance for using lethal force against nonviolent protestors. Surprisingly, European leaders are showing unusual assertiveness in condemning the Iranian regime.

But what has been flagging so far has been leadership from the United States. Only in his second statement, a week into the crisis, did President Barack Obama underscore the importance of nonviolence, though he still declined to support the Iranian protestors."
Understatement of the year!
"But the Soviet Union used tanks to quash dissent when it could. Dictatorships use force when they can get away with it, not when a U.S. president makes a strong statement."
---
"Millions of Iranians are fighting to join the Free World. The least we can do is let the valiant people of Iran know loud and clear that they will be welcomed with open arms"
RTWT

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Iran: The Twelfth Day

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!
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As always, watch The Spirit of Man and Azarmehr blogs, Andrew Sullivan and Huffington Post, especially Nico Pitney, for updates. niacINsight is also invaluable.
I'm adding Gateway Pundit to
this list.

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The Day of Axes or preparing for the 4th of July.
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Violence flairs again in Tehran which suggests to me that the protests have not stopped even if journalists are not allowed to cover them.

"It was a far cry from the massive demonstrations of last week. Today, just a few hundred protesters converged on Baharestan Square, opposite the Iranian Parliament, and they were brutally repulsed.

It was an exercise in courageous futility, not a contest. Thousands of riot police and militiamen flooded the area. They used teargas, batons and overwhelming force. Helicopters hovered overhead. Nobody was allowed to stop or to gather, let alone exercise their constitutional right to protest."

---

"All that can be said for certain is the regime has finally recaptured the streets through strength of numbers and the unrestrained use of violence. Thirty years after the Iranian revolution it no longer rules with consent, but with military might, and it is cracking down with all means at its disposal."
---

"Saeed Mortazavi, an Iranian prosecutor notorious for his abuse of prisoners, has been put in charge of arresting and investigating dissidents.

Mr Mortazavi has a long record of involvement in cases of torture, illegal detention and extracting false confessions, Human Rights Watch said. “The leading role of Saeed Mortazavi in the cracksdown of Tehran should set off alarm bells,” it said."

---

"All 25 employees of Mr Mousavi’s newspaper, Kalemeh Sabz, were arrested, with intelligence officers suggesting that it was plotting against national security.

Mr Mousavi’s freedom of manoeuvre appears to have been severely curtailed, with some reports suggesting that secret police and security agents are monitoring his every move. He was careful to distance himself from what he described as an “independent” demonstration yesterday, and some analysts believe that he will be arrested immediately if he calls for a strike."

and last but not least:

"In Washington the State Department confirmed, to nobody’s surprise, that not one Iranian diplomat, anywhere in the world, had accepted ground-breaking invitations from their American counterparts to share hotdogs at July 4 parties."

Hah! Like the IRI thugs were just waiting with baited breath for the invitation.
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A day late and a dollar short, Mr. President. Your reputation is already FUBAR. You are a certified dithering, clueless moonbat.

And now they've canceled the invitations to Iranian diplomats. Good thing, of course, but my God, this president is stark raving hopelessly naive. He knows diddly squat about history or global politics and he's being led around by the nose. I spit in his general direction.
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On June 21st Steve Schippert wrote a speculative piece about a meeting in Qom that could lead to an entire revamping of the political system in Iran, essentially the separation of mosque and state. Since his speculations, much has been said over the last two or three days about the meeting of clerics in Qom, where a representative of Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani allegedly has sent a representative, basically echoing Schippert's rather tenuous thesis. For example, read
this, this, this and this. Frankly, I'm skeptical that such a sweeping change is what's coming out of that meeting. I think a lot of what has been written about it is simply wishful thinking and only in the fullness of time, if ever, will we see what transpires at that meeting and whether or not it means an major overhaul of the theocratic structure of the regime. I predict that a lot more people currently holding a piece of the power structure in their hands will have to switch sides before anything of that nature will happen and in the meantime only a continuous and well organized resistance will lead to an abandonment of the Mullahocracy by the ruling elites.
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Go read Anti-Mullah for some very detailed history of the current cast of characters on the Iranian stage. Videos of Reza Pahlavi's speech, too.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Iran: The Eleventh Day

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!
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As always, watch The Spirit of Man and Azarmehr blogs, Andrew Sullivan and Huffington Post, especially Nico Pitney, for updates. niacINsight is also invaluable.
I'm adding Gateway Pundit to
this list.

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Well hallelujah!! Harper finally makes a strong public statement regarding Iran!! Now, if we can just see the world's leaders take Winston's plea seriously:
"The criminal mullahs will turn Iran to a middle-eastern Burma or N. Korea like country, armed with nukes, awash in oil money ruling with iron fist over an isolated people held hostage at the point of a gun ONLY if the free world doesn't seize upon this moment to change the regime in Iran."
Here we have one of the biggest, most intense international crises of my lifetime unfolding in Iran and where are our leaders? Sarkozy, and yes, Merkel, have shown the biggest gonads of them all, but that doesn't say much. At least they were quick to condemn the regime for it's behavior, instead of waiting more than ten days. Britain has been reactionary rather than proactive, and Canada, while finally issuing a strong statement was very late out of the gate, and as far as I'm concerned, Obama is a complete write off. He has had to be dragged in front of the microphones and cameras, away form his golf game and ice cream with the kids, just to issue the most wimpy of statements, and it's clear he couldn't care less about what could well be the biggest test of his presidency.

After all, the last time Iran made such an international stir was 30 years ago and Bush, thank God, took care of one of the other most pernicious threats on the planet in the neighbouring country. Barrack Obama is a blight on not just the American people, but on the free world, at the moment. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for the first several months, but that's finished. He will now go down in my books as the worst American President in my lifetime, worse even that tricky Dickie, who for all his scandalous domestic failings, at least faced up to his responsibilities as a world leader during the tense days of the Cold War. He didn't pretend that he had no responsibilities in keeping West from annihilation. Here we have a situation, the outcome of which will either resolve several long-standing sources of international tension, or, conversely, make it very much worse. And what is he doing? He's pretending it's inconsequential.
In the course of human affairs, in the midst of a crisis, we often don't get the leaders we need. Let's hope the Brits can bring a new leader with a massive pair to the fore in their next election. Since taking office, The One's have only shriveled.
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Stage I of the Iranian revolution appears to be closing. Massive street protests have dwindled, as could be expected under the harsh crackdown by the regime. But as Winston said on his blog, the 1979 revolution took a full year from beginning to end and one of the commenters on his blog reminisced about the 1989 revolution in Romania and how it succeeded when the army turned against the
Ceausescu regime.

Images of eight days of massive street rallies sent round the world a report so loud that the Mullah's will never sleep comfortably in their beds again and signs of their panicked reaction are everywhere. In fact, reaction, rather than pro-action seems to be their principal modus operandi in the last few days. They have lost their iron grip and in response to the strikes and other forms of passive resistance that are promised over the next few days, we can expect even more harsh repression to follow, which, of course, will only succeed in fueling the next stages of the revolution. They have no idea how else to handle it.

Modern methods of communications facilitated by the Internet and cell phones will make this one different. As of yet, we don't know exactly how it will turn out. When a short two minute YouTube video of a strikingly beautiful young woman shot in the chest, dying a few minutes later, blood flowing up from her chest, out through her mouth and nose,
as if lava from a volcano, or any of a number of other videos shows, this new media is powerful and it only takes minutes for masses of people world wide to see what the Mullahs are doing to their people. The have been outted in the most public of ways and their silly rhetoric and backwardness serves only to further embarrass the regime and discredit and de-legitimise its structure. The clerical class itself is cracking with reformists breaking ranks with traditionalists.

This is a long way from over. Mark my words, or rather, mark saggezard's words, from Winston's blog:
saggezard said...

Mehran, It is extremely premature to decisively believe the revolt is over, it is true hat the media, especially the western news gathering, has been almost successfully been suffocated, but the media has never been capable to represented the truth inside Iran. Communication by phone and internet has been constrained to less than one tenth of normal levels for full surveillance. The fire is burning very hot, people's anger cannot be reversed anymore. The strikes are starting, foreign boycotts and sanctions can be a huge blow to the regime. LONG LIVE THE GREAT IRANIAN REVOLUTION

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Iranian authorities scramble to negate Neda Soltan 'martyrdom'
"The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of a student shot dead in Tehran to take down mourning posters as they struggle to stop her becoming the rallying point for protests against the presidential election."
---
"The authorities had already banned a public funeral or wake and have prevented gatherings in her name while the state-controlled media has not mentioned Miss Soltan's death.

Today it was reported that they had also told her family to take down the black mourning banners outside their home in the Tehran suburbs to prevent it becoming a place of pilgrimage. They were also told they could not hold a memorial service at a mosque.

Nevertheless posters of Miss Soltan's face have started to appear all over Tehran."
Hah!! They're afraid of posters!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Timesonline has continuous coverage. Diplomatic fallout all over Europe, as Iranian diplomats are being called on the carpet. Meanwhile, Obama makes nicey-nice with regime representatives in Washington: US says hot dog diplomacy still on with Iran
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aw.
All these meddlers. Why don't they just go away? Poor Mullahs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Crisis in Iran is Just Beginning
"Don’t expect that this will be resolved cleanly with a win or loss in short period of time. The Iranian revolution, which is usually regarded as one of the most accelerated overthrows of a well-entrenched power structure in history, started in about January 1978, and the shah departed in January 1979. During that period, there were long pauses and periods of quiescence that could lead one to believe that the revolt had subsided. This is not a sprint; it is a marathon. endurance is at least as important as speed."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Too good to be true??
"Steve (Schippert) starts with a report from al Arabiya that says senior ayatollahs have been meeting secretly in Qom to discuss significant changes in the structure of the Iranian state. In addition to the Iranian clerics, there was a foreigner: Jawad al-Shahristani, the supreme representative of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the foremost Shiite leader in Iraq.

If this is true, it is, as Steve says, huge. Because it means that senior religious leaders in Iran are talking to the representative of an Iraqi Imam who believes, as most Shiites did before Khomeini’s heresy, that the proper role of religious leaders is to guide their people from the mosque, not from the political capital. In other words, they are talking about the most serious form of regime change."

Stay tuned.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Even the blind come out to protest!!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Iran: The Tenth Day

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!
-----------------------------------------------------
As always, watch The Spirit of Man and Azarmehr blogs, Andrew Sullivan and Huffington Post, especially Nico Pitney, for updates. niacINsight is also invaluable.
I'm adding Gateway Pundit to
this list.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Videos of so many brave young men and women mowed down by the regime are everywhere. God help them. Give them strength. Keep their determination strong!
--------------------------------------------------------------
Azarmehr skewers George Galloway - here, here and here
- for his support of the fascist thugs who rule Iran. In the comments Winston says:
"United States tried to indict vile Galloway for his role in Iraqi oil for food scandals. I wonder if we can try him in a free Iran for his support of the mullahs. I want these bastards to be held responsible at the end of the day."
Good idea.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Once again, protesters defy warnings of Revolutionary Guard crackdown and brave clubs and teargas.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Exactly what is at stake here, and what has Obama wrought by his humming and hawing over it.

Iran's Green Revolution could change the world

--------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting question: Curious Incident on the Streets of Tehran
"But, the streets are not filling up with Iranian soldiers. Tanks are not rolling down the boulevards. At least not yet.

Is this a sign that the regime does not trust the armed forces to do its bidding against fellow Iranians?"
---
"If the mullahs don't trust the army on the streets of Iran, that is a sign for hope."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Well, since they are going to accuse the whole world of interfering, we might as well make it so.
"The Czech EU presidency summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires to reject claims by Iran that the 27-nation bloc has been interfering in its internal affairs."
These idiots have only a few lines in their speaking notes and all they can do is rotate through them and then start over again. This one seems to be getting more play than most these last few days.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Speech by Reza Pahlavi

h/t Dr. Roy
-----------------------------------------------------------
Irony or what?

Italy presses Iran for response to G-8 invitation
"Italy will consider its G-8 meeting invitation to Iran rejected if Tehran does not reply by the end of the day, the foreign minister said Monday, in a toughening of Rome's stance.

Italy has invited Iran to attend the meeting of the Group of Eight foreign ministers starting Thursday in Trieste, saying Tehran could contribute to discussions on stabilizing Afghanistan and Pakistan. (emphasis mine)

Rome said recently that the invitation was still open, even amid the bloody crackdown on protests over a disputed presidential election. As late as Sunday evening, a Foreign Ministry communique expressed the hope that Iran might give its contribution as a regional actor starting at the Trieste meeting.

But on Monday, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that Iran must respond by the end of the day or "the invitation is to be considered implicitly rejected."

"There is no confirmation" from Iran, Frattini said. "Obviously there are rules in international diplomacy: When you invite somebody, that somebody has to respond."
---
"Italy is Tehran's leading trading partner in the European Union.

Italy has instructed its embassy in Iran to provide humanitarian aid to the protesters wounded during the clashes, pending an EU-wide proposal to coordinate assistance. But so far the Italian Embassy has received no such requests for assistance, Massari said."
Oh well. Just another indication that the ruling Mullahocracy is up to its beards in damage control and hasn't got time to engage in "diplomacy".
-----------------------------------------------------------

British Embassy preparing for the worst.
-----------------------------------------------------------
No political correctness in France

Three cheers for Sarkozy!!
-----------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Iran: The Nineth Day

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!
-----------------------------------------------------
As always, watch The Spirit of Man and Azarmehr blogs, Andrew Sullivan and Huffington Post, especially Nico Pitney, for updates. niacINsight is also invaluable.
I'm adding Gateway Pundit to this list.
-----------------------------------------------------
Is Mousavi the new Gorbachev? If so, let's hope that what follows are not the new Yeltsin and Putin, but something far better.
"Mousavi says his call for annulment of the election and a revote, supervised by an impartial national body, "is a given right." The objective is nothing less than "to achieve a new type of political life in the country.""
---
"Mousavi has in fact issued a manifesto for a new vision of the Islamic republic. The repression and disdain of the government has brought the opposition to a place they probably never dreamed of going. And no one knows where any of the parties are likely to go next."
-----------------------------------------------------
Neda's family denied use of mosque for memorial ceremony. That'll help the regime. For sure.
-----------------------------------------------------
Defiant, Iran's Mousavi urges more protests
"Mousavi made a veiled appeal to the security forces to show restraint in handling demonstrations -- a move likely to be viewed with deep suspicion by a conservative leadership that has vowed to use force wherever necessary to quell opposition."
---
""In your protests, continue to show restraint. I am expecting armed forces to avoid irreversible damage," he added."
---
"Mousavi said the mass arrest of his supporters "will create a rift between society and the country's armed forces""
---
"Pro-reform clerics meanwhile increased pressure on Iran's conservative leadership.

Mohammad Khatami, a Mousavi ally and a moderate former president, warned of "dangerous consequences" if the people were prevented from expressing their demands in peaceful ways.

His comments, carried by the semi-official Mehr news agency, were implicit criticism of Khamenei, who has backed a ban on protests and defended the outcome of the election."
Sounds to me like he's trying to pry the loyalty of the security forces away from Khamenei and Ahmadinejad.
-----------------------------------------------------
Now there's denial that the British Embassy is taking in the injured. Could very well have been more regime propaganda meant to accuse outsiders with interfering.
-----------------------------------------------------
Watch the crowd surround and beat on a policemen. The swarming and beating is started by a woman!! Another daughter of Iran!


-----------------------------------------------------
Infighting amongst clerical establishment becomes very public.
-----------------------------------------------------
Journalists arrested and disappearing, 23 so far, apparently.
-----------------------------------------------------
Reza Pahlavi interviewed on Australian TV.
-----------------------------------------------------
Victor Davis Hanson lays out five reasons why Obama should speak out forcefully and five reasons why he hasn't. I particularly like the part about why he hasn't, and of those I particularly like #2:
"Obama himself is not comfortable with those abroad who emulate American values and seek to have the freedoms and rights we take for granted. The post-colonial industry mandates that the Other is a perpetual victim of colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, and racism with justified grievances. Only elite American intellectuals of singular insight and empathy understand the calculus of the oppressed, and so, through apologies, accommodations, and concessions, they alone on our behalf can deal with an Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Ortega, Castro, Morales, Nasrallah, etc. But when we see a purple-finger election, a statue of liberty at Tiananmen, or the current Levi-clad, cell-phoning, English-placard-carrying Iranian grassroots resistance, all the above is rendered null and void. Obama wants to rise above his country; but when his country is not held in disrepute (as is true among the Iranian people), he is an actor without a role."
Indeed, massive protests in Iran in which its participants plead with the West, and with the United States in particular, for support is just too discombobulating for many on the hard left to process. Many will be hiding under their imaginary beds, ears covered, eyes shut, mouths mute or desperately trying to cook up stories to explain why what we are seeing is not what we are really seeing. After all, didn't the US topple Mosadeq's government? Didn't they install and support the Shah Pahlavi? I suspect this event will be a watershed for many of their wide-eyed little groupies who feel the cognitive dissonance as never before.
-----------------------------------------------------
In interesting article on the machinations of the clerical class.
-----------------------------------------------------
This one has literally made me cry.
"A reader who couldn't quite make out what her father was saying in the video understood after learning that her name is Neda. He sent in the transcript: "Neda, don't be afraid. Neda, don't be afraid. (There is yelling and screaming.) Neda, stay with me. Neda stay with me!"" 10:27 am
Neda's cruel and bloody death has become a rallying cry for the revolution. Neda will be with them.
-----------------------------------------------------
The people strike back at the Basij.
----------------------------------------------------

BBC told to leave Iran - 9:32 am

Interesting analysis of province by province election results - 10:35 am
"- At a provincial level, there is no correlation between the increased turnout, and the swing to Ahmadinejad. This challenges the notionthat his victory was due to the massive participation of a previously silent conservative majority.
- In a third of all provinces, the official results would require that Ahmadinejad took not only all former conservative voters, and all former centrist voters, and all new voters, but also up to 44% of former reformist voters, despite a decade of conflict between these two groups.
- In 2005, as in 2001 and 1997, conservative candidates, and Ahmadinejad in particular, were markedly unpopular in rural areas. That the countryside always votes conservative is a myth. The claim that this year Ahmadinejad swept the board in more rural provinces flies in the face of these trends."
'Nuff said.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Iran: The Eighth Day

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!
------------------------------------------------------
As always, watch The Spirit of Man and Azarmehr blogs, Andrew Sullivan and Huffington Post, especially Nico Pitney, for updates. niacINsight is also invaluable.
I'm adding Gateway Pundit to this list.
---------------------------------------------------------
Here's a list of foreign embassies in Iran that are taking in the injured. Apparently Canada doesn't have full diplomatic relations with Iran. Here's a description of the relationship from the Government of Canada's website. Apparently they are working under a "Controlled Engagement Policy, whatever that is. It seems to involve doing a lot of "expressing concern". I'm sure Iran's history of abuse and murder of Canadian citizens has something to do with this, but you'll notice on the website that many abuses involving Iranian citizens and Iran's behaviour in general are also mentioned.
---------------------------------------------------------

The Basij are using a mosque to store weapons and to take their prisoners and, no doubt, torture them. 7:30 pm, June 20th.
---------------------------------------------------------

So many videos of young people being beaten, shot, bleeding to death. I so hope their bravery is not in vain.
---------------------------------------------------------
Andrew Sullivan has continuous Twitter updates. Spend the day there.

This comment from Sullivan's site (colour in the original):

1.12 pm. confirmed - Riots in Tabriz, Mashad, Isfahan, Ahwaz - Gov using violence

Someone needs to arm these people. Maybe all those armaments sent to Iraq by the Mullahocracy should be shipped back. Maybe the Iraqi army should invade Iran and liberate them. Obviously Obama won't lift a finger.
---------------------------------------------------------
Video posted today. If this is today's protest then the regime's attempt to prevent it from happening has failed utterly.



Somehow I doubt it was today's protest, though. Not from the reports and videos I've seen so far, vis (Facebook account required):

Girl shot in heart

FUCKING BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!! AND WHERE THE HELL ARE OUR WESTERN LEADERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEIR SILENCE IS UNCONSCIONABLE!!!!
---------------------------------------------------------

Is the world coming to an end? CBC wanker, Brain Stewart, actually admits George Bush may have done the right thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"But one must now face the facts as they are. It is starting to look as if President George W. Bush set in motion a chain of events that, frankly, few of us expected at the time."
I must be hallucinating.

Of course, the CBC commie readership is dissing democracy in the comments below the article:
"As much as I admire you Brian I have to disagree with the assessment that democracies are the be all end all for mankind. It is patently obvious there is no such thing as democracy, only capitalism and over exploiting greedy capitalism at that. Democracy was based on the Greek version, which was the rich and elite were still in charge and greedy only they now tolerated the lesser citizens, it is worthy to note that Greece included the black market in the free market model of democracy." - TerriRobson
Lecherous asshole. Must have been studying at one of our hallowed institutions of political correctness otherwise known as universities. Democracies are soooo much worse than dictatorships, aren't they, Terri.
---------------------------------------------------------
Just a thought. Now would be a good time for the Israeli air force to take out Iran's nuke facility. No?

Netanyahu is a major hawk. He should have no qualms about it and with the recently developed chill going on between the US and Israel, what does Israel have to lose? The Arabs will secretly applaud, too.
---------------------------------------------------------

Yikes. Go read Michael Ledeen's article at Pajamas Media. Especially read what Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi has translated from a website owned by defected members of the Revolutionary Guard. The brutal arm of oppression has fractured and is joining the revolution. It seems a very large proportion of the population is determined to topple this regime. As I said before, when the policing agencies fall apart it's all but over. These defectors, I'm sure, will have taken their arms and ammunition with them.
---------------------------------------------------------
Today Everyone is an Iranian
"President Obama's halting comments only made clear his fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the Islamic regime. It appears President Obama is going to betray the Iranian people as Jimmy Carter did 3 decades earlier."
Obama continues to get a drubbing for sitting on the sidelines. Is it deserved? I think there is something to be said for allowing the coming revolution to be a made-in-Iran movement. But still, for a man gifted with oratory flair, you'd think he could have done better.
---------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Iran: The Seventh Day

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!
------------------------------------------------------
As always, watch The Spirit of Man and Azarmehr blogs, Andrew Sullivan and Huffington Post, especially Nico Pitney, for updates. niacINsight is also invaluable.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Reading Twitter in Iran
"After all, it appears that people living under authoritarian regimes such as the one in Iran are as addicted to the Internet as the rest of us are. Even though states push back, they can't keep the Internet down for long without serious blowback from their citizens. Iranian officials have the power to shutter the Internet just as they once clamped down on reformist newspapers, but they may be more concerned now about any move that pushes those watching -- or blogging or tweeting -- from the sidelines into the throngs of protesters already in the streets. "
-------------------------------------------------------------
Obama clueless on Iran
-------------------------------------------------------------
Iran Makes History Again
"Historic developments are large political barns, accommodating a wide range of beasts. Iran today is profoundly important, if still imprecise in its outcome. This is uncharted territory to a great extent in the context of contemporary Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah. It is perfectly routine behavior, though, in the wider context of human beings who do not like being treated like idiots by their own government, and resist the process when it takes place. Over and over, in lands around the world, human beings who are grossly mistreated by their own government eventually stand up and refuse to take it any more."
---
"The protests are not primarily about the election results per se, but rather about the indignities that ordinary men and women feel at the hands of their own government. The Iranians who are protesting are mostly younger people who were born after the 1979 Islamic revolution, so they do not always share the reverence for the revolutionary elite that continues to dominate the centers of power in the country. Younger Iranians are the latest generation of Middle Easterners who are demanding that they be treated as citizens who have rights and as human beings who have a sense of dignity. They do not particularly care what the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, says, and so they will likely keep protesting what they believe was government heavy-handedness in announcing the results of the presidential election in a manner that treated them like simpletons and chattel. They were made to feel that they participated in a farce, and normal human beings generally do not like to be humiliated like that."
---
"The levers of economic, military, ideological, bureaucratic, and police power are very tightly controlled by the existing elite in Iran, which makes the protests all the more remarkable. The potential for significant ramifications in Iran and the wider Middle East is great, given the role that Iran plays throughout the region. Of the two most significant events that impacted on the entire Middle East in the last two generations — the Arab loss in the June 1967 war and the Iranian Revolution in 1979 — the Iranian revolution has probably had wider and greater impact in the long run. Iran impacts on many parts of the region, because of its ideological influence and logistical support to Islamist movements in the Arab world, combined with its leadership of the “resistance front” of regional forces that defy and challenge the United States, Israel and conservative Arab regimes. If Iran once again sets the standard for mass political protest or even revolutionary change, the impact throughout the Middle East is likely to be enormous. Arabs will not feel comfortable seeing the Iranian people twice in 30 years fearlessly challenging their own autocratic regimes, while the people of the Arab world meekly acquiesce in equally non-democratic and top-heavy political systems that treat their own people as unthinking fools who can be perpetually abused with sham elections and other forms of exploitation."
---
"The particulars of the Iranian situation these days are specific to Iran’s political culture, where a secretive ruling elite seems to suffer serious ideological rifts, and a major generation gap is also coming into play. The spontaneous mass defiance of the ruling power structure, though, is not Iran-specific. If this turns out to be a serious challenge to the very legitimacy of the Islamic Republic’s system of government, rather than a narrow protest about the presidential election, we should not be surprised to see the Iranian precedent spilling over into other, Arab, parts of the Middle East, in a way that the 1979 Islamic revolution did not."
EXACTLY!!!! KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!

-------------------------------------------------------------
Iran's 'Super Friday' turns to 'Super Saturday'
In the meantime, Mousavi continues to use tactics of the 1978-9 revolution. He is asking his supporters to shout Allahu akbar (God is great) from the rooftops at night. When regime television reported that these were shouts of support for Ahmadinejad, Mousavi told his supporters to add Ya Hussein, Mir Hussein, which means "Oh Hussein, Mir Hussein" (a reference to both Imam Hussein, the martyred grandson of Muhammad, and to Mousavi himself). This nighttime noise technique is important outside of Tehran where regime suppression of protests is violent and effective. There have reportedly been no protests on the streets in recent days in the northeastern city of Mashad (where riots were violently suppressed in 1992), but Mousavi's supporters are making plenty of noise at night.
Emphasis mine.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Iranian Protest Sign Warns Regime: Do Not Forget What Happened to Saddam

Unfortunately, the President who delivered freedom to the Iraqi people is no longer in the Whitehouse.
------------------------------------------------------------
Yup. Technology trumps dictatorships.
"The same is true, I think, for the technologies of Web 2.0. MySpace and Facebook saw their initial success as platforms for people to connect socially online. Twitter began as side project, a novelty application for smartphone users to share their day with friends.

But now, under the press of history, these technologies are beginning to morph before our eyes. Suddenly, as you read the Facebook postings of Iranian protesters, it suddenly becomes apparent that social networks are becoming their own pseudo-nation states, complete with voluntary citizens, laws (often in conflict with their real-life counterparts) and degrees of sovereignty."

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!
-------------------------------------------------------
Cracks begin to show in the Iranian regime
"There have been reports of protesters overtaking police stations and attacking Basiji outposts, but if they march closer to government offices, forcing the regime’s leaders to flee or fill the streets with blood, what will the Revolutionary Guards do? Will they be able to hold their ranks together and massacre innocents who look like their sons and daughters for the sake of a regime that has brought nothing but misery and isolation to them?"
---
"There are believable rumors on Twitter, the main battleground in the information war right now, that local police have been seen arresting violent Basiji members — and some of the militiamen even laying down their arms. Others are fearfully covering their faces so they can’t be identified."
---
"Faced with such potential disobedience, the regime is looking outside of the country for support. There have been consistent reports of protesters being attacked by Arabic-speaking thugs, possibly men connected to Muqtada al-Sadr and Iran’s “Special Groups” in Iraq or foreign terrorists like Hezbollah and Hamas. “President” Ahmadinejad is said to be consulting with Russian advisors about how to handle the situation, a clear sign of insecurity in the normally self-assured tyrant."
---
"Iranians are taking note of the fact that the presence of local police, Basiji militiamen, and Ansar Hezbollah thugs that attacked them when the demonstrations first began has dramatically decreased, which they are interpreting as a sign of fear. I’ve received accounts from Iranians that the local police are being seen smiling and acting friendly overall with the demonstrators, while not conversing with the Basiji militia. One report even claimed that a police station was overtaken in Tajrish after the commander ordered his men to stand down. Another account described how the army special forces acted to protect the demonstrators from the Basiji and they privately expressed their disdain for the vicious militia."
---
"There may have even been an attempt to launch a coup by top security officers. Sixteen top Revolutionary Guards officers were arrested after holding secret meetings with senior army officers about betraying the regime. This occurred in the beginning of the unrest and so it is safe to say that this anti-government sentiment has increased as the crackdown has become harsher and more violent.

The regime’s political leadership is plagued with infighting as well. Michael Ledeen points out that over two dozen former prominent members of the regime are now in prison. Former presidents Khatami, Bani-Sadr, and Rafsanjani are putting severe pressure on Supreme Leader Khamenei, who is suffering from public criticism he has never had to face before. Khatami is planning his own demonstration over the weekend and the son of the shah, Reza Pahlavi, has also been sending messages to Iran advocating nationwide, peaceful resistance to overthrow the regime. It’s almost as if the democratic contest for the next leader of Iran has already begun.

The Iranians sending me news, photos, and videos, most of which have been posted at WorldThreats.com, are certain that the death toll is now in the hundreds and that tens of thousands have been injured. The crowds are growing and the uprising is now nationwide."
Obama. Where are you? Waiting......
----------------------------------------------------
Obama makes another very wimpy statement in a television interview. (Wait for the commercial to pass.) The clip lasts only a few seconds. He needs to make a very strong statement from the steps of the Whitehouse in his official capacity as President of the United States.

Waiting........ Waiting.......

I think the Iranian people have stolen his thunder. It was just a little rumble whereas in Iran there is a mighty roar. His spot in the sunshine has been usurped and his bluff called and now he's miffed. Shame on you, Obama!!
---------------------------------------------------
"Ghalm News reported that the sound of Mousavi supporters chanting “God is Great” echoed throughout “all districts and towns in Iran” for the seventh consecutive night"
Emphasis mine.

h/t Andrew Sullivan

Folks, this is not a mere revolt. We have a Green revolution!!!
--------------------------------------------------------
Tehran braces for crackdown as protesters vow to defy Khamenei
"Students at the fine arts faculty of Tehran University – where scores of students were injured and some reported killed after raids by security forces earlier this week – announced an indefinite sit-in starting tomorrow."
---
"The speech underlined the sense of profound crisis, since the supreme leader usually only speaks in public at the end of Ramadan and on the anniversary of the 1979 revolution."
Emphasis mine.
---
"Issa Saharkhiz, a Tehran-based pro-reformist commentator, said Khamenei's speech had transformed the crisis from a conflict over the election result into a trial of his own political authority, which was now being openly questioned. "Now the issue is that the supreme leader's sense of justice, management and competence is under question," he told Deutsche Welle. "The leadership of the country cannot be left in the hands of such a person, who for the sake of preserving himself and his own power, threatens people with mass murder.""

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!
-----------------------------------------------------

Women and the small things that really matter

h/t Ghost of a Flea
"The American humorist and political writer P.J. O’Rourke said the reason Communism collapsed was that nobody wants to wear Bulgarian shoes. He had
a point. It is the little things that matter."
---
"Now they are back again: students, teachers, doctors. Intelligent women, educated women. They want to know how, in a free election, the results showed that voting patterns were the same throughout the country."
Way too much to quote in this article. Go read the whole thing yourself.

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
"No comment" is not an option
"No two situations are identical. But the reform the Iranian demonstrators seek is something that we should be supporting. In such a situation, the United States does not have a “no comment” option. Coming from America, silence is itself a comment — a comment in support of those holding power and against those protesting the status quo."
Emphasis mine.
--------------------------------------------------------

God is Great! Death to the dictator.
--------------------------------------------------------

Salim Mansur writes a great article about the contemporary world of Islam.
--------------------------------------------------------
Voices from Iran.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Listen to this:



and then look at the video at Azarmehr's blog about the city of Ishafan. This is not "just" Tehran.

I am hearing this rural versus Tehran meme quite a bit lately. I don't buy it. Also note Saggezard's comments about the population data that Brzezinski quotes. Makes you want to doubt that Brzezinski has a handle on modern day Iran.

KEEP. GOING. IRAN!!!

------------------------------------------------------------
Google and Facebook go Farsi to help spread message from Iran
"Recognising the web’s crucial role on events in Iran, Google added a Fasri dictionary to Google Translate, its online translation service. It will enable millions of Iranians who are trying to get their message out to the wider world to translate any text, from blog posts to Twitter messages, from Farsi into English."

-------------------------------------------------------------
US House of Representatives passes resolution in support of freedom in Iran 405 to 1. Ron Paul only idiot among them.
------------------------------------------------------------
Khamenei to Mousavi: Accept results or leave Iran
"Khamenei had earlier instructed Mousavi to stand beside him as he uses his prayer sermon to call for national unity, according to The London Times.

The reformist candidate did not accede to this request and his supporters have so far ignored Kahmeini's call to support Ahmadinejad, holding huge rallies in defiance of an official ban.

Khamenei's speech Friday followed a sixth day of protests by Mousavi supporters."
---
"Khamenei, meanwhile, has urged the people to pursue their allegations of election fraud within the limits of the cleric-led system. Mousavi and his followers have rejected compromise and pressed their demands for a new vote, flouting the will of a man endowed with virtually limitless powers under Iran's constitution."
---------------------------------------------------------
Protest and utter brutality @ Anti-Mullah's website.
-------------------------------------------------------

Brits call Iran Ambassador
to carpet over Khamenei's "Evil UK" comment. Brown says:
"What we want is to have a good relationship with Iran in the future but that depends on Iran being able to show to the world that its elections have been conducted fairly and that there is no unfair suppression of rights or of individuals in that country."
I don't know about you, but that still sounds kind of weak to me. For my vote, Sarkozy's words still get the best marks. Perhaps that's because his father came from Hungary and he knows of brutal oppression.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dissolving the people.