Iran On Fire

[NYer]

Michael Totten (http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2009/06/a-heaving-volca.php):

Oppressive governments that face ferocious resistance in the streets often don't last very long. The Islamic Republic regime has been durable so far, and reports of its imminent demise have been premature, but there is only so much it can withstand.

Fingers crossed ... However, I remember Tiananmen Square.

[NYer]

Twittering the Iranian situation. (http://twitter.com/Change_for_Iran)

1. We're trying to stop Masood from going outside! there is no way they will listen to us right now. #iranelectionless than 20 seconds ago from web
2. Stop burning tires & trash cans! come to our aid it's getting worse than 18tir already! #iranelection2 minutes ago from web
3. For some unknown reason there is still power in here and DSL line is working. but there is no dial tone. #iranelection3 minutes ago from web
4. typing as fastest as I can in both English & Farsi, Still we need outside help, I really don't want to be captured by Ansar #iranelection7 minutes ago from web
5. unfortunately the entrance door is completely destroyed and there is no way of barricading it. #iranelection10 minutes ago from web
6. to other sources: this isn't the police! police is still outside! we're under attack by Ansar-Hezbolah. #iranelection14 minutes ago from web
7. they used some kind of riot control gun in their last attack, never seen it before #iranelection16 minutes ago from web
8. my friend saying more than 100 students arrested, I can't confirm this but the numbers are high #iranelection19 minutes ago from web
9. bastards just attacked us for no reason, I lost count of how much tear gas they launched at us! #iranelection21 minutes ago from web
10. all university's own security and personnel already evacuated by police, there are only us students in here right now. #iranelection26 minutes ago from web
11. we have now some students with urgent need of medical attention I'm calling out to all ppl who can come here don't leave us #iranelection30 minutes ago from web
12. trying hard to sleep, there are rumors about karoubi's march toward here! if it is true there is still hope for us! #iranelection38 minutes ago from web
13. 4:09am from dormitory building of university of Tehran, we will wait for day light and hoping people of amirabad help us out #iranelection44 minutes ago from web
14. there is nothing we can't do right now, police & basij forces are waiting outside blocking anyone from getting in or out #iranelectionabout 1 hour ago from web
15. using freegate now, nothing else working. no power in most of the buildings & cellphones & land lines are out again. #iranelectionabout 1 hour ago from web
16. http://bit.ly/vnz0l police will break in if you give shelter to people! #iranelectionabout 3 hours ago from TwitterFox
17. @monshi thanks for confirming it! I don't believe they have the courage to arrest khatamiabout 4 hours ago from TwitterFox in reply to monshi
18. http://bit.ly/ZV2As #iranelectionabout 4 hours ago from TwitterFox
19. @Robot117 IRG is not shah! it's a complete lunatic military organization! let's pray that will never happen.about 4 hours ago from TwitterFox
20. http://bit.ly/4AZ7zw Tehran Valiasr st 5:30pm after President Potato's speech #iranelectionabout 4 hours ago from TwitterFox

More at link ... Huge ...

[NYer]

An Ayatollah Dissents (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/an-ayatollah-dissents.html)

Grand Ayatollah Sanei in Iran has declared Ahmadinejad's presidency illegitimate and cooperating with his government against Islam. There are strong rumors that his house and office are surrounded by the police and his website is filtered. He had previously issued a fatwa, against rigging of the elections in any form or shape, calling it a mortal sin.

[NYer]

More Iran news on Twitter. (http://crowdstatus.com/iranelectioncrowd.aspx)

[Atlas]

I'd be cautious about logging on those .IR sites.

Some are surely going to be SAVAMA traps, looking for dissidents and info on protests.

[NYer]

"Obama, please help us. They are killing our children." (http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2009/06/insurrection-da.php)

[Hound]

"Obama, please help us. They are killing our children." (http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2009/06/insurrection-da.php)


From the same:


"Reports are circulating that Venezuela has sent anti-riot troops to Tehran to help Ahmadinejad, joining Hezbollah members from Palestine and Lebanon who are employed by the Islamic government as anti-riot police — the reason such forces are being brought in is that some of the Iranian police are unwilling to hit people as ordered and some are even joining the protesters. Maybe. It's hard to separate fact from rumor right now."

[NYer]

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has just made a 180, ordering an investigation into electoral fraud. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526321,00.html)

http://www.foxnews.com/images/539236/3_68_e320.jpg

But can they stuff the genie back into the bottle?

More from Twitter -

# Ppl of the world that are following #IranElection protests, U now know what spirit of real Iranians! Imagine if everyone had such courage!less than 10 seconds ago from web

# I am so proud of my iranian bros/sis.U have shown the world fearlessness in face eye of tyranny! Ppl of world pls nevr forget! #IranElection3 minutes ago from web

http://twitter.com/irannewsnow

[Hound]

Iran's Khatami supports peaceful protest

Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:11am EDT


http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/reuters.com.dart/news/top/article;type=featured_broker;sz=170x40;articleID=U SLF570302;ord=4115? (http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/reuters.com.dart/news/top/article;type=featured_broker;sz=170x40;articleID=U SLF570302;ord=4115?)










TEHRAN, June 15 (Reuters) - Reformist former president Mohammad Khatami criticised Iranian authorities on Monday for denying permission for a rally in Tehran and said the country's disputed election last week had dented public trust.

Khatami said supporters of defeated election candidate Mirhossein Mousavi had a right to peaceful protest, and said he would have joined them if the Interior Ministry had given permission for their planned rally to take place.

"I was determined to take part in today's peaceful demonstration and speak to you and express my practical protest to the unkindness done to the people and the revolution," Khatami said in a faxed statement.

Despite the ban on a rally "you and we will nevertheless continue our movement in this course and would expect that the clear demands of Mr Mousavi, which is the demand of all of us, will be heeded," he said.

Mousavi has appealed the Iran's watchdog Guardian Council to annul the result.

Khatami, who served as president from 1997-2005, remains popular in Iran and publicly backed Mousavi's election bid. Mousavi was soundly defeated by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Friday's election, but has rejected the result as a "dangerous charade".

"What took place in the course of the recent presidential elections produced a blemish in the public trust, and led to ... natural and emotional reactions," Khatami said.

"... Your cheerful and joyous presence through peaceful means, which you have observed, is your right," he said, urging Mousavi supporters to ensure their protests were legal and remained calm.

On Monday supporters of Ahmadinejad on motorbikes and armed with sticks attacked backers of Mousavi as they marched in central Tehran, a Reuters witness said.

The witness said there were scuffles between the groups and that Ahmadinejad supporters used sticks to hit their opponents.

Riot police were also at the scene. [nLF581150] (Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Louise Ireland)

[NYer]

Iran protest cancelled as leaked results posted. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5540211/Iran-protest-cancelled-as-leaked-election-results-show-Mahmoud-Amadinejad-came-third.html)

Mr Mousavi's cancellation of the protest came as sporadic disturbances continued around the Iranian capital, and reports circulated of leaked interior ministry statistics showing him as the clear victor in last Friday's polls.

The statistics, circulated on Iranian blogs and websites, claimed Mr Mousavi had won 19.1 million votes while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won only 5.7 million.

The two other candidates, reformist Mehdi Karoubi and hardliner Mohsen Rezai, won 13.4 million and 3.7 million respectively. The authenticity of the leaked figures could not be confirmed.

[Hound]

Following is the translated text of a letter purportedly from Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi to the Iranian people, posted on Flickr.com (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mousavi1388/3625088310/) Sunday.
———————————
My Fellow Compatriots,
From all over the country complaints of irregularities of this election have reached me. I am confident that this outpour of complaint is being sent not because of me but because of a concern that a new style of politics is being imposed on our country.
What we have witnessed over the past few days has been unprecedented in the Islamic Revolution. And if people are following the turn of events with great concern it is because they are worried about the great achievements obtained over the course of this Islamic revolution.
Those people that have committed enormous violations in this election and are showing unbelievable results are now seeking to validate the results and start a new history for our country.
During the election I clearly talked about violations and escape from the law and reiterated that the use of such tactics could lead to dictatorship and authoritarianism. And our people today have reached a point where they can sense such a threat in the distance.

We who are committed to the Islamic republic and its constitution firmly believe in the "vlayat Fagheeh" [Ayatollah Khomeini's theory of Islamic governance] as one of its pillars and will follow our political moves within this framework. I hope that the outcome of our moves will demonstrate the incorrect results of this turn of events. While at the same time I warn that in this country no one who is passionate about the Islamic revolution will not accept the current outcome. This is what the blood of thousands of martyrs commits us to taking responsibility to our actions.
Dear People
Today, I through a letter that I sent to the Guardian Council have requested that the results of this election be void and I see this as the only way to regain public trust and support in their government. My suggestion as your public servant is that you continue your rallies in a peaceful and non confrontational manner.
Related Stories



Gunfire Erupts at Iranian Pro-Reform Protests, At Least 1 Killed (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526363,00.html)
Twitter Links Iran Protesters to Outside World (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526403,00.html)
How Iranians Get Around Web Censors (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526425,00.html)
Iraqi President Congratulates Ahmadinejad on Re-Election (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526266,00.html)


We have request from the officials a permit to conduct a nationwide rally in all of our cities so that our people can through their vigilance demonstrate their dissatisfaction of the election results. The acceptance of such an act will be a good way to avoid current discontent.
With the color green which symbolizes faith, freedom and tolerance and religious faith, and with the slogan of "Allah o Akbar (God is great) which goes back to the roots of our revolution we shall continue our rally.
This color and slogan is unifying of our support base and is the best way to communicate with each other and reach each others hearts.
Regrettably there has been an effort to disconnect our communications and in doing so this movement can go astray from a movement with a clear objective to one that can cause great harm and disarray. I am certain that your creativity will help us find new ways of communication with each other so that our actions can deliver the right kind of results that we want and in doing so we can serve our political system in the right way.
As a supporter of our police force I strongly suggest that they restrain from using brutal and violent means to suppress spontaneous demonstrations so that people do not lose confidence in this invaluable institution. These people are out in the streets to protect their rights just as much as yours and they are your brothers and sisters. The strength of our military force comes from their unity with the people and in the future shall this unity remain.
In hopes of better days.



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526443,00.html

[NYer]

Gunfire At Rally - 15 Dead. (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/iranian-opposition-leader-defies-ban.html)

[Atlas]

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has just made a 180, ordering an investigation into electoral fraud. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526321,00.html)

http://twitter.com/irannewsnow

Just a delaying tactic, waiting for the protests to crap out

[Mystery]

Where's Jimmy Carter?

[NYer]

America Sleeps While Iranians Confront Evil. (http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/america-sleeps-while-iranians-confront-evil/)

... We should not, nor should we expect that if for some reason Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acquiesces to the demands of the Iranian voters who cast their lot with Mousavi, Iran will become a more reasonable country to deal with. The events of the last few days have shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that the rulers of Iran have their own agenda.

If they are willing to subject their own citizens to the truncheon and the trigger, what are they willing to do to the nations they have declared their enemies?

We elected a man who was supposed to restore our place in the world, but that place is not on bended knee. Good intentions and eloquent phrases mean nothing to men who keep the majority of the population in its place with violence and intimidation.

"Probe with bayonets. If you encounter mush, proceed..." VI Lenin

[NYer]

Guide to following the Iranian situation online. (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/your-guide-following-iranian-election-protests-online)

[Hound]

Guide to following the Iranian situation online. (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/your-guide-following-iranian-election-protests-online)

CNN reporting foreign media banned in Iran...

[NYer]

Recount! (http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/06/023821.php)

But no one expects the result, hailed as "divine" by the most senior cleric of all, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to change. Defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi describes the proposed partial recount as inadequate.

The mullahs may want to bring in Al ("Let's Count A Few More Votes") Franken as an independent expert for the recount.

[NYer]

Update: More from Twitter ...

# we told everybody to get out and leave dorms. but most of the student got no where to go & no relatives in Tehran.12 minutes ago from web

# confirmed by farsi twitters: around 2000 basiji is now standing in front of dorms.14 minutes ago from web
# I can't contact to anyone over there, the cell phones are out again.22 minutes ago from web
# it looks they are going to attack dorms again! IRG's chopper just passed by Yousefabad. there is noting left to destroy over there!25 minutes ago from web
# @ensan_80 I have no idea! google it! one confirmed in front of Seda-o-Sima & one brain damaged in hospital right now.32 minutes ago from web in reply to ensan_80
# people are now moving to protest in front of UN office in Tehran37 minutes ago from web
# They are filtering everything! Gmail is blocked now!39 minutes ago from web
# @ensan_80 Very Ziyad!44 minutes ago from web in reply to ensan_80
# @lintably I don't know it's a good thing or not! it's just going to get gov more mad about us!about 1 hour ago from web in reply to lintably
# note that there are 2 main Armies in Iran, national Army (weakened over time) and IRG (Basij-Sepah-Ansar)about 1 hour ago from web

[NYer]

Update -

# What the hell is this?!?! Someone sent this to me, luks like Ahmadinejad and mullahs plotting in private AFTR protests! http://bit.ly/vRBC8about 2 hours ago from web
# at end of this vid 1 man sez n Persian: attackers r Lebenes! If tru could mean iran gov using mercenaries http://bit.ly/HMA48 #IranElectionabout 2 hours ago from web
# @cnn @foxnews @bbc @whitehouse Police/vigilante thugs with masks repeatedly club civilian youtube vid! http://bit.ly/29zqCp #IranElectionabout 2 hours ago from web
# @CNN NEW FOOTAGE! Oh my god! police with masks brutally beating civilian with clubs! youtube vid: http://bit.ly/29zqCp Pls RT RT RT RT RT!about 2 hours ago from web
# Pls if u dont hav somthing helpful 2 say or know what u talking about dont waste my time.Been posting for DAYS.Leaving4now.will come bk l8r.about 2 hours ago from web
# @Lindacoggs that was from @mousavi88. Not my link. this is an important user here.about 3 hours ago from web
# @Linacoggs which link?about 3 hours ago from web
# @CNN don't listen to what iran gov says u can or can't do! You can report the pics/vids coming from Twitter! #CNNFail #IranElection Pls RT!about 3 hours ago from web
# @LauraNo, but they said it in way that suggested Ahmadnjd may hav won.This is false.Most of their own analyst yestrdy thought it was fraud!about 3 hours ago from web
# RT @mousavi1388 Mousavi's message from GhalamNews now on http://mousavi1388.wikispac... and http://ghalamnews.tumblr.com/ #IranElectionabout 3 hours ago from web
# @cnn Pls focus on the main story - People demanding their rights & vote respected - not 6 yr old nuke program story! #CNNFail #IranElectionabout 3 hours ago from web
# Everyone please read my recent tweets on CNN and RT them! #CNNFail #IranElection @cnn Do your job!! where's @donlemoncnn ? Pls RT!about 3 hours ago from web
# @CNN U dont hav 2 listen 2 Iran gov when says 'Foreign media no longer allowed 2 report'!Do ur job! u stl hav TWITTR! #CNNFail #IranElectionabout 3 hours ago from web
# @Duesco it matters because most of the world still watches TV! Faulty reporting from major networks can do a lot of harm. #CNNFailabout 3 hours ago from web
# @cnn Why did ur 4AM anchor sgst maybe Iranians really want Ahmdnjd? MAJORTY OF UR OWN ANALYSTS BLV ELECTN WAS FRAUD! #IranElections #CNNFailabout 3 hours ago from web
# CNN just sed becuz of Iran gov decree that media can no longer report from Iran CNN cant know if election was stolen! #CNNFail #IranElection

http://twitter.com/irannewsnow

[NYer]

Lebanon Now: (http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=98801)

The winds of democratic change might just be sweeping Iran. Mr. Mousavi’s supporters are not ready to give up yet. Not since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 – ominously 30 years ago – have the streets of Iran witnessed such dissent. The demonstrations that followed the announcement that Mr. Ahmadinejad had won are unprecedented and simply too big to stop.

Sound familiar? Wouldn’t it be fitting if the inspiration for the protests came from events on the streets of Beirut over four years ago, when an unstoppable wave of people power succeeded in ejecting authoritarianism? There was strong evidence at the time to suggest that the Lebanese army was put under pressure by its Syrian overlords to brook no dissent from those who bravely demonstrated against the assassination of Rafik Hariri and the prolonged influence of Damascus in the country. Those whose decision it would have been to make that call knew that to order the soldiers to fire into the crowd would be cataclysmic. The rest, as they say, is history. In an extraordinary wave of public sentiment that became known as the Cedar Revolution, a new day broke over Lebanon.

The Iranian authorities appear to have more of an appetite for a scrap, and as blood runs in the streets of Tehran – and apparently in Shiraz too – it is worth remembering that such draconian measures issue from the leaders of a country that would have exerted not insignificant influence over Lebanon had the March 8 bloc prevailed at the June 7 polls. Events in Iran are a timely reminder of how the Iranian authorities, not unlike those in Damascus, do not tolerate dissent. If Lebanon needs to go shopping for a foreign patron, Tehran is not the place. Lebanese voters said as much when they entered the polling stations.

Read the whole thing.

[NYer]

Seven Point Manifesto (http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-seven-point-manifesto-of-the-iranian-resistance/)

The following document, known as the Seven-Point Manifesto, calling for the resignation of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, has hit the streets of Iran. Hundreds of thousands of copies have already been circulated throughout the country.

A copy was sent from Tehran to filmmaker and activist Ardeshir Arian, who has translated it for Pajamas Media:

The Seven-Point Manifesto calls for:

1. Stripping Ayatollah Khamenei of his supreme leadership position because of his unfairness. Fairness is a requirement of a supreme leader.

2. Stripping Ahmadinejad of the presidency, due to his unlawful act of maintaining the position illegally.

3. Transferring temporary supreme leadership position to Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazery until the formation of a committee to reevaluate and adjust Iran’s constitution.

4. Recognizing Mir Hossein Mousavi as the rightfully elected president of the people.

5. Formation of a new government by President Mousavi and preparation for the implementation of new constitutional amendments.

6. Unconditional release of all political prisoners regardless of ideology or party platform.

7. Dissolution of all organizations — both secret and public — designed for the oppression of the Iranian people, such as the Gasht Ershad (Iranian morality police).

[Hound]

CNN reporting troops going door to door collecting satellite dishes

[NYer]

Pence calls on Obama to support Iranian protesters. (http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/16/video-pence-calls-on-obama-to-support-iranian-protesters/)

A lovely sentiment, and I agree that The One can and should be doing more to focus media attention on horrors like this, especially with Gibbs stupidly insisting that our concerns about Iran are the same this week as last week. Still, I don’t like the idea of a congressional resolution to make Obama choose sides. Foreign policy is the president’s prerogative and the president’s decided to play this low key; a resolution would make headlines in Iran and destroy his ability to do that. It’s strategically risky, too, insofar as the clerics and the army haven’t decided which way to go yet. The regime’s on the defensive now with eminent Iranians like Montazeri coming out against them; doubtless Rafsanjani’s lobbying some leading mullahs too, possibly with an eye to removing Khamenei. If the U.S. gets involved, it lets Ahmadinejad change the subject and demagogue his opponents as doing the west’s bidding, which could tilt the fencesitters the other way. The best thing we can do to avert another Tiananmen, I think, is to stress how appalling the abuses have already been so that whatever comes next will seem that much more monstrous by comparison. No one, whether inside or outside Iran, will fault The One for doing that. So how about it, Barry?

This might be above his pay grade.

[Hound]

file:///H:/DOCUME%7E1/Guest/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpgfile:///H:/DOCUME%7E1/Guest/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpgFDI

Foundation for Democracy in Iran



June 16, 2009
President Barack Hussein Obama
The White House
Washington, DC


Re: Iranian elections


Dear Mr. President,
You said over the weekend, "It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's
leaders will be. We respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being
the issue inside of Iran.”
Mr. President, we beg to differ.
We urge you not to make the same mistake as President Clinton, who washed his hands
when asked on the White House lawn by reporters on July 9, 1999 if the United States
would come to the aid of Iranian students who were in revolt in 18 cities across Iran.
America could do nothing, Clinton said – echoing almost exactly the taunt used by
Ayatollah Khomeini repeatedly during the revolution.
Mr. President, America can do much, as you and your supporters said repeatedly during
your election campaign.
For starters, America should continue to hold up the beacon of liberty that Iranians look
to with such longing – not put it under a shroud.
America should hold Iran’s clerical leaders and Revolutionary Guards thugs to the same
standard it holds all governments of the civilized world, as servants of the sovereign will
of the people they claim to represent.
Seven Iranians were murdered by regime thugs just yesterday during a non-violent
protest in Tehran. Many more will be killed in the coming days.
Mr. President: No government deserves our respect that murders its own people.

America can do much, Mr. President. We can fly the banner of freedom high, not stoop to
the level of the dictators who despise and revile us.
We are not calling on you or your administration to provide material assistance or support
to this or that candidate or political party inside Iran. We are calling on you to assert
America’s moral authority in defense of freedom.
We are calling on you to refuse to recognize the imposter regime of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, and to muster world opinion to neutralize him behind an
international cordon sanitaire until he crumbles from isolation and neglect.
Mr. President: the days of this brutal regime in Tehran are numbered. With or without
America’s help, this brutal regime will soon collapse into the dustbin of history where it
belongs.
But don’t you want to be on the right side of history, on the side of the people against
dictatorship?
Mr. President: we urge you to reconsider your silence, your refusal to commit.
We urge you to remember the words of one of your predecessors, Teddy Roosevelt, who
said,
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man
stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs
to the man who is actually in the arena… [who] knows his place shall never be
with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Sincerely,
Kenneth R. Timmerman
President and CEO


FDI is a private, non-profit organization established in 1995 under the laws of the State of Maryland, for the promotion
of democracy and human rights in Iran, with a board of distinguished Americans and Iranians. Full information on us
can be found at www.iran.org



www.iran.org
7831 Woodmont Ave. - Suite 395
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Tel: (301) 946-2918. Fax: (301) 942-5341


http://www.iran.org/

[Atlas]

CNN reporting troops going door to door collecting satellite dishes

I thought foreign press was banned?

[Hound]

I thought foreign press was banned?

It's the spectre of George Bush:

Dubya Dubya Dubya dot your proxy here dot tv

[Hound]

just tweeted...

[/URL] RT From Iran: CONFIRMED!! Army moving into Tehran against protesters! PLZ RT! URGENT! #IranElection (http://twitter.com/jamez85) #gr88 (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23gr88)
less than 10 seconds ago from web (http://twitter.com/) · Reply (http://twitter.com/?status=@jamez85%20&in_reply_to_status_id=2202446320&in_reply_to=jamez85) · View Tweet (http://twitter.com/jamez85/statuses/2202446320)

RT Iran army rumor is NOT confirmed by reliable sources, stp RT, probly s intended 2 intimidate iranian ppl [URL="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23iranelection"]#iranelection (http://twitter.com/loreleisigma) #gr88 (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23gr88)
less than 20 seconds ago from Tweetie (http://www.atebits.com/) · Reply (http://twitter.com/?status=@loreleisigma%20&in_reply_to_status_id=2202573808&in_reply_to=loreleisigma) · View Tweet (http://twitter.com/loreleisigma/statuses/2202573808)

[Hound]

Bracing for New Protests, Iran Issues Media Warning


(http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&page=www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/world/middleeast&pos=Frame4A&sn2=8ca84067/d4c26d2b&sn1=3bb7300e/dd730d8d&camp=foxsearch2009_emailtools_1011074c_nyt5&ad=500DOS_120x60_c&goto=http://www.foxsearchlight.com/500daysofsummer)



By NAZILA FATHI and ALAN COWELL (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/alan_cowell/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: June 17, 2009
TEHRAN — Tehran braced for a possible third day of defiance by opposition supporters on Wednesday after Iran (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/index.html?inline=nyt-geo)’s leaders failed to halt huge demonstrations against last week’s disputed election results.
Skip to next paragraph (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/world/middleeast/18iran.html?hp#secondParagraph)
What do the mass protests mean for American interests?

(http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/where-will-the-power-lie-in-iran/)





Placed on the defensive by the biggest demonstrations since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the authorities on Tuesday offered a concession to the sustained rage here, saying they would allow a limited recount of the vote — an offer that was resoundingly rejected.
But there were signs on Wednesday that the authorities were preparing to deepen a crackdown on the way news about the protest is being spread. On Tuesday, the government revoked press credentials for foreign journalists and ordered journalists not to report from the streets.
And on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported, the powerful Revolutionary Guards (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/islamic_revolutionary_guard_corps/index.html?inline=nyt-org) went further, threatening restrictions on the digital online media that many Iranians use to communicate among themselves and to send news of their protests overseas.
In a first statement since last Friday’s vote, the Revolutionary Guards said Iranian Web site operators and bloggers must remove content deemed to “create tension” or face legal action, the A.P. said. Despite that warning, new amateur video surfaced outside of Iran on Wednesday, apparently showing a government militia rampaging through a dormitory area of Tehran University late Tuesday or early on Wednesday.
Reuters reported, meanwhile, that Mohammadreza Habibi, the senior prosecutor in the central province of Isfahan, had warned demonstrators that they could be executed under Islamic law.
“We warn the few elements controlled by foreigners who try to disrupt domestic security by inciting individuals to destroy and to commit arson that the Islamic penal code for such individuals waging war against God is execution,” Mr. Habibi said, according to the Fars news agency. It was not clear if his warning applied only to Isfahan or the country as a whole, Reuters said.
The developments came a day after supporters of the defeated opposition presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/mir_hussein_moussavi/index.html?inline=nyt-per), jammed into a line more than a mile long in Tehran. They marched mostly in silence, some carrying signs in English asking, “Where is my vote?”
The numbers of opposition protesters did not match those on Monday, when hundreds of thousands of Iranians joined the demonstrations, enraged that the conservative president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/mahmoud_ahmadinejad/index.html?inline=nyt-per), was declared the winner of Friday’s election with 63 percent of the votes.
Fear, many said, was a factor. Seven protesters were killed following the demonstrations on Monday. Gritty and uncensored images, some taken by cellphone cameras, were beamed around the world via various Web sites.
“Nothing will change if we don’t come,” said one protester, Madjid, 26, an employee of the Foreign Ministry who was afraid to give his family name. “We need to become a big force to achieve what we want.”
Worry over the future of Iran, a country crucially important for its oil, its proximity to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, its nuclear program and its ties to extremist groups, spilled over its borders.
In Washington, President Obama (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per) said that it would be counterproductive for the United States “to be seen as meddling” in the disputed presidential election. He dismissed criticism that he had failed to speak out forcefully enough about the growing unrest in Iran.
“I have deep concerns about the election,” Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House. “I think that the world has deep concerns about the election.”
In Vienna, Mohamed ElBaradei (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/mohamed_elbaradei/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the head of the United Nations (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org) atomic energy watchdog (http://www.iaea.org/), said in a BBC (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/british_broadcasting_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org) interview (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8104401.stm) that he believed Iran wanted to develop nuclear weapons technology “to be recognized as a major power in the Middle East.”
As the confrontation inside Iran continued to build momentum on Tuesday, each side laid down more cards.
Reformers, with substantial popular support but without the power of the state, worked to gain religious backers, urging clerics to break with the government. “No one in his sane mind can accept these results,” a senior opposition cleric, Hassan-Ali Montazeri, said in a public letter posted on his Web site.
Supporters of Mr. Ahmadinejad — though apparently fewer than 10,000 of them — marched through Tehran’s streets proclaiming their candidate the election’s fair winner and chanting, “Rioters should be executed!”
In an intervention that suggested a growing concern over the scale of the protests, the nation’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/ali_khamenei/index.html?inline=nyt-per), took the unusual step of meeting with representatives of the four presidential candidates, urging national unity for the second time in recent days. He did not address the protesters’ demands for a new election.



The Guardian Council (http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/guardian_council_iran/index.html?inline=nyt-org), the watchdog body that must certify the results, said it was willing to conduct a partial recount of the votes, the IRNA news agency reported. Ayatollah Khamenei, who had urged the council on Monday to examine the vote-rigging claims, said Tuesday that the candidates needed to resolve the issue through legal channels.


What do the mass protests mean for American interests?
[/URL]



Mr. Moussavi’s representative, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, said a recount would not meet the demands of the protesters, Ghalamnews, a Web site linked to Mr. Moussavi, reported.
“We believe there has been fraud because our representatives were not allowed to supervise the elections, and we have evidence of many irregularities,” he was quoted as saying.
He gave an example: votes cast at some polling places, he said, exceeded the number of eligible voters in those areas. He also said the Guardian Council had not been impartial before the election because some of its members campaigned for Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Despite the crackdown on the news media, an extraordinary amount of information about the protests in Tehran and other cities has reached the outside world. On Tuesday, many Web sites posted a wrenching video that purported to show the death of a student in Isfahan in a shooting by pro-government militia members. Other videos showed bleeding and inert demonstrators from Tehran after the large protests on Monday.
In Tuesday’s demonstration here, a witness saw a member of the Basij militia loyal to Mr. Ahmadinejad opening fire on a group of people, hitting one person in the neck. Protesters attacked a group of the militia members and set one of their motorcycles on fire.
There were reports that at least two moderate politicians, Mohammad Ali Abtahi and Saeed Hajarian, as well as two other activists, were arrested on Tuesday. The government arrested more than 100 politicians and activists on Sunday. Some have been released.
The English-language Press TV wing of state-owned television said Behzad Nabavi, another reformist politician, had also been arrested. The detainees include politicians, intellectuals, activists and journalists, the A.P. reported.
In Paris, Soazig Dollet, a spokeswoman for Reporters Without Borders (http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/where-will-the-power-lie-in-iran/), a press freedom advocacy group, said at least 11 reporters had been arrested since the elections and the fate of 10 more was unclear since they may either be in hiding or under arrest.
On its Web site, the organization said Aldolfatah Soltani, a lawyer and human rights activist, had been detained along with “10 or so opposition activists, politicians and civil society figures” in Tehran and three other cities — Tabriz, Isfahan and Shiraz.
Naziula Fathi reported from Tehran and Alan Cowell from Paris. Reporting was contributed by Bill Keller from Tehran; Clifford J. Levy from Moscow; Andrew E. Kramer from Yekaterinburg, Russia; and Sharon Otterman from New York.

[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/world/middleeast/18iran.html?pagewanted=1&hp

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/world/middleeast/18iran.html?pagewanted=2&hp

[NYer]

# “The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within” C.S.Lewis1 minute ago from web

http://twitter.com/irannewsnow

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/assets/images/2009/06/16/090616104807_protest_azadi_ap_446.jpg

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/.a/6a00d83451c45669e201157026d098970c-320wi

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/.a/6a00d83451c45669e20115711cb33e970b-320wi

[Hound]

[/URL]... RT from Iran! pro-Ahmedinajad rally is photoshopped http://bit.ly/NpibJ (http://twitter.com/HollywoodConsul) (expand (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23IranElection#)http://search.twitter.com/images/search/expanding.gif?1245105031) #iranelection (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23iranelection) ... mass RT this please ...
less than 10 seconds ago from [URL="http://www.nambu.com/"]

[Hound]

...

[Hound]

11.20am:
A key Iranian figure, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/15/rafsanjani-iran-elections), who has remained invisible since the election, has called an emergency meeting of the Assembly of Experts, according to the US-based Iran expert Reza Aslan.
"If true, this is a bombshell," (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html) says Nico Pitney on his excellent live blog of the crisis on the Huffington Post.
11am:
The man who leaked the real election results from the Interior Ministry - the ones showing Ahmadinejad coming third - was killed in a suspicious car accident, according to unconfirmed reports, writes Saeed Kamali Dehghan in Tehran.

Mohammad Asgari, who was responsible for the security of the IT network in Iran's interior ministry, was killed yesterday in Tehran.
Asgari had reportedly leaked results that showed the elections were rigged by government use of new software to alter the votes from the provinces.
Asgari was said to have leaked information that showed Mousavi had won almost 19 million votes, and should therefore be president.
We will try to get more details later.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/jun/17/iran-uprising




The Assembly of Experts[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Experts#cite_note-0) (also Assembly of Experts of the Leadership) of Iran (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran) (Persian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_language): مجلس خبرگان رهبری, Majles-e-Khobregan or Majles-e-Khebregan), is a deliberative body of 86 Mujtahids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mujtahid) (Islamic scholars) that is charged with electing the Supreme Leader of Iran (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Leader_of_Iran) and supervising his activities. Members of the assembly are elected from a government-screened list of candidates by direct public vote to eight-year terms[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Experts#cite_note-1). Current laws require the assembly to meet for at least two days, twice annually.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Experts#cite_note-2)[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Experts#cite_note-3) The current chairman of the Assembly is Hashemi Rafsanjani (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashemi_Rafsanjani), who was elected in September 2007.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Experts#cite_note-BBC-4)

[/URL]
[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Experts#cite_note-BBC-4"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Experts
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Experts#cite_note-BBC-4)

[NYer]

# So many people ask me how they could help me? By following, you already did #twitter #IranElection #NetRevolution ایران آزادی #Iran #Freedomabout 5 hours ago from web

http://twitter.com/iranelection

Here's a bright line standard: when your policemen wear ski masks, it's time for a new regime. (http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/06/023831.php)

[Hound]

http://www.mediabistro.com/baynewser/twitter/profile_the_kid_at_the_state_department_who_figure d_out_the_iranians_should_be_allowed_to_keep_tweet ing_119136.asp


Wednesday, Jun 17
Profile: The Kid at the State Department Who Figured Out the Iranians Should Be Allowed to Keep Tweeting

http://www.mediabistro.com/baynewser/original/JCohen-300EDITED.jpgWhen BayNewser heard that someone from the State Department (http://www.mediabistro.com/baynewser/twitter/how_to_tell_youve_made_something_of_yourself_no_21 1_119109.asp) had called Twitter to ask them to delay maintenance to allow Iranians to continue tweeting, we pictured some fusty old guy at Foggy Bottom in a rumpled Brooks Brothers suit and wayward spectacles.
Imagine our surprise, then, when we learned that, instead, it was a 27-year-old whiz kid whose job is to advise the State Department on how to use social media to promote U.S. interests the Middle East.
And imagine our further surprise when we learned this young gentleman wasn't one of Barack Obama (http://www.mediabistro.com/Barak-Obama-profile.html)'s social media geniuses, but instead was a Condi Rice (http://www.mediabistro.com/Condi-Rice-profile.html) pick hired specifically to advise the State Department on young people in the Middle East and how to "counter-radicalize" them.
According to the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/world/middleeast/17media.html?_r=2), it was Jared Cohen (http://www.mediabistro.com/Jared-Cohen-profile.html), a member of the Policy Planning Staff, who placed the call to Twitter on Monday, inquiring about their plan to perform maintenance in what would be the middle of the day, Iran time. Following that call, Twitter decided to postpone their maintenance so that it would take place in the middle of the night Iran-time, even though that meant it would be the middle of the day U.S. time.
The Times noted that the move marked "the recognition by the United States government that an Internet blogging service that did not exist four years ago has the potential to change history in an ancient Islamic country."
So we wondered, who was this young guy with this remarkable insight?
Cohen was only 24 when he was hired into the Policy Planning Staff. By then, he'd received an undergraduate degree from Stanford and a master's degree from Oxford, where he'd been on a Rhodes Scholarship. Oh, and by then, he'd also talked his way into a visa for Iran (according to a December 2007 New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2007/11/05/071105ta_talk_lichtenstein) profile), where he met young people his own age who threw underground house parties and made alcohol in bathtubs.
"Iranian young people are one of the most pro-American populations in the Middle East," Cohen told the New Yorker. "They just don't know who to gravitate around, so young people gravitate around each other."
Cohen compiled his observations from that trip—and others to Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq—into a book released by Penguin, titled Children of Jihad: A Young American's Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East (http://penguinspeakersbureau.com/speaker/227) (selected, by the way, as one of Kirkus Review's "Best Books of 2007").
Cohen takes Twitter's Jack Dorsey (http://www.mediabistro.com/Jack-Dorsey-profile.html) to Iraq, after the jump.

The Times describes Cohen's job today as "working with Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other services to harness their reach for diplomatic initiatives in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere."
In May, Cohen, whom CNN chose as one of its "Young People Who Rock," (http://www.cnn.com/exchange/blogs/ypwr/2007/10/jared-cohen.html) organized a trip to Iraq for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and other new media executives "to discuss how to rebuild the country's information network and to sell the virtues of Twitter," as the Times put it.
According to Federal News Radio (http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=35&sid=1670046), Dorsey has now been working with mobile companies in the Middle East "to establish a short code so that Iraqis can get on Twitter without actually having to have access to the internet."
"I'm a strong believer in the fact that access drives innovation," Cohen told Federal News Radio. "In order for young people to have their innovative minds tapped into, they need to have access to the tools to do it, and I believe that cellphones and the internet will bring that."
Given Cohen's background, it's not surprising that he was the one to make the call on (and to) Twitter. It's also an interesting indication about how these crazy young kids, with their crazy social media-blogging-texing-online video whackiness, might actually understand a thing or two about how the world works and how to get it to move in the direction you want it to go.

On the lighter side, here's Cohen on the Colbert Report in January 2008, explaining how those crazy kids in the Middle East are, in fact, just like us:
The Colbert Report (http://www.colbertnation.com/)Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cJared Cohen (http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/147625/january-15-2008/jared-cohen)www.colbertnation.com (http://www.colbertnation.com/)

[Hound]

Wednesday, June 17, 12:39
Translation from Persian to English
Source (http://hra-iran.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1276:464&catid=103:107&Itemid=261): Majmu‘e-ye fa‘âlân-e hoquq-e bashar dar irân, Human Rights Activists in Iran
“Numbers of dead in recent violence in Iran reach 32
Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 11:29.
The Association of Human Rights Activists in Iran can confirm the deaths of 32 Iranian citizens connected to the events of June 14 and June 15, based on its own fieldwork and despite numerous other reports.
Most of these citizens lost their lives in the attack on Tehran University dormitories on June 14 and the opening of fire by the paramilitary Basij forces on June 15. The violence started after Iranian citizens protested against the results of the tenth presidential elections, and the interference of security and paramilitary forces connected to the government.
In a statement, the public relations office of The Office to Consolidate Unity [Iran’s biggest student organization] yesterday reported the killing of at least seven students during the attack on dormitories of Tehran University and other universities around the country (Amnesty International said on June 15 there had been five deaths).
According to numerous and confirmed reports, the morgue at the Rasul Akram Hospital in Tehran has also stored eight people, who lost their lives during the shooting at defenseless people on Monday June 15.
In addition, Azerbaijani human rights activists have reported the killing of two citizens of Orumiyeh during fights in that city on June 15.
Finally, sources among the doctors at Erfan Hospital (which contains ICU, CCU, NICU and 14 emergency operation rooms) in Western Tehran reported that 15 people were dead in the hospital, all connected to the shooting on June 15.
Reports of civilian deaths across the country received by the Association are very high. However, it is impossible to confirm these because of the highly militarized atmosphere and widespread arrests, so the Association can only vouch for the deaths detailed above but will continue the process of documentation and reporting.”


http://cuminet.blogs.ku.dk/2009/06/17/casualties/

[NYer]

George Galloway (Remember him?): Mullahcracy Propagandist. (http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/totten/70351)

A Regime Propagandist in Great Britain’s Parliament
Michael J. Totten - 06.17.2009 - 3:13 PM

It isn’t enough for Britain’s fascist Member of Parliament George Galloway that he gets to host a show on Iran’s regime-controlled Press TV. (He actually brags about that, by the way.) He’s also cutting and pasting its propaganda into Britain’s Daily Record.

Who's his next client - Kim Jong Il?

[NYer]

Iran Blames US Despite Obama's Waffling. (http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/17/iran-blames-us-despite-obamas-waffling/)

Rule 1 of the Iranian regime: no matter the circumstance or the occupant of the White House, blame the American Great Satan for all your woes. The mullahcracy rejected the soft-pedaled response from the White House to the massive unrest it unleashed this week, thanks to blatant election-rigging, and blamed Barack Obama for fomenting the protests. We wish...

Why can't Obama be more nuanced, like say ... the French. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gGWaYHT1MAWSjDJaCrPmLR-dCw0Q)

[Hound]

Two European companies — a major contractor to the U.S. government and a top cell-phone equipment maker — last year installed an electronic surveillance system for Iran that human rights advocates and intelligence experts say can help Iran target dissidents.
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens, delivered what is known as a monitoring center to Irantelecom, Iran's state-owned telephone company.
A spokesman for NSN said the servers were sold for "lawful intercept functionality," a technical term used by the cell-phone industry to refer to law enforcement's ability to tap phones, read e-mails and surveil electronic data on communications networks.....


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/13/europe39s-telecoms-aid-with-spy-tech/

[NYer]

Open Letter To All My Lebanese Friends. (http://stopahmadinejad.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/open-letter-to-all-my-lebenies-friends/)

June 16, 2009

Dear Lebanese friend

I am sure you have seen the awful images circulated on the news and internet, images captured by millions of Iranians and sent out to the world, so at least someone could hear their side of story as well. Images and video shots that are ignored by the government run TV!

I hope you have seen the massive demonstrations in Tehran, people risking their life to come out and demand their constitution right. The right to a fair and free elections.

These people you see in the videos protesting are my borders and sisters, my family , my classmates, my childhood friends, they were born, raised and studied in Iran under the Islamic Republic. They are tired of a government that is policing their thoughts and dictating an ideology. An ideology witch doesn’t even match Islam !

We have heard multiple reports from all over Iran indicating that some of the police force that are hitting and killing peaceful protectors and break peoples cars and personal properties speak arabic, and they don’t even know farsi!

Yesterday it was confirmed that Hezbolah has sent 5000 troops to help Ahmadi nejad take over power in Iran. This troops were sent before the results of election was out! It clearly shows that Hezbollah and Ahmadi Nejad planned to take over Iran with the back up of Khamanei!

My dear Lebanese friend , hitting and killing defenseless people is not humane and defiantly not Islamic. When we heard your Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s congradulation statment to Ahmadinejad , it felt like being stabbed from the back!

Ahmadi nejad has sure tried to mislead a large group of people with his way of talking, and I admit he is good at this, but please open your eyes and your hearts see for yourself. this traitor is calling the protesters nothing but “dirt and dust” and opens fire in to peaceful protesters. His shameless police force even attached dorm rooms in every city killing defenseless students, and the burning the place down.

I am asking you to please send letters to your government and pressure them to condemn Ahmadinejad actions in Iran. Please write to Hezbolla’s members of parliaments in Lebanon and ask them to call back the 5000 troops. Ahmadi nejad is a criminal , don’t participate in his crimes.

Please help circulate this letter. This is a call for peace and a call for freedom.

Arabic translation at link ...

[NYer]

Michael Ledeen has posted a far more grim letter: (http://pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen/2009/06/17/so-now-whats-going-on-in-iran/)

This heart-rending letter has been circulating most of the day online (I posted it on The Corner):

I am a medical student. There was chaos last night at the trauma section in one of our main hospitals. Although by decree, all riot-related injuries were supposed to be sent to military hospitals, all other hospitals were filled to the rim. Last night, nine people died at our hospital and another 28 had gunshot wounds. All hospital employees were crying till dawn. They (government) removed the dead bodies on back of trucks, before we were even able to get their names or other information. What can you even say to the people who don’t even respect the dead. No one was allowed to speak to the wounded or get any information from them. This morning the faculty and the students protested by gathering at the lobby of the hospital where they were confronted by plain cloths anti-riot militia, who in turn closed off the hospital and imprisoned the staff. The extent of injuries are so grave, that despite being one of the most staffed emergency rooms, they’ve asked everyone to stay and help—I’m sure it will even be worst tonight.

What can anyone say in face of all these atrocities? What can you say to the family of the 13 year old boy who died from gunshots and whose dead body then disappeared?

This issue is not about cheating(election) anymore. This is not about stealing votes anymore. The issue is about a vast injustice inflicted on the people.

Help us, Hopey One Kenobi. You're our only hope.

[Hound]

Families, women in chadors join Iran's opposition

from The Associated Press

http://media.npr.org/images/ap//AP_News_Wire:_World_News/1_Iran_Elections.sff_198.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;)

In this frame grab taken from amateur video, supporters of Iranian reformist opposition leader Mir Hossien Mousavi demonstrate in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday June 16, 2009. Thousands of protesters rallied in Tehran in support of Mousavi, according to witnesses and video footage. Associated Press © 2009






http://media.npr.org/images/ap//AP_News_Wire:_World_News/2_APTOPIX_Iran_Elections.sff_198.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;)

In this frame grab taken from amateur video, supporters of Iranian reformist opposition leader Mir Hossien Mousavi demonstrate in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday June 16, 2009. Thousands of protesters rallied in Tehran in support of Mousavi, according to witnesses and video footage. Associated Press © 2009






http://media.npr.org/images/ap//AP_News_Wire:_World_News/4_Mideast_Iran_Oppositions_Reach.sff_198.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;)http://download.npr.org/anon.npr-www/chrome/icon_enlarge.gifEnlarge (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;)

FILE - Thos Saturday, June 13, 2009, file photo shows supporters of reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, some wearing green as the color of the party, gather on the streets protesting the results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Iranian riot police have clashed with Mousavi supporters. Whole families, taxi drivers, even conservative women in black chadors are joining opposition street protests. Associated Press © 2009






TEHRAN, Iran June 17, 2009, 04:52 pm ET · It's not just young, liberal rich kids anymore: Whole families, taxi drivers, even conservative women in black chadors are joining Iran's opposition street protests.
They say they want something simple: their votes counted and their voices heard. What they will settle for — or push for — is a far bigger question.
It's still too early to determine if the street protests will morph into a solid political opposition movement led by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's top opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi. And some Iranians have expressed doubt about people's willingness to sustain the momentum.
But in Tehran and other cities throughout the country, Mousavi supporters — from both the upper- and middle-classes — are sending a strong message.
"The government doesn't care about our votes, but we stand behind them. Mousavi stands up for our votes and we follow him," said Saham Boorghani, 26, who is close to Mousavi and an editor at the reformist Web site Iranian Diplomacy.
Boorghani is typical of the young reformists who initially backed Mousavi — but that support is growing to include grandmothers, government employees and hotel clerks.
The last time Iran was engulfed in similar anti-government action was a decade ago when a deadly raid on a Tehran University dorm sparked six days of nationwide protests. At the time, they were considered the worst since the 1979 revolution that toppled the pro-U.S. shah and brought hard-line clerics to power. But the student-driven movement eventually fizzled, leaving many people more bitter but the system intact.
This time, though, the protesters are not just affluent students and youth. The middle class is also flooding the streets and even conservative religious Iranians are joining the Mousavi supporters.
Swathed in a long black chador, 21-year-old Saman Qahremani said she wanted to let the government know that many Iranians from all walks of life are angry.
"When I learned about the result I just felt hatred. They cheated us," said Qajremani, who held a sign at Monday's rally that read in English, "We just want our vote."
"If they do not count the votes of people, Iran will not be a republic any more, it will be a monarchy," she said.
Her friend, also dressed in a chador, nodded in agreement.
Municipal worker Reza Hosseini, 37, cheered for Mousavi as he passed through the rally in a convoy of cars.
"I voted for Mousavi in hope of a better life, more freedom, security and relief," said Hosseini, who wore a button-down shirt with stripes in Mousavi's signature color, green. "All the people I knew voted for Mousavi."
Nearby, a taxi driver shouted out his window: "Everybody should join! Don't just watch, join!"
A mother and her daughter, making their way through the crowd of thousands, said they had come because they could not sit at home anymore and watch what was happening.
"This (the Mousavi opposition) is completely different to 1999. That was between the students and the government. This is between the people and the government. This time it is all of Iran. This is a historic movement," Boorghani said.
At Monday's rally, floods of people descended on Mousavi's convoy as it made its way through the crowd. Middle-aged men in crisp button-down shirts climbed over green metal fences or atop buses to try to get a better look.
An elderly couple walked hand-in-hand holding tiny green flags — the color of Mousavi's "Green Wave" campaign. A group of teenagers wearing bright green bandanas flashed the V-for-victory signs while marching down the street.
"I have come to tell the government I am not stupid. I know what they did with my vote," said one of the teens, Amir Ebrahimi, as chants of "Long live Mousavi!" went up around him.
The mass demonstrations of support for Mousavi have spread to other parts of Iran, too. Rallies attracting thousands have popped up across the country including the central historic city of Isfahan, the conservative northeastern city of Mashhad and Shiraz in the south.
It is not just the election many people in the streets are angry about. They want more personal freedoms and a better economy and international standing. They blame Ahmadinejad for giving Iran a bad name abroad.
"This is a cheater government. In my eyes, Ahmadinejad has defaced himself and Iran," said Leila, a 29-year-old accountant who lives in a middle-class neighborhood of western Tehran and would only give her first name out of fear for her safety.
The last time such a broad base of Iranians took any action against the government was the revolution. The shah's days were numbered when the middle class took up the protest mantle, causing the monarchy to collapse.
But with less than a week after the disputed election, there is no way to know whether this show of force will fade or grow.
Some are skeptical.
Bahman, a 20-year-old mechanics student in central Tehran, said he doesn't think people will stand up to the government over the long-term.
"The government will suppress people easily. People feel alone. There is no support for them while the government enjoys all sort of powers," said Bahman, who gave only his first name because he feared government reprisals.
The government has already taken swift action against protesters and has threatened to crack down harder if the opposition continues. At Monday's rally, hard-line militia opened fire and state TV said at least seven people were killed at the "unauthorized gathering."
"The government may try to strangle us, but we won't sit back and let them," Boorghani said. "There's no way back. We won't give up."

[Hound]

(http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:CopyrightPopUp%28%29;)
http://online.wsj.com/img/wsj_print.gif



JUNE 18, 2009

Five Ways Obama Could Promote Freedom in Iran

The 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine is a model.



By DAN SENOR (http://online.wsj.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=DAN+SENOR&ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND) and CHRISTIAN WHITON (http://online.wsj.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=CHRISTIAN+WHITON&ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND)

The reform movement in Iran has clearly hit a new level, but the future is uncertain. The key issue is whether spontaneous protests crystallize into sustained dissent that involves the middle class. There are no cracks yet in the Iranian government's domestic security forces -- a common criterion for successful, bottom-up challenges to totalitarian regimes. But the Obama administration can take steps right now and in the months ahead to open a "second channel" to Iran -- this one to its people directly -- and improve the chances of real change.
The election held last Friday was a carefully controlled process that allowed only candidates approved by religious authorities to seek office. Nonetheless, it seems clear that many and likely most Iranians cast votes for challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi and against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/ED-AJ678_senor_D_20090616175216.jpg David Klein


Helping the Iranian people change a government they appear increasingly to loathe will not reduce American standing in the world. To the contrary, President Barack Obama has the chance now to break the string of slow U.S. government responses to moments of democratic opportunity and peril. Examples of lackluster responses include those after Tibet's 2008 widespread protests, the run-up to the 2005 Egyptian presidential elections, and the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia, to name just a few.
First, Mr. Obama should contact Mr. Mousavi to signal his interest in the situation and Mr. Mousavi's security. Our own experience with dissidents around the world is that proof of concern by the U.S. government is helpful and desirable. The administration was wise to send Vice President Joe Biden to Beirut on the eve of the Lebanese elections, and his presence there helped galvanize the anti-Hezbollah coalition. Mr. Obama's political capital in the region has only expanded since his June 4 Cairo address. If Mr. Mousavi deems talking to the American president not to be politically helpful, then he can refuse the call. But that should be a judgment for him to make.
Second, Mr. Obama should deliver another taped message to the Iranian people. Only this time he should acknowledge the fundamental reality that the regime lacks the consent of its people to govern, which therefore necessitates a channel to the "other Iran." He should make it clear that dissidents and their expatriate emissaries should tell us what they most need and want from the U.S. This could consist of financial resources, congresses of reformers, workshops or diplomatic gatherings. The key is to let the reformers call the shots and indicate how much and what U.S. assistance they want. Simply knowing we care, that we are willing to deploy resources and are watching their backs -- to the extent we can -- often helps reformers.
The 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine is a model. In that case the West joined Ukrainians in refusing to accept the results of a stolen election. This combined effort helped to force a final run-off vote that reflected the people's will. In Iran, this would mean not only redoing elections but also allowing a full field of candidates to run. As with Ukraine and the Soviet Union before, Mr. Obama could at least make it clear that the U.S. will separate the issues of engagement and legitimacy. Our engagement of the Soviet Union in arms-control talks did not prevent us from successfully pressing human-rights issues and seeking an alternative political structure. So it can be with Iran. Engagement without an effort to talk to the "other Iran" would not only be a travesty but tactically foolish as well.
Third, the president should direct U.S. ambassadors in Europe and the Gulf to meet with local Iranian anti-regime expatriates. From London to Dubai there are large Iranian communities throughout Europe and the Persian Gulf. The symbolism of this would be powerful, but this should be more than just a photo-op. Expatriates tend to know far more about their countries than even our intelligence experts -- and they could help guide efforts to aid reform.
Fourth, additional funding should be provided immediately for Radio Farda, an effective Persian-language radio, Internet and satellite property of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Farda helps Iranians get the information and analytical context that is often denied to them by their own government.
Fifth, the administration should take steps to give Iranian reformers and dissidents a level playing field with the regime in the battle of ideas. Just as providing photocopiers and fax machines helped Solidarity dissidents in communist Poland in the 1980s, today's reformers need access to the Web and other means of communication. Grants should be given to private groups to develop and field firewall-busting technology.
Money should be appropriated for an NGO-run "open window" platform that enables a wide variety of indigenous voices to be carried on radio, blogs, video clips and other media. This can take the form of satellite and terrestrial broadcasting and other information tools to provide Iranians with anonymous communications and access to Internet, television and radio content that their government attempts to deny them. The president should also call a White House meeting of the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, Google and other video-sharing and social-networking companies. Entrepreneurially minded high-tech companies can manage this project better than the government. Many of these CEOs are strong supporters of Mr. Obama; they should be brought on board to help make his foreign policy succeed. In the meantime, the president should order the military to make some of its EC-130 "Commando Solo" aircraft, which serve as flying television and radio stations, available to enable reformers and protest leaders to speak directly to the Iranian people.
None of this is tantamount to "imposing democracy." All the U.S. would be doing is signaling to reformers they can count on our support when they want it and backing up our words with resources. An approach like this would be consistent with the foreign policies of American presidents of both parties since Theodore Roosevelt. It is also in line with the message articulated by Mr. Obama earlier this month in Cairo, when he said that various rights we possess "are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere."
Mr. Senor is an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Whiton is policy adviser to the Foreign Policy Initiative. They served as officials in the administration of George W. Bush at Central Command in Qatar, with the Coalition in Iraq, and at the State Department.



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124520276223621661.html

[Hound]

http://www.stars21.com/translator/english_to_farsi.html

[NYer]

http://www.stars21.com/translator/english_to_farsi.html

Appears someone in the regime couldn't translate the Photoshop Manual. (http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/17/ahmadinijad-sucks-at.html)

Heh!

[NYer]

Montazeri questions election results. (http://occident.blogspot.com/2009/06/confirmed-montazeri-questions-election.html)

...This is big news because of (Grand Ayatollah) Montazeri's stature as a well respected religious scholar and a man of principle, who even stood up for his principles in front of his friend and teacher, Grand Ayatullah al-Sayyid Ruhollah Khumayni, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Based on anecdotal readings from Iranian demonstrators, he also seems to be respected by many of them, and he is certainly respected by the leading Reformists. Montazeri and Grand Ayatullah Yusuf Saanei, and Hujjat al-Islam Mohsen Kadivar, are all principled and brave men.

[Hound]

Face of Iran’s Opposition: An Insider Turned Agitator

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/06/18/world/middleeast/18moussavi_xl.jpg Getty Images
Protesters, one holding a picture of the presidential candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi, filled Tehran again on Wednesday.


By ROBERT F. WORTH (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/robert_f_worth/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: June 17, 2009
TEHRAN — His followers have begun calling him “the Gandhi of Iran (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/index.html?inline=nyt-geo).” His image is carried aloft in the vast opposition demonstrations that have shaken Iran in recent days, his name chanted in rhyming verses that invoke Islam’s most sacred martyrs.
[/URL]
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/06/17/world/20090618-IRAN-B.JPGSlide (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/world/middleeast/18moussavi.html?_r=2&hp#secondParagraph)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/06/18/world/18moussaviB_normal.jpg (javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/06/18/world/18moussaviB.ready.html',%20'18moussaviB_ready',%20 'width=465,height=450,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes')) Newsha Tavakolian/Polaris, for The New York Times
Mir Hussein Moussavi, a former political insider, is leading a postelection protest movement. More Photos » (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/06/17/world/20090618-IRAN_index.html)



Mir Hussein Moussavi (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/mir_hussein_moussavi/index.html?inline=nyt-per) has become the public face of the movement (http://www.mir-hosseinmousavi.com/), the man the protesters consider the true winner of the disputed presidential election.
But he is in some ways an accidental leader, a moderate figure anointed at the last minute to represent a popular upwelling against the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/mahmoud_ahmadinejad/index.html?inline=nyt-per). He is far from being a liberal in the Western sense, and it is not yet clear how far he will be willing to go in defending the broad democratic hopes he has come to embody.
Mr. Moussavi, 67, is an insider who has moved toward opposition, and his motives for doing so remain murky. He was close to the founder of Iran’s Islamic Revolution but is at odds with the current supreme leader. Some prominent figures have rallied to his cause, including a former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/hashemi_rafsanjani/index.html?inline=nyt-per). So it is not clear how much this battle reflects a popular resistance to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s hard-line policies, and how much is about a struggle for power.
Mr. Moussavi and his wife, who played a prominent role in his campaign, have been under enormous pressure to accept the election results, said a close relative who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The relative did not specify what kind of pressure.
“They are both being very courageous and are expecting the pressure to increase,” said the relative. “Mr. Moussavi says he has taken a path that has no return and he is ready to make sacrifices.”
Mr. Moussavi began his political career as a hard-liner and a favorite of the revolution’s architect, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/ruhollah_khomeini/index.html?inline=nyt-per). Although he has long had an adversarial relationship with Iran’s current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/ali_khamenei/index.html?inline=nyt-per), his insider status makes him loath to mount a real challenge to the core institutions of the Islamic republic. He was an early supporter of Iran’s nuclear program (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/nuclear_program/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier), and as prime minister in the 1980s he approved Iran’s purchase of centrifuges on the nuclear black market, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/international_atomic_energy_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org).
Yet like many founding figures of the revolution, he has come to believe that the incendiary radicalism of the revolution’s early days must be tempered in an era of peace and state-building, those who know him say. Some have seen a symbolic meaning in his decision to make Monday’s vast demonstration in Tehran a march from Enghelab (revolution) Square to Azadi (freedom) Square.
“He is a hybrid child of the revolution,” said Shahram Kholdi, a lecturer at the University of Manchester who has written about Mr. Moussavi’s political evolution. “He is committed to Islamic principles but has liberal aspirations.”
In recent days, Mr. Moussavi has been pushed inexorably toward a confrontation that carries terrible risks for both sides. If the authorities use force on a major scale to quell the protests, it could crush the movement. It could also generate martyrs and deeper public anger, swelling the demonstrations into a broader threat to the system Mr. Moussavi hopes to preserve.
The steadiness he has shown since the election results were announced Saturday has helped solidify his role as a leader and has heartened his followers.
“The demands of the people are the most important goal of the Islamic republic,” Mr. Moussavi said as the polls closed on Friday night, in what was widely seen as a shot across the bow of Iran’s clerical leadership, and a warning that he would take his case public in the event of voter fraud.
Mr. Moussavi is in some ways an unlikely figurehead. Calm and deliberate, he has a soporific speaking manner, and even his most ardent defenders grant that he has little charisma. He was out of public life for two decades, a soft-spoken architect who loves to watch movies at home and was overshadowed for years by his distinguished wife, Zahra Rahnavard (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/zahra_rahnavard/index.html?inline=nyt-per), a professor and artist.
Yet many also describe him as a resolute figure whose hard experience as Iran’s prime minister during the 1980s taught him not to fear risky decisions.
“He was an artist, a university professor with no experience, but he managed under harsh conditions to run a country of 35 million people through trial and error,” said Muhammad Atrianfar, who served as deputy interior minister under Mr. Moussavi, and later became a journalist. “The biggest result for him was the self-confidence he gained from that.”
As prime minister, he often clashed with Ayatollah Khamenei, who was president at the time. The fights were mostly over economic issues; Mr. Moussavi favored greater state control over the wartime economy, and Ayatollah Khamenei argued for less regulation. The president was more moderate on some issues, and unlike Mr. Moussavi, sometimes drew rebukes from Ayatollah Khomeini, then the supreme leader. In that sense they have switched positions, but the animus between them remains.
After stepping down in 1989, Mr. Moussavi kept a hand in politics, serving on Iran’s Expediency Council. But most of his time was devoted to architecture and painting. His chief influences include the Italian architect Renzo Piano (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/renzo_piano/index.html?inline=nyt-per), said a close relative.
“He takes some elements of modern Japanese architecture, and American postmodern, and then puts them in the context of Iranian architecture,” the relative said.
Although he is deeply religious, Mr. Moussavi (the name is also often rendered in English as Mir Hossein Mousavi) appears to hold relatively liberal social views. His wife is a well-known professor of political science who has campaigned alongside him, often giving speeches and news conferences independently. When they were younger, he was sometimes introduced as “the husband of Zahra Rahnavard.” His wife promised that if he was elected, he would advance women’s rights and appoint “at least two or three women” to the cabinet.
His oldest daughter is a nuclear physicist. The youngest prefers not to wear the Islamic chador, and her parents do not mind, the relative said. “There has never been any compulsion in the family,” the relative added.
In recent years, Mr. Moussavi was deeply dismayed by the excesses of the morality police and by the government’s decisions to shut down newspapers, his relative said.
He decided to run for president earlier this year to save Iran from what he said were Mr. Ahmadinejad’s “destructive” policies. But it was not until a few weeks ago that a popular movement began to build behind him. As the campaign drew to a close, Mr. Moussavi began answering the president’s rhetorical broadsides with some strong language of his own.
“When the president lies, nobody confronts him,” Mr. Moussavi said during his final debate appearance. “I’m a revolutionary and I’m speaking out against the situation he has created. He has filled the country with lies and hypocrisy. I’m not frightened to speak out. Remember that.”
For a long time, he was compared unfavorably to Mohammad Khatami (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/mohammad_khatami/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the charismatic reformist cleric who was president from 1997 to 2005. But many now say that during the recent protests, Mr. Moussavi held firm against the government in ways Mr. Khatami never would have.
“He’s not as open-minded as Khatami,” said Nasser Hadian, a political analyst. “But he’s more of a man of action.”
Nazila Fathi contributed reporting.


[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/world/middleeast/18moussavi.html?_r=2&hp

[NYer]

Zahra Rahnavard (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6514261.ece) is the charismatic force behind Mousavi.

http://www.nationalpost.com/1705366.bin

"‘I will not relax until I teach him (Ahmadinejad) a *lesson..."

[NYer]

Iranian Activist Kianoosh Sanjari: "The people will not forgive Obama for siding with the regime." (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/iranian-hero-human-rights-activist.html) (Audio and Video at link.)

In this video Kianoosh Sanjari reveals:

** Ayatollah Khomenei's grand-daughter was arrested during a recent demonstration.

** Former President Rafsanjari's daugher marched in the protest tonight in Tehran.

** On the night of the election after his vote Rafsanjari called on the people to demonstrate.

** There is a great split between the two factions of hardliners and moderates. It is reminescent of the 1979 revolution.

** The people of Iran will not forgive Barack Obama for siding with the evil regime.


** Even the soccer players protested today during their match with South Korea. The coach protected his players by telling the Iranian press that the team was wearing green armbands because of religious reasons- that the players were actually showing their faith. But, this was the first time the team has ever worn green wristbands, ever.

** The protesters are communicating anyway they can. The regime has been trying to shut down communications. At the rally each day the protesters carry signs that announce the next rally. This is how they are communicating.

** Thousands of doctors and nurses in their uniforms were protesting in the street yesterday.

** The regime has a list of reporters and websites and have threatening the reporters on their list.

** There is a cyber-war going on in Iran today between the moderates and the hardliners. Each group is trying to take down the other groups websites.

** Ayatollah Khameini had no idea the protests and reaction by the people would be so great.

** The Opposition wants to drag the protests out until Friday. Khameini will likely congratulate Ahmadinejad. Then it will be up to the West to decide if they will allow these savages to continue their rule.

** Kianoosh has contacts in Iran who are feeding him information daily.

** Everywhere you go everyone is talking. They are talking in the streets. They are talking on busses. They are talking on trains. They are telling nasty jokes about the regime. One joke is about Mahmoud not being able to bathe for a week. Never before have Iranians been so openly disrespectful of the brutal regime.

[NYer]

A Farce Within A Tragedy. (http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/06/023840.php)


As president, Obama's rhetoric has helped him maintain high popularity ratings, although (and this should be instructive to him) the popularity of his policy positions has not kept pace. And Obama's only concrete diplomatic achievement to date (to my knowledge at least) involved wordsmithing -- at the economic summit, he is said to have found the words that bridged a gap between France and China over the issue of tax havens. Finally, Obama's "speech to the Muslims" in Cairo appears to have been mostly well-received abroad and at home.

Unfortunately, the current clash in Iran isn't about tax havens, nor can it be addressed by pointing to the past sins by the competing parties. The protesters are that rare breed -- a group that Obama cannot easily find fault with. Their only sin is their desire for liberty.

Obama did attempt a variation of his usual "both sides are guilty" gambit when he noted that the difference between Moussavi and Ahmadinejad is not great. But the clash is not about the merit of Moussavi.

During the presidential campaign, Obama responded to the criticism of a frustrated Hillary Clinton that Obama relied too much on mere words by "borrowing" another politician's refrain:

'I have a dream' -- just words. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal' -- just words. 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself' - just words. Just speeches.

There are indeed times when words make a big difference. But those times occur maybe once a generation, not once a week. And the words that make a big difference aren't ones that attempt to avoid alienating Ayatollahs.

[NYer]

Update via Twitter:

Mousavi, Khatami, Rafsanjani family members, senior Mullahs all at rally Tehran today. #iranelection #iranelections #gr88http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/.a/6a00d83451c45669e201157032c14a970c-320wi

[Hound]

...

[Hound]

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Ahmadinejad Heckled & Mobbed Outside Mosque "Ahmadi Bye-Bye" (Video) (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/ahmadinejad-heckled-mobbed-outside.html)

Mousavi Supporters Heckle & Mob Ahmadinejad Outside Mosque--

Dozens of Mousavi supporters mobbed and heckled Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today after he left a mosque in Tehran.
They start chanting "Mousavi" as he takes off with his handlers in car.

Here is today's feel-good video:

Maybe they were gay?
Via NIAC Blog (http://niacblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/post-election-iran-as-it-develops/):


This video, with translations from NIAC intern Nahid, shows Ahmadinejad getting heckled and mocked by a throng of Mousavi supporters as he leaves the mosque. For my money, chants don’t get much better than "Ahmadi Bye Bye!"

Someone I assume to be a government official walking up to a car with hand raised, in gray suit, condescendingly saying "Droplets of water, return to the ocean." (it’s a reference to a poem)
The cameraman asking him: "Have you not been looking to the streets? Just look at the streets!"

Second cameraman: “Mr. Mirzavi, we liked you.” [too many people talking at the same time - inaudible] Cameraman again: “Just don’t cheat this time.”

Then they start screaming "MOUSAVI!" when Ahmadinejad shows up and "LIAR!" when he is pulling away, and then my favorite: "Ahmadi Bye bye." NIAC, a pro-Iranian regime organization in the US, is blogging the revolution.

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/ahmadinejad-heckled-mobbed-outside.html

[Hound]

ANALYSIS:
Conventional wisdom about Iran has long been that the nation's senior Muslim cleric would have the final say on domestic and foreign policies, no matter who won the June 12 presidential election.
But that calculus has been challenged with the explosion of protests in the streets. Iran analysts say Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could well emerge diminished in stature because of his too-quick confirmation of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- an outcome now discredited by allegations of fraud.
"Whatever happens, Khamenei comes out looking bad," said Judith Yaphe, an Iran specialist at the National Defense University.
"It's a turning point," she added. "There has been nothing like this since the [1979] revolution."
She and other analysts sketch three scenarios, none of which is friendly to Ayatollah Khamenei.
• The first and most likely scenario is that an investigation the ayatollah ordered Monday into the election results by the Guardian Council, a body largely appointed by the supreme leader, grants additional votes to Mir Hossein Mousavi and other challengers, but the incumbent still wins. Protests eventually peter out, but supporters of Mr. Mousavi, who have risked their lives to come into the streets, still feel cheated, and the situation remains unstable.
• A second scenario has the government cracking down on protesters as China did in Tiananmen Square in 1989. In that case, Ayatollah Khamenei remains in power - but "at a huge cost" to his legitimacy, Ms. Yaphe said.
• In a third scenario, the government concedes that the election results were doctored and Mr. Mousavi becomes president, in which case Iran will in effect have gone through another popular revolution.
"If Mousavi comes out as the victor, the supreme leader's role would be very much redefined," said Hadi Ghaemi, a spokesman for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. "His powers will have been shown not to be absolute."


Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has had a unique form of government -- a so-called Islamic republic that combines clerical oversight with regular elections for president and parliament. Iranian leaders have long bragged that their nation is far more democratic than the monarchies and "hereditary" democracies in nearby Arab states, and they point to Iran's voter turnout, which typically exceeds 50 percent. However, clerical authorities vet candidates for elected office, disqualify opposition figures and have overruled reforms enacted by parliament that would have diminished the power of the supreme leader. Election irregularities have been reported in the past but have not sparked such massive protests.
The brazen way in which the regime announced the election results when the polls had barely closed and gave figures that many Iranians found implausible have now put Ayatollah Khamenei on the defensive before his own people, analysts say.
Mehdi Khalaji, who observes the supreme leader at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Ayatollah Khamenei miscalculated badly by initially accepting the election results as "divinely blessed."
In Mr. Khalaji's view, the supreme leader has sided with Mr. Ahmadinejad and hard-line members of the security forces because the ayatollah has never commanded the respect of revolutionary leaders from his own generation.
"This is a battle between Khamenei and a generation that does not owe its political credentials to him," Mr. Khalaji said.
Mr. Mousavi is a former prime minister and is backed by two ex-presidents -- Mohammed Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Peter Ackerman, the founding chairman of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, said he did not know whether the stirrings in Iran represented a full-fledged colored revolution like those that have occurred in recent years in Ukraine, Lebanon and Georgia.
"Historically, these movements need to involve widespread support from all the key cultural and demographic elements in the society, and they need to have leaders who can sustain the pressure for months -- not weeks, not days," he said. "Once the heat is out for the moment, where will the movement be?"
Mr. Ackerman's group in 2006 sponsored a workshop in the United Arab Emirates for Iranians on the strategic application of civil disobedience. Some of the participants were arrested later that year by Iran's security services that accused them of trying to foment a velvet revolution in Iran.
Mr. Ackerman said the purpose of the workshop was "to review the strategic principles underlying successful civil-resistance movements."
"Those principles are extremely relevant right now in Iran," he said.
Suzanne Maloney, an Iran specialist at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center, said the political chaos in Iran will make it far more difficult for the United States to engage with the country -- at least in the short term.
Who ultimately emerges as president does matter, she added, noting that Iran was less repressive internally and less belligerent abroad when Mr. Khatami was president from 1997 to 2005.
Since Mr. Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005 with the apparent blessing of Ayatollah Khamenei, "we've seen creeping authoritarianism from the military and demagogic populism from Ahmadinejad," she said.
The presidency "matters for the mind-set and opportunities of the Iranian people," she said.
Even if Mr. Ahmadinejad prevails, Ms. Maloney and other specialists said, Iran has been irrevocably changed by the unprecedentedly open debate that preceded the election, the more than 80 percent voter turnout and the massive demonstrations that have followed.
"These are historic events unfolding," she said. "We are very possibly at the brink of dramatic change in Iran. For the first time in 30 years, a very energized public is willing to risk its lives on the streets."
• Eli Lake contributed to this report.



http://www.cfr.org/publication/19640/washington_times.html?breadcrumb=%2Fregion%2F404%2 Firan

[Hound]

Cassette Wiki:

During the 1980s, the cassette's popularity grew further as a result of portable pocket recorders and hi-fi players such as Sony's Walkman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman), which used a body not much larger than the cassette tape itself, with mechanical keys on one side, or electronic buttons or display on the face. Sony even made the WM-10 which was smaller than the cassette itself and expanded to hold and play a cassette.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette#cite_note-4)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/WalkmanTPS-L2.jpg/120px-WalkmanTPS-L2.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WalkmanTPS-L2.jpg) http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WalkmanTPS-L2.jpg)
1979 Sony Walkman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Walkman)


As did the transistor radio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_radio) in the 1960s, the portable CD player (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_CD_player) in the 1990s, and the MP3 player (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_player) in the 2000s, the Walkman defined the (very small) portable music market in the 1980s, with cassette sales overtaking those of LPs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramophone_record).[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette#cite_note-Daniel-1)[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette#cite_note-Walkman-5) Total vinyl record (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramophone_record) sales remained higher well into the 1980s due to greater sales of singles, although cassette singles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassette_single) achieved popularity for a period in the 1990s.[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette#cite_note-Walkman-5)
Apart from the purely technical advances cassettes brought, they also served as catalysts for social change. Their durability and ease of copying helped bring underground rock and punk music behind the Iron Curtain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Curtain), creating a foothold for Western culture among the younger generations.[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette#cite_note-6) For similar reasons, cassettes became popular in developing nations.
One of the most famous political uses of cassette tapes was the dissemination of sermons by the Ayatollah Khomeini (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini) throughout Iran (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran) before the 1979 Iranian Revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution), in which Khomeini urged the overthrow of the regime of the Shah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Reza_Pahlavi).


How about them apples?

[Hound]

How Iran's Internet works

Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2009 8:22 PM by Alan Boyle


http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/090618-coslog-blogosphere-square-4p.jpg (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2008/Mapping_Irans_Online_Public/interactive_blogosphere_map)

Berkman Center / Harvard

This map provides a visualization of the Iranian blogosphere in early 2009.
Clusters of blogs are associated with different themes, ranging from reformist
vs. conservative politics to Persian poetry and "CyberShia" religious discourse.
Click on the image for the Berkman Center's interactive version of the map.


An analysis of Iran's Internet reveals a deep level of diversity, with a level of surveillance (and surveillance-dodging) that goes just as deep. During this week's post-election crisis, so many reflections have been bouncing back and forth in this online hall of mirrors that it's sometimes hard to get a fix on where anyone stands - geographically or politically.
Iran is a particularly fitting battleground: A status report on the government's Internet filtering effort, just updated this week by the OpenNet Initiative (http://opennet.net/research/profiles/iran), notes that Iranian Internet usage has grown nearly 50 percent every year for the past eight years - the highest growth rate in the Middle East. About 35 percent of the country's population use the Internet, a level of penetration significantly higher than the Middle East average of 26 percent.
Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society says Iran is home to one of the world's richest and most varied blogospheres (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2008/Mapping_Irans_Online_Public), with major clusters for reformist as well as conservative politics, for "CyberShia" religious discussion as well as Persian poetry appreciation.
At the same time, the OpenNet Initiative says Iran has one of the world's most extensive Net filtering systems, on a par with China's (http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/17/1968066.aspx). The government's Net-limiting efforts have been on full display over the past week during a clampdown on Web access, text messaging and mobile phone traffic.
OpenNet's first report on Iranian filtering, released four years ago, stirred up a controversy (http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/archives/000875.html) when it found that authorities in Tehran were using SmartFilter software, made in the U.S.A., to control Internet access. This year's update says Iran is now using home-brewed software instead, joining China as the two countries in the world "that aggressively filter the Internet using their own technology."
How do the Iranian officials do it? Only a limited number of Internet service providers have been licensed to operate, and those providers have to toe the line by using software that blocks users from accessing forbidden URLs (such as the BBC's Persian service (http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/)). The forbidden list can be updated centrally - and of course, the list grew longer in advance of this month's presidential elections. If Internet users try to gain access to a blocked URL, a "blockpage" comes up instead, delivering a warning to the user that access is forbidden.
Power to the proxies
So how are Iranians getting through to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other taboo Web destinations? My colleague at msnbc.com, Bob Sullivan, addressed the Twitter case specifically (http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/06/twitter-1-censorship-0-why-its-working.html) in a Red Tape posting earlier today. More generally, Iranians are being pointed to detours in the information superhighway, known as proxy servers.
Inside Iran, proxy servers are like passport control points: Outgoing data traffic is checked by the filtering system on the Internet service's proxy server, and if it's heading for a forbidden place, it's blocked from going further. But if the destination is not on the forbidden list, it's allowed to go through.
Outside Iran, the proxy servers are like transit points. Activists set up proxy servers on their own computers, with Internet Protocol numbers that don't appear on the forbidden list. Traffic from Iran can go through to those addresses with no problem. The data traffic is then forwarded to wherever it's destined to go, even if that destination is supposedly forbidden.
During the post-election crisis, proxy servers have been popping up like thousands of computerized "Casablanca" cafes around the world. The Pirate Bay, a popular file-sharing site based in Sweden, launched (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31412984/ns/world_news-msnbc_wire_services/) an anonymous Net-surfing forum (http://iran.whyweprotest.net/index.php) to help Iran's opposition - but most of the proxy providers are amateurs.
"There's an interesting dynamic between people outside Iran who are willing to configure their PCs to set up proxy servers, and people inside Iran who are willing to put that number in their browser," said Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain (http://futureoftheinternet.org/blog), a member of the OpenNet Initiative team. "On a day-to-day basis, you wouldn't see people going to this trouble."
The rapid growth of the proxy-server movement is one of the amazing things about the response to the Iran crisis. "You are seeing people go beyond making their avatars green (http://www.flickr.com/photos/arasmus/3631722096/) and actually run new software on a computer that, a few moments ago, they were using to play Quake," Zitttrain said.
On the Internet, no one knows you're Iranian
The effect of this is that anonymity cloaks much of the traffic coming out of Iran nowadays. That goes for opposition activists, but it also goes for the Iranian government and its agents. Thus, there's something of a spy-vs.-spy battle going on: There's no easy way to know who is really messaging what, especially when it's passed along by numerous Twitter outsiders.
A classic example was today's back-and-forth over what opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's supporters should be doing on Friday, which is shaping up as a crucial day in the post-election crisis. "Mousavi and Karoubi ask supporters not to attend Friday prayers in Tehran," a widely followed Twitterer known as Persiankiwi (http://twitter.com/persiankiwi) reported. But other Twitter messages read, "Mousavi Facebook and Twitter possibly hacked. Please delete tweets about not attending Friday prayers."
In the end, Twitterers - including, presumably, actual Iranians - had to make up their own minds on whose word to trust.
Another twist has to do with the impermanence of the proxy-server system. Once the Iranian authorities get wind of a popular proxy, they can shut it down by adding it to their forbidden list. "It's kind of a minute-by-minute arms race rather than a marathon," Zittrain said.
Sizing up the blogosphere
Morningside Analytics' John Kelly (http://www.morningside-analytics.com/aboutus.php), one of the authors of the Berkman Center's report on the Iranian blogosphere (http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/idblog/2009/02/12/mapping-change-in-the-iranian-blogosphere/), said it will be interesting to see what effect Internet users have on the political crisis - and what effect the outcome of the crisis will have on Internet users.
One of the more interesting findings from the study was that the blog cluster centered on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supporters was very self-contained, with relatively few connections to other parts of the blogosphere. Mousavi's cluster, in contrast, was significantly more connected with Iran's other blog clusters - which hinted at a wider spectrum of support.
Kelly said he saw a similar pattern during the U.S. presidential election campaign, with Republican-leaning blogs forming more of a self-contained "echo chamber" than Democratic-leaning blogs. Mousavi may not be Barack Obama, but Kelly finds the parallel interesting nonetheless.
"Two data points don't prove anything, but it's consistent with the idea that one of the candidates managed to break out and get support from outside the politicized base," Kelly said. That may be why Mousavi's movement seems to be more resilient than earlier post-revolution opposition movements in Iran.
Most of Iran's Weblogs were shut down in the wake of the election, but Kelly said he's hearing that they're starting to become accessible again. "If the blogosphere is coming back online, it'll be really interesting to see how this all reconfigures," he said.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/18/1970353.aspx

[Hound]

Iran Election Word Cloud

By: Jeff Clark Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009


This is a Shaped Word Cloud (http://neoformix.com/2009/InaugurationSpeechWordImage.html) created from the text of approximately 84,000 tweets containing the term #iranelection. The larger the word the more frequently it appears in the text. As usual you can click on a word to see the current twitter search results.
http://neoformix.com/2009/swc_IranElection.png

http://neoformix.com/

[Hound]

Google launching Farsi/English translation service tomorrow morning.

[Hound]

http://pastebay.com/23186





Posted by NiteOwl on Fri 19th Jun 13:16

(http://pastebay.com/report/23186)



Transcript of Ayatollah Khamenei's Friday Speech,

Hi, this is NiteOwl again. I was listening to Press TV which is government-run and is based in Iran - their translation and various other TVs from minute to minute as well as translating what I could hear in Persian myself: Some parts were a bit cut off because broadcasting stopped. You'd notice in the timestamping. I am also including the first wave of Iranian reactions to the speech at the bottom.


Brought to you by Anonymous and the Pirate Bay!
My tiwtter for announcements about the Green Brief and Other issues: Iran_Translator
Our forum: http://iran.whyweprotest.net/index.php

(He first started by praying and speaking about purely religious matters and then got to the real point.)



[01:26] (Ayatollah Khamanei) Remember god,
[01:28] (A. K.) Iran has gone through a lot since the revolution
[01:28] (A. K.) Any of them could have put us in turmoil
[01:28] (A. K.) Even from our neighbors
[01:31] (A. K.) (Allah o Amber)
[01:33] (A. K.) Our youth are in a materialistic world
[01:33] (A. K.) In a time of turmoil
[01:33] (A. K.) They don't know what to do,
[01:33] (A. K.) They need to understand spirituality,
[01:34] (A. K.) They need to get back to spirituality,
[01:34] (A. K.) But they don't know how,
[01:34] (A. K.) It's been two centuries since the west has destroyed cultures,
[01:34] (A. K.) But our nation wants to regain that spirituality back.
[01:34] (A. K.) So that the revolution can be regained.
[01:36] (A. K.) I swear to the holy Imams,
[01:36] (A. K.) I ask you O god give us more faith
[01:36] (A. K.) O God, I ask you to give us a calm and peaceful heart
[01:37] (A. K.) O god, these oppressed people, give triumph over the enemy.
[01:37] (A. K.) Protect them,
[01:37] (A. K.) O god we do everything for you and only for you,
[01:37] (A. K.) O God take our Salams and greetings to Mahdi (the hidden Imam)
[01:38] (A. K.) (Praying in Arabic)
[01:39] (A. K.) I would like to say to our dear brothers and sisters,
[01:40] (A. K.) I would like to speak about the issue of the election which is the important issue in our country
[01:40] (A. K.) I have three issues to talk about,
[01:40] (A. K.) In three different parts
[01:40] (A. K.) I do have some things to tell the people.
[01:40] (A. K.) One issue will be for the political members of the politicians,
[01:41] (A. K.) I would like to also talk to the western countries,
[01:41] (A. K.) And the leaders of their media
[01:41] (A. K.) First issue is for the people,
[01:41] (A. K.) I will only thank you,
[01:41] (A. K.) I don't like to talk too much,
[01:41] (A. K.) I don't like to use nice arguments only
[01:42] (A. K.) Even if I do exaggerate, it won't be enough to say what i have to say,
[01:42] (A. K.) The elections of June 12 was a fulfillment of the nation's responsibility
[01:42] (A. K.) It was a proof of participation of the people that was a show of the love towards their system
[01:43] (A. K.) It is similar but better than the democracies in other countries,
[01:43] (A. K.) BUT
[01:43] (A. K.) Those countries don't have a democracy as good as ours.
[01:43] (A. K.) The constitution of 1988
[01:44] (A. K.) This is the largest number of people that have taken part in an election in Iran since the founding of the republic
[01:44] (A. K.) And the passing of the constitution,
[01:44] (A. K.) I would like to deeply thank you
[01:45] (A. K.) The youngsters in our country showed especially,
[01:45] (A. K.) that they are partaking in the political process since the beginning of the revolution.
[01:46] (A. K.) Now we'll see the same responsibilities from them that we saw during the Iraqi Aggression War
[01:46] (A. K.) As for elections some people want one person others want someone else
[01:46] (A. K.) This is natural
[01:46] (A. K.) We saw everyone, men women, the young and the old,
[01:47] (A. K.) People participating from all over the country to make this a success,
[01:47] (A. K.) This election is a political defeat for your enemies,
[01:47] (A. K.) For your friends all over the world a celebration.
[01:47] (A. K.) A historic one,
[01:47] (A. K.) People are showing love and loyalty for their Imam and martyrs
[01:47] (A. K.) And for the system
[01:48] (A. K.) This election was a religious democratic event
[01:48] (A. K.) everyone saw it
[01:48] (A. K.) It was a showing against the dictators and oppressive regime
[01:49] (A. K.) And FOR a show of support for the religion and system.
[01:49] (A. K.) We can see the results of the exams
[01:49] (A. K.) Also another point about the election
[01:49] (A. K.) The election of June 12 showed that people with beliefs and hopes and joys is living in this country.
[01:49] (A. K.) The enemies are using it,
[01:50] (A. K.) If our young didn't have any hope,
[01:50] (A. K.) They wouldn't partake in the election
[01:50] (A. K.) If they didn't feel freedom, they wouldn't vote.
[01:50] (A. K.) Faith in the system has been shown by the massive participation.
[01:50] (A. K.) The enemies target the belief and trust of people on that system
[01:51] (A. K.) This trust is the biggest investment of the Islamic republic
[01:51] (A. K.) They wanted to take it from us
[01:51] (A. K.) They want it to shake our trust in this system
[01:51] (A. K.) The enemies of the people of Iran will succeed when people won't participate.
[01:51] (A. K.) The system will be questioned.
[01:51] (A. K.) Only when no one partakes in it.
[01:52] (A. K.) We couldn't compare that to anything that happens.
[01:52] (A. K.) The enemy wants to make people believe that they have been fooled
[01:52] (A. K.) It started 3 months ago.
[01:53] (A. K.) I have been hearing enemies saying repeatedly that the elections will be fraudulent.
[01:53] (A. K.) They had been preparing months in advance
[01:53] (A. K.) This 30 year old system has not come about without sacrifices and hard work.
[01:53] (A. K.) And people have a firm belief in it.
[01:54] (A. K.) But the enemies want to shake that very belief.
[01:54] (A. K.) The third point is,
[01:54] (A. K.) These rivalries, between different candidates were transparent.
[01:54] (A. K.) They were clean and clear cut.
[01:55] (A. K.) And transparent
[01:55] (A. K.) The enemies are trying through their media - which is controlled by dirty Zionists.
[01:57] (A. K.) The Zionist, American and British radio are all trying to say that there was a competition between those who support and those who didn't support the state
[01:57] (A. K.) Everyone supported the state
[01:58] (A. K.) I know everything about these candidates
[01:58] (A. K.) I have worked with them.
[01:58] (A. K.) I know all of them
[01:58] (A. K.) I don't believe in everything that they say
[01:58] (A. K.) some of their views and practices can be criticized
[01:58] (A. K.) I believe that some of them are better in serving the country
[01:58] (A. K.) BUT the people have to make the choice.
[01:58] (A. K.) It's not my will
[01:58] (A. K.) My choice wasn't told to people,
[01:59] (A. K.) And they were not asked to follow my views either
[01:59] (A. K.) They decided on their own who to follow
[01:59] (A. K.) So this is a competition within the state
[01:59] (A. K.) It is not acceptable to change the appearance of the issue
[01:59] (A. K.) this is evil if someone does that
[01:59] (A. K.) there is no fight between people and state
[01:59] (A. K.) No revolutionaries and anti-revolutionaries
[01:59] (A. K.) This is between the state parties
[01:59] (A. K.) people voted for these people with belief in the state
[02:00] (A. K.) they came to the understanding that will be better for the state
[02:00] (A. K.) then voted
[02:00] (A. K.) These competitions and debates were very interesting.
[02:00] (A. K.) It was very transparent
[02:00] (A. K.) It was a blow in the face of those who say that this competition is just a formality
[02:01] (A. K.) Forgetting that the candidates actually sat and talked.
[02:01] (A. K.) positive aspect of the debates was that during the debate and TV conversation everyone spoke explicitly and openly
[02:01] (A. K.) saying what they believed
[02:01] (A. K.) Then some criticized the candidates
[02:01] (A. K.) They had to respond to the criticism
[02:01] (A. K.) They began to defend themselves
[02:02] (A. K.) The positions and stances taken by people and groups were presented without any ambiguity
[02:02] (A. K.) So people could hear what every candidate had to say
[02:02] (A. K.) So that people could see all of this
[02:02] (A. K.) So people could judge them all accordingly
[02:02] (A. K.) People felt that in the Islamic state, they are not stranger
[02:02] (A. K.) We don't have US and THEM
[02:02] (A. K.) Everything was open and transparent before the people
[02:02] (A. K.) Everything was presented clearly
[02:03] (A. K.) It became clear that people's vote would rely based on the same judgments
[02:03] (A. K.) People wanted to make their choices willingly
[02:03] (A. K.) And according to their own tastes
[02:03] (A. K.) Thus, the number of votes increased
[02:03] (A. K.) People were able to have a better understanding of the views of the candidate
[02:03] (A. K.) they were able to decide better
[02:03] (A. K.) the debates were even extended to the streets and homes
[02:03] (A. K.) So this added to the power of choice of the people
[02:04] (A. K.) Such debates will strengthen the minds
[02:04] (A. K.) to Help make better choices
[02:04] (A. K.) BUT
[02:04] (A. K.) They shouldn't get to a point where they lead to major differences
[02:04] (A. K.) Otherwise adverse effects follow
[02:04] (A. K.) It would be good to be kept to the extent to which it existed during campaign
[02:04] (A. K.) If it leads further, it will cause problems
[02:05] (A. K.) it will be better to have such debates at the administrative level
[02:05] (A. K.) We should carry these debates
[02:05] (A. K.) to the administrative level
[02:05] (A. K.) They should describe their policies
[02:05] (A. K.) Defend themselves against criticism
[02:05] (A. K.) People will have a chance to do that,
[02:05] (A. K.) But we should try to overcome the negative aspects
[02:06] (A. K.) Criticisms will be heard during the four years of a president's term
[02:06] (A. K.) We should try to address the negative aspects
[02:06] (A. K.) We could see that people became irrational and emotional sometimes.
[02:06] (A. K.) They tried to destroy the other side sometimes
[02:07] (A. K.) Even we saw that the practice of the past was being questioned.
[02:07] (A. K.) rumors were mentioned
[02:07] (A. K.) accusations were leveled
[02:07] (A. K.) Some statements made were not fair
[02:07] (A. K.) government and governments of the past were criticized in an unfair manner
[02:07] (A. K.) the entire 30 years were criticized unfairly
[02:07] (A. K.) people became emotional
[02:07] (A. K.) they said some unpleasant and unacceptable things
[02:07] (A. K.) I watched the debates on TV
[02:08] (A. K.) I enjoyed freedom of speech
[02:08] (A. K.) (YEAH FUCK YOU!)
[02:08] (A. K.) i was happy that Islamic republic was there to help people make this choice
[02:08] (A. K.) YET
[02:08] (A. K.) the negative aspects made me unhappy
[02:08] (A. K.) for their supporters this was also not good and they were disturbed by the unfair criticism
[02:08] (A. K.) We saw this on both sides
[02:09] (A. K.) In this Friday prayer sermon
[02:09] (A. K.) I should mention of the realities of both sides
[02:09] (A. K.) both sides can be criticized for such negative aspects of behavior
[02:09] (A. K.) ON the one side, the president was insulted,
[02:09] (A. K.) EVEN BEFORE the debates, 2, 3 months ago,
[02:09] (A. K.) I used to see insulting statements against him,
[02:09] (A. K.) Accusations were leveled against the president
[02:09] (A. K.) against the legal president
[02:09] (A. K.) he was wrongly accused
[02:10] (A. K.) the president who is trusted by people was accused of lying
[02:10] (A. K.) Are these good?
[02:10] (A. K.) Fake records were made and then distributed around the country
[02:10] (A. K.) we were aware of the situation
[02:10] (A. K.) we knew what was published was not true
[02:10] (A. K.) they insulted the president
[02:10] (A. K.) said he was superstitious
[02:10] (A. K.) they falsely accused the president by such words
[02:10] (A. K.) so they trampled over ethics and fairness [02:10] (A. K.) on the other hand,
[02:11] (A. K.) Similar things were done against the outstanding record of the Islamic Republic
[02:11] (A. K.) Some important figures of the state were mentioned
[02:11] (A. K.) People who have spent their lives for the state
[02:11] (A. K.) I have never have mentioned names during prayers on Friday before but I have to now
[02:11] (A. K.) Rafsanjani and Nateq Noori's names have been mentioned
[02:11] (A. K.) These gentlemen have not been accused of financial misdoings
[02:12] (A. K.) But their relatives.
[02:12] (A. K.) If you have anything against them, prove them legally through the courts
[02:12] (A. K.) Unless it is proven, no one can be accused.
[02:13] (A. K.) I have known Rafsanjani for a long time
[02:13] (A. K.) he is one of the most prominent members of this revolution
[02:13] (A. K.) he was one of the major fighters before the revolution
[02:13] (A. K.) after the victory,
[02:13] (A. K.) he was one the most influential members of the Islamic state
[02:13] (A. K.) still is
[02:13] (A. K.) he walked with the Imam
[02:13] (A. K.) Still walking with him
[02:13] (A. K.) he was almost martyred several times
[02:14] (A. K.) he spent all his money on the revolution,
[02:14] (A. K.) they young people should know about this fact
[02:14] (A. K.) he has had many responsibilities now
[02:14] (A. K.) president, leader of parliament
[02:14] (A. K.) he has not made money out of the revolution for himself.
[02:16] (A. K.) Same with Mr. Nateq Noori
[02:16] (A. K.) he has also served this revolution
[02:16] (A. K.) He has rendered great services
[02:16] (A. K.) there is no doubt about it
[02:17] (A. K.) but the live TV debates are good
[02:17] (A. K.) but these shortcomings should be removed
[02:17] (A. K.) after the debates I talked to the president and warned him
[02:17] (A. K.) he said he will listen to me.
[02:17] (A. K.) the admin has a clear stance on corruption
[02:17] (A. K.) It should be fought anywhere it is found
[02:18] (A. K.) Yes there is corruption within our system.
[02:18] (A. K.) YES there are people who are corrupt.
[02:18] (A. K.) But at the same time,
[02:18] (A. K.) It is one of the one of the healthiest system in the world as well
[02:19] (A. K.) but then accusing the government of corruption because of Zionist reports is not the right thing
[02:19] (A. K.) questioning the credibility of the government is not corrects either.
[02:19] (A. K.) Everyone is obliged to fight corruption.
[02:19] (A. K.) If it is not brought under control, it will spread like it has in some western countries
[02:19] (A. K.) They are up to their ears in this corruption
[02:20] (A. K.) this is part of their scandal
[02:20] (A. K.) it goes way beyond than it is publicized
[02:20] (A. K.) Let me talk to people
[02:20] (A. K.) To make this absolute victory a failure,
[02:20] (A. K.) is some people's goal
[02:20] (A. K.) To not let you enjoy
[02:20] (A. K.) to not let the world register the highest rate of turn out
[02:20] (A. K.) but it has been registered
[02:21] (A. K.) The highest rate of turn out has been registered in your name
[02:21] (A. K.) The race has ended
[02:21] (A. K.) whoever has voted for these candidates will receive divine reward.
[02:21] (A. K.) they all belong to the state
[02:21] (A. K.) they have gotten closer to god by voting, they have
[02:22] (A. K.) there were 40 million votes for the revolution,
[02:22] (A. K.) not just 24 million for the winner
[02:22] (A. K.) The people have trust
[02:22] (A. K.) Their votes will not go in vain by the people.
[02:22] (A. K.) The legal mechanism in our country won't allow any cheating.
[02:23] (A. K.) Those are involved in the election process are aware of this fact
[02:23] (A. K.) Especially if there is an 11 million votes difference
[02:23] (A. K.) If it were little than that, we would say there's doubts,
[02:23] (A. K.) but how can 11 million votes be replaced or changed?
[02:23] (A. K.) At the same time
[02:24] (A. K.) I said this and the guardian council believes that whoever has doubts can present proof to the legal channels.
[02:24] (A. K.) I will not accept any illegal initiative.
[02:24] * A. K. is now known as A. K.
[02:24] (A. K.) Today,
[02:24] (A. K.) If the laws are broken today,
[02:24] (A. K.) No election will be immune in the future
[02:25] (A. K.) in every election,
[02:25] (A. K.) there are losers and winners
[02:25] (A. K.) no other election will ever be trusted if you take other avenues.
[02:25] (A. K.) thus, all legal procedures should be observed
[02:25] (A. K.) If there are any doubts, the issue should be followed by legal procedures
[02:25] (A. K.) we have laws
[02:25] (A. K.) the candidate's representatives had the right to inspect the ballot stations
[02:26] (A. K.) And to make complaints
[02:26] (A. K.) through the legal procedure
[02:26] (A. K.) If they have doubt, it should be recounted - the individual ballot boxes.
[02:26] (A. K.) Today is a very sensitive moment in our country
[02:26] (A. K.) look at the Middle East
[02:26] (A. K.) look at the economic situation in the world
[02:26] (A. K.) look at Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan
[02:27] (A. K.) VERY sensitive juncture in history, we are in.
[02:27] (A. K.) we should be careful to not make mistakes
[02:27] (A. K.) the voters' duty was to take part in the elections in the best possible manner
[02:27] (A. K.) but we have a bigger responsibility
[02:28] (A. K.) political party leaders should be very careful about what they say and do
[02:28] (A. K.) if they do anything extremist, their radical moves will moves will take them to where it won't be solvable
[02:28] (A. K.) we've seen this happen before
[02:28] (A. K.) when extremism is forced upon a society, it leads to another one
[02:28] (A. K.) if political elite want to fix someone at the cost of another thing
[02:29] (A. K.) to BREAK the law
[02:29] (A. K.) they would be responsible for the bloodshed
[02:29] (A. K.) And any form of unrest
[02:29] (A. K.) I would like to advise all these gentlemen,
[02:29] (A. K.) All my brothers and friends
[02:29] (A. K.) Just observe the hands of the enemy
[02:29] (A. K.) They are hungry wolves
[02:30] (A. K.) ambushing and removing the diplomacy cover from their faces
[02:30] (A. K.) Don't underestimate them.
[02:30] (A. K.) I will tell you,
[02:30] (A. K.) diplomats of other countries in the past few days have taken away their masks and showing their true image
[02:30] (A. K.) The most evil of them all is the British Government.
[02:31] (A. K.) I should tell these brothers,
[02:31] (A. K.) you are responsible before god
[02:31] (A. K.) you will be asked questions
[02:31] (A. K.) remember the last will and testament of the late imam
[02:31] (A. K.) the law determines what should be done
[02:31] (A. K.) elections are held so that any difference should be settled at the ballot box
[02:31] (A. K.) it should become clear there.
[02:31] (A. K.) what people want and what they don't want
[02:32] (A. K.) not on the streets
[02:32] (A. K.) if after every election those who haven't gotten votes start to have street camps and invite their followers to come to the streets,
[02:32] (A. K.) And the winners' followers take their followers to the streets,
[02:32] (A. K.) Then why did we hold elections to begin with?
[02:33] (A. K.) what have the people done wrong?
[02:33] (A. K.) They live on these streets
[02:33] (A. K.) That we want to show them we can do such things
[02:33] (A. K.) For terrorists it is different
[02:33] (A. K.) infiltrating terrorist will hide behind these people.
[02:34] (A. K.) if you make covers for them, then who's responsible?
[02:34] (A. K.) people have been killed from ordinary people and the Baseej
[02:34] (A. K.) Who's responsible?
[02:34] (A. K.) The issues is that some people have killed Baseeji forces and killed other people,
[02:34] (A. K.) who should address this issue?
[02:34] (A. K.) Who should react?
[02:34] (A. K.) attack at universities,
[02:34] (A. K.) Good students were beaten up
[02:34] (A. K.) not the ones who were involved in riots.
[02:35] (A. K.) then they chant slogans of supporting the leader.
[02:35] (A. K.) Then you become unhappy and your heart is hurt to see all this.
[02:35] (A. K.) street wrestling is not acceptable after the elections
[02:35] (A. K.) this is challenging democracy and election
[02:35] (A. K.) I want both sides to put an end to this
[02:36] (A. K.) then the responsibility of the consequences should be shouldered by those who aren't putting an end to it.
[02:36] (A. K.) by thinking that by turning out onto the streets that you can pressure the officials your demands is wrong.
[02:37] (A. K.) first of all.
[02:37] (A. K.) it will not be acceptable to submit to illegal demands
[02:37] (A. K.) this would be the start of dictatorship.
[02:37] (A. K.) This is a miscalculation,
[02:38] (A. K.) If there are any consequences, they would directly affect the leaders behind the scene
[02:38] (A. K.) the people would know them in due time as well.
[02:38] (A. K.) I call on all these dear friends, brothers and sister to observe the law
[02:38] (A. K.) to follow the legal code
[02:38] (A. K.) the law welcomes you
[02:38] (A. K.) legal channels are there for you
[02:39] (A. K.) i hope that almighty god will help us all to follow the legal channels.
[02:39] (A. K.) don't allow the enemies to destroy and ruin the celebration of our elections.
[02:39] (A. K.) If there are people who choose other paths, I will come and talk to people even more exclusively.
[02:40] (A. K.) now, third
[02:40] (A. K.) I want to talk to the media leaders and leaders
[02:40] (A. K.) I have witnessed the statements of American and EU countries' leaders and listening to them.
[02:40] (A. K.) I have monitored their actions and reactions in the past few weeks,
[02:40] (A. K.) Before and after the elections,
[02:40] (A. K.) Their behavior was different
[02:41] (A. K.) First, before the elections, their media orientation and their statements made was they wanted to
Cast out the hearts of the people a feeling that the election was useless to cut the turn out,
[02:41] (A. K.) They could guess the results,
[02:41] (A. K.) but they never expected 85%
[02:41] (A. K.) 40 million voted
[02:41] (A. K.) they never believed this
[02:41] (A. K.) after they witnessed this, they were shocked
[02:42] (A. K.) they learned what a great development in Iran has taken place
[02:42] (A. K.) they found out they had to adjust themselves to this new situation
[02:42] (A. K.) to the Middle East, Iran and the world
[02:42] (A. K.) they learned that a new chapter has opened in connection related to the Islamic Republic.
[02:42] (A. K.) This great turn out was observed
[02:42] (A. K.) they reported it time and again
[02:42] (A. K.) they were all surprised since Friday morning
[02:43] (A. K.) some of the reactions and feedback to these correspondents were also noticed
[02:43] (A. K.) when they saw objections by some candidates, they saw an opportunity
[02:43] (A. K.) they used it from Saturday to Sunday
[02:43] (A. K.) their tone changed
[02:43] (A. K.) they slowly saw these protests
[02:43] (A. K.) which were held by the invitation of the candidate
[02:43] (A. K.) they became hopeful
[02:43] (A. K.) their masks were removed
[02:43] (A. K.) they saw a way
[02:43] (A. K.) they revealed their true nature
[02:44] (A. K.) a number of heads of states and other leaders of EU and America made statements that clarified the true nature of those leaders.
[02:44] (A. K.) it was said on behalf of the US president that he was waiting for a day that people came out to streets.
[02:44] (A. K.) Inside the country
[02:44] (A. K.) their agents started their action
[02:45] (A. K.) they started to cause riots in the street
[02:45] (A. K.) they caused destruction
[02:45] (A. K.) burnt houses,
[02:45] (A. K.) theft and insecurity prevailed.
[02:45] (A. K.) the people felt unsafe and insecure
[02:45] (A. K.) this has nothing to do with supporters of the candidate
[02:45] (A. K.) this is the servants of the westerners
[02:45] (A. K.) Zionist agents and their servants.
[02:46] (A. K.) What was clumsily done inside Iran by some, made them greedy
[02:46] (A. K.) they thought that Iran is Georgia.
[02:46] (A. K.) An American Zionist capitalist some time ago claimed that he had spent ten million dollars and created velvet revolution in Georgia
[02:47] (A. K.) They are comparing the Islamic Republic with GEORGIA!?
[02:47] (A. K.) What do you think we are?
[02:47] (A. K.) You don't understand us.
[02:47] (A. K.) What are you talking about?
[02:48] (A. K.) what is the worst thing to me in all this
[02:48] (A. K.) are comments made in the name of human rights
[02:48] (A. K.) and freedom and liberty
[02:48] (A. K.) made by American officials
[02:48] (A. K.) they said that we are worried about Iranian nations
[02:48] (A. K.) WHAT? Are you serious?
[02:48] (A. K.) Do you KNOW what human rights are?!
[02:48] (A. K.) Who did that in Afghanistan?
[02:48] (A. K.) The wars and bloodshed
[02:48] (A. K.) Who is crushing Iraq under its soldier's boots?
[02:48] (A. K.) in Palestine?
[02:48] (A. K.) Who supported the Zionists?
[02:49] (A. K.) even inside America
[02:49] (A. K.) During the time of the democrats
[02:49] (A. K.) Time of Clinton
[02:49] (A. K.) 80 people were burned alive in Waco?
[02:50] (A. K.) Now you are talking about human rights?
[02:50] (A. K.) Well,
[02:50] (A. K.) I believe that the officials of America and EU should feel some embarrassment
[02:50] (A. K.) shouldn't say anything like that
[02:50] (A. K.) Islamic republic supports oppressed people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine
[02:50] (A. K.) we support all those who are oppressed
[02:51] (A. K.) we are supporting the flag of human rights
[02:51] (A. K.) flag of humans is raised in this country by Islam
[02:51] (A. K.) we don't need advice about human rights
[02:51] (A. K.) My speech about the election is over.
[02:51] (A. K.) (VERY ABRUPTLY!)


=== Responses from my Iranian twitter sources ===

In respect to your age I say with resepect, Mr Khamenei you have lost your authority the ppl will keep demanding freedom.

I imagine US is relieved to find poor old England is the Big Satan now. They can't even control their own ppl let alone Iran


Unlike your revolution Mr Khamenei, this movement is not "Made in Britain', it is entirely Iranian.

Kamenei's speech was so full of old rhetoric that it is meaningless. This is new era,Change is blowing through the old regime.

the cracks in the regime are opening out in front of us, the Iranian ppl will not not just obay anymore.

This movement is not about left or right, the ppl on the streets are ordinary ppl wanting to be free.

Comes the day when good men have to stand up and be counted in front of the tyrant.

Khamenei the election was not fair. Look at faces of mullahs at Friday Prayer, they knew this was a mistake.

I should look into TweetDeck

The ppl of Iran will force you to accept demands, you cannot stop The Sea of Green Khameni.

Bagher Moin on BBC, some protestors will look to Mousavi and Karoubi to see how far they are prepered to go

We cannot be traced so you can RT using this name. Leyne of BBC says crowd FP very hostile to BBC.

From today it gets very dangerous, the crackdown has been ordered. But put your faith in ppl of iran, with courage we can win

The big question today is will Mousavi and Karoubi have the courage to lead the ppl again to demand justice

As far as I am hearing tomorrow protest still on Enghelab sq 4pm. They cannot kill 2 million

How can Khamenei keep straight face and say street protess cannot force regime to give in? Isn't that how they did it in 79

Khameni ir irrelavant, has already changed his mind twice. Rafsanjani with Ass Experts working to impeach him.

[Hound]

#gr88 (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23gr88)

RT /Iran: Unconfirmed - Basij going to Rafsanjani house in big numbers.



From Iran: If they take Rafsanjani, Qom will explode and Mullahs will take to the streets in huge numbers


RT /Iran: Khameni/Ahmadi may be moving against Rafsanjani today. reports basij at his house,arrest warrents for sons

[Hound]

H. Res. 560 passed by a vote of 405-1.

[Hound]

The sun is rising on Tehran's longest day.

Mousavi is expected to attend the protests in open defiance and the crowds are growing larger everyday.

(the mayor of Tehran estimated the "sea of green" protest at 3 million (CNN))

Will the whole world watch Khamenei try to put a violent end to the protests? Or watch a nation transform itself?

The protest begins at 4PM Tehran time 8:30AM EST Washington time. __________________

[Atlas]

The sun is rising on Tehran's longest day.

Mousavi is expected to attend the protests in open defiance and the crowds are growing larger everyday.

(the mayor of Tehran estimated the "sea of green" protest at 3 million (CNN))

Will the whole world watch Khamenei try to put a violent end to the protests? Or watch a nation transform itself?

The protest begins at 4PM Tehran time 8:30AM EST Washington time. __________________

Man, that was a fine dramatic speech! Truly, this weekend may be one of those pivotal points in history.

Will it be like watching the Berlin wall come down? Or tanks rolling into Tianenmen?

[Hound]

Unconfirmed tweets...


Mousavi walking from Ettelaat to the Ministry of Interior- thousands with him..

Large crowd of people are going to Enghelab sq. and they're growing.

Mousavi walking from Ettelaat office to Ministry of Interior; over10000 people walking with him;join him

special guards confronted with people, attacked them with batton dispersed them into small ally ways

Tear Gas, Bird Shot Fired at Protesters .protest goes to the Laleh Park!

riot police surrounded Tehran University

[Hound]

Re: Bombing at Kohmeni shrine reported by Iranian State TV and CNN

Unconfirmed Tweets

Khomeini shrine has been hit with bomb, many ppl injured.

RT frm IRAN Bomb is not Green movement, may be Gov trying to discredit Mousavi as hater of the Imam

[Hound]

More Unconfirmed Tweets:

Confirmed: Mousavi and Karoubi did not attend meeting with council this morning.

RT Basij shooting directly at people in Azadi SQ. Resistance striking back at basij

This is out of military coup playbook: blow something up and declare martial law

Khomeini shrine bomb, 2 people injured in shoe storage area.. inside job - stage being set for a massacre

[Dora]

Interesting Twitter link:
http://iran.twazzup.com/
Example:

mousavi1388
I am prepared For martyrdom, go on strike if I am arrested #IranElection
40 min ago·

[Dora]

Bastards.

Warning - graphic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbdEf0QRsLM

[Hound]

Just tweeted UNCONFIRMED...

TANK TANK! Confirmed: one TANK on esteghlal street

RT RT from Iran: Hospitals have Besiji, go to embassies instead, if Besiji attacked them it would be an act of war.

RT "Boiling water" coming from helicopters has chemical agent in it to make skin feel like burning


----also reports of British, Portugese, German, Slovania and other embassies openinmg doors for wounded - hospitals feared watched by gov

[Hound]

More UNCONFIRMED tweeting...

RT Iran: Eye witness reporting that milita use Ambulances to lure people & then shoot them (Roodaki & Azarbayjan st.

RT Embassies help 4 wounded: Australian, Finnish, German, British, Dutch, Norway, Belgium, Italy, Slovenia, Portugal

e-source on rooftops:"People are very angry…they are screaming like a banshee…this ain't aloha akbar anymore"

RT IRAN Check this video out -- CRIME The police has started shooting people in Tehran!! http://bit.ly/alb6j (http://bit.ly/alb6j)

[Hound]

Pending written statement from the White House reported...

[Hound]

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
__________________________________________________ _____________
For Immediate Release June 20, 2009

Statement from the President on Iran

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

Martin Luther King once said - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Statement-from-the-President-on-Iran/

[Hound]

Many "tweets" re Canadian Embassy not accepting wounded... and petition to open embassy circulating. They may not be equipped -
Unconfirmed Twitter Post...



RT Iran The Canadian embassy is looking for doctors so that they can accept wounded

[Hound]

Persisitant rumours of an helicopter dropping unidentified liquid on protesters - reports of chemical burns...

also unconfirmed...

Fatemiyeh Hospital Tehran: 30-40 dead as of 11pm; 200 injured. Police taking names of incoming injured

[Hound]

Unconfirmed reports Canadian Embassy now accepting casualties...

(There are many out there that do not realize the US has not had an embassy in Tehran since '79)

[Casey]

Mousavi ready to be ‘martyr’
Parisa Hafezi | Reuters


TEHRAN: Defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi said yesterday he was “ready for martyrdom” while leading protests that have shaken Iran and brought warnings of bloodshed from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mousavi also called for a national strike if he is arrested, a witness said. As darkness fell, rooftop cries of Allah-o-Akbar sounded out across northern Tehran, an echo of tactics used in the 1979 revolution against the Shah.

In an act fraught with symbolic significance, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the mausoleum of the father of the revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, while unrest continued across Tehran in defiance of a ban on demonstrations. The attack on the mausoleum is likely to inflame passions among Iranians who revere the man. It was not clear who carried out the bombing. The bomber was killed and three others were wounded, according to the English-language Press TV.

Riot police deployed in force, firing tear gas and using batons and water cannon to disperse protesters. Supporters of Mousavi set on fire a building in southern Tehran used by backers of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a witness said. The witness also said police fired in the air to disperse rival supporters in Tehran’s Karegar Street.

Witnesses said 2,000 to 3,000 people were on the streets, fewer than the hundreds of thousands earlier in the week, but a clear challenge to Khamenei who used a speech on Friday to endorse disputed election results that gave Ahmadinejad a landslide victory.

Mousavi made clear he would not back down. “In a public address in southwestern Tehran, Mousavi said he was ready for martyrdom and that he would continue his path,” a Mousavi ally, who asked not to be named, told Reuters by telephone from Jeyhun Street in Tehran. A witness to the address said Mousavi appeared to anticipate action against him. “Mousavi called on people to go on national strike if he gets arrested,” the witness said.

Mousavi demanded the elections be annulled. “These disgusting measures (election rigging) were planned months ahead of the vote ... considering all the violations ... the election should be annulled,” Mousavi said in a letter to the country’s top legislative body, the Guardian Council.

The council earlier said it was ready to recount a random 10 percent of the votes cast in the June 12 poll to meet the complaints of Mousavi and two other candidates who lost to Ahmadinejad.

Breaking days of silence, US President Barack Obama urged the Iranian government to “stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people.” “The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching,” he said.


http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=123880&d=21&m=6&y=2009

[Atlas]

Hmmm


19 protesters reported dead in Tehran
Published: June 20, 2009 at 7:01 PM

TEHRAN, June 20 (UPI) -- At least 19 people were killed Saturday in clashes between police and protesters in Tehran, hospital sources told CNN.


CNN said there were unconfirmed reports the death toll was much higher, at least 150. Video posted on the Web showed police using nightsticks, water cannon, tear gas and fire hoses, with some footage of protesters who looked like they had been shot.

The massive protests occurred despite a warning Friday from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (http://www.upi.com/topic/Ayatollah_Ali_Khamenei/), that opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi (http://www.upi.com/topic/Mir-Hossein_Mousavi/) and other anti-government leaders could be held liable for any damage done by demonstrators.

Most of the demonstrations since the government proclaimed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (http://www.upi.com/topic/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad/) had defeated Mousavi 2-1 in last week's presidential election have been peaceful. On Saturday, some protesters fought back when police confronted them, witnesses told The New York Times.

Press TV, a government-run broadcaster, reported the government saying 300 police officers had been injured. Brig. Gen. Ahmad-Reza Radan, the acting police chief, told the Fars News Agency police had received about 2,000 complaints from people asking for vigorous action against the protesters.

Khamenei, in a speech during Friday prayers, said Ahmadinejad had won an "overwhelming victory" and banned any further demonstrations.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/06/20/19-protesters-reported-dead-in-Tehran/UPI-70801245493780/

[Hound]

Bastards.

Warning - graphic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbdEf0QRsLM



http://ow.ly/fh4v
Her Name Was Neda...

News Type: Event — Sat Jun 20, 2009 7:52 PM EDT
world-news (http://www.newsvine.com/world-news), murder (http://www.newsvine.com/murder), you-tube (http://www.newsvine.com/you-tube), sacrifice (http://www.newsvine.com/sacrifice), mousavi (http://www.newsvine.com/mousavi), green-revolution (http://www.newsvine.com/green-revolution), basij (http://www.newsvine.com/basij), girl-shot (http://www.newsvine.com/girl-shot), street-protests (http://www.newsvine.com/street-protests), neda (http://www.newsvine.com/neda), iran-revolution (http://www.newsvine.com/iran-revolution), remember-neda (http://www.newsvine.com/remember-neda)
Synthesis (http://primarysources.newsvine.com/)

http://i.newsvine.com/_vine/images/users/nws/PrimarySources/2951919.jpg



I am crying as I write this.
It is rapidly becoming the most galvanizing image in a week of drama and tragedy - perhaps the most image-saturated week in the history of the internet. I am talking about the unbelievable and heartbreaking events in Iran, a week of human drama captured in TwitPics, Flikr photos, YouTube videos, cellphone camera pics and blogs and hi-def video and...
Despite the billions upon billions of megapixels of imagery that have been captured to characterize this clash -- seas of greens, motorcyle thugs, clouds of tear gas, masked protesters -- one image is starting to make an impression above all the others, even in the short-attention-span universe of Twitter.
Early today, a beautiful young woman was demonstrating in Tehran, along with her father. When friction between the Basiji - the brutal packs of militia that patrol the streets of Tehran, beating women and children and students -- and the demonstrators broke out, it was her ill-fortune to become one of the first victims of Basiji homicide, though she was doing nothing more than standing by innocently, watching.
It is said that a Basij sniper shot her through the heart, simply to see her die.
The final moments of her tender young life leaked into the pavement of Karegeh Street today, captured by cell phone cameras. And not long after, took on new life, flickering across computer screens around the world on YouTube, and even CNN.
The words of her fellow students, her fellow Iranians are already burning an indelible message into cyberspace. Within minutes of her name being identified, it became the fastest-rising 'trending topic' on Twitter.
Her name was Neda, an innocent bystander shot dead just for watching.

We are Neda and all those who fell with her.
Neda is one Iranian. Neda is all Iranians.
RT May God cradle #NEDA in Peace and wake her soul to show her that she was not lost for nothing, her blood rained freedom
The World cries seeing your last breath, you didn't die in vain. We remember you.It has been reported that the name Neda means voice or call in Farsi...
Her name was Neda...
She is the voice of the people. She is a call to freedom.

[NYer]

Rafsanjani arrested ... no link... breaking on Fox News.

[Hound]

Today

http://shooresh1917.blogspot.com/

also rumors Basij are now blocking access to embassies -

and lots of speculation the government is losing control of the military

[NYer]

Iranian Opposition Ad With Subtitles. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-PKIvKltDU)

[Hound]

Rafsanjani arrested ... no link... breaking on Fox News.
\


Focus: Iranian presidential election 2009 Supreme leader under pressure http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images//2009/6/16/2009616193712452797_20.jpgA former president, Rafsanjani has been a vocal critic of Ahmadinejad [EPA]
Iranians have taken to the streets in the wake of the country's disputed elections, but behind the public face of the election protests lies a deeper power struggle.
In the corridors of power, analysts see a battle between Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the reformist former president.Khamenei had publicly endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadeinejad, the incumbent president, whose resounding election victory over Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main rival, prompted a wave of protests and allegations of voter fraud.
Rafsanjani, on the other hand, has been a vocal critic of the president.
One of Iran's richest men, Rafsanjani, like Mousavi, is also one of the old guard of the 1979 Iranian revolution.
"It [the election dispute] represents the conflict between two schools of thought in Iran," Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor in Middle East politics at the University of Jordan, told Al Jazeera.
"The first one, which is represented by the supreme leader, says Iran should stay a revolutionary state, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani wants the state to move on - to become a modern state, a pragmatic state.
"This is actually the root of the conflict we are seeing in the streets of Tehran.
"I think the support which Mousavi has been seeing from Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is because Mousavi agrees with Rafsanjani on that principle."
Pre-election dispute
Iran's shadowy political machinations spilled out of the corridors of power and into view in a television debate ahead of the elections.
Ahmadinejad said that Mir Hossein Mousavi, his opponent, was backed by politicians who he said were corrupt, and named Rafsanjani.
Infuriated, Rafsanjani wrote a public letter to Khamenei, accusing the Supreme Leader of remaining silent in the face of such accusations.
"If the system cannot or does not want to confront such ugly and sin-infected phenomena as insults, lies and false allegations made in that debate, how can we consider ourselves followers of the sacred Islamic system," he charged in his letter.
It was a rare and unusual public rebuke of Khamenei.
Power struggle
The supreme leader's decision-making powers are said to be absolute, but Iran's Assembly of Experts also wield considerable political clout.
Rafsanjani is chairman of the 86-member body, which appoints the supreme leader and monitors his performance.
It seems unlikely that Rafsanjani would move to oust Khamenei, but the assembly could - in theory, at least - remove the supreme leader from office, if his actions are deemed un-Islamic or if he is unable to carry out his sworn duties.
With the street protests putting pressure on Iran's political leaders, it was rumoured that Rafsanjani and Hassan Rohani, Iran's former chief nuclear negotiator, were in the city of Qom, seeking a meeting of the assembly.
Khamenei's surprise decision to ask the 12-member Guardian Council to investigate the alleged election improprieties has suggested to many he is feeling the pressure.

Source:Al Jazeera

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/2009616184556951795.html

[Dora]

Al Arabiya's Tehran bureau closed indefinitely


http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/21/76600.html

[NYer]

What Does Mousavi Think? (http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OGVjOTIwM2E4YjMxMzI0ZjljZDQ1MzBiNzdiMDMxOTY=)

From the Office of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi

To the President of the USA, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama:

Dear Mr. President,

In the name of the Iranian people, we want you to know that when you recently made the statement "Achmadinejad or Mousavi? Two of a kind,” we consider this as a grave and deep insult, not just to Mr. Mousavi but especially against the judgment of the Iranian people, against our moral conviction and intelligence, especially those of the young generation that comprises a population of 31 million.

It is a specially grave insult for those who are now fighting for democracy and freedom, and an unwarranted gift and even praise for Mr. Khamenei, whose security forces are now killing peaceful Iranians in the streets of every major city in the country.

Your statement misled the people of the world. It was no doubt inspired by your hope for dialogue with this regime, but you cannot possibly believe in promises from a regime that lies to its own people and then kills them when they demand the promises be kept.

By such statements, your administration and you discourage the Iranian people, who believe and trust in the values of democracy and freedom. We are pleased to see that you have condemned the regime’s murderous violence, and we look forward to stronger support for the rightful struggle of the Iranian people against the actions of a regime that is your enemy as well as ours.

Ledeen's unsure as to the true author but there's no mistaking the sentiment.

[Hound]

your administration and you discourage the Iranian people, who believe and trust in the values of democracy and freedom. ...

[Hound]

Eyewitness: From Tehran's Streets




http://www.life.com/static/ugc/082/ugc1003082/watermarkcomp.jpg

From Tehran's Streets: Hope and Rage

As protests and counter-protests unlike anything seen in Iran since the 1979 Revolution roil the country and captivate the world, LIFE presents photographs taken by an Iranian who is there, in the midst of the action. Pictured: Defiance in the streets the day after the disputed results of the June 12, 2009, election. EDITOR'S NOTE: The Tehran-based photojournalist who made these pictures is now missing.

Photo: An Iranian Photojournalist

[Hound]

A caller from Voa News said that theres been a explosion at a metro station (Tehran, Hafte tir squar), (Not confirmed)

[NYer]

Burn, Khomeini, Burn! (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/protesters-stone-basij-thugs-torch.html)

http://www.iranpressnews.com/source/images/01/zanjan-khame.jpg

[Atlas]

Iran calms, but daughter of top Iranian cleric reportedly arrested




Associated Press
Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of senior cleric Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, speaks to hundreds of supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi days earlier.


The daughter of Hashemi Rafsanjani, a supporter of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi, is in jail along with four other relatives, Iranian TV reports. Meanwhile, Tehran is on edge but quiet.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-arrests22-2009jun22,0,2269803.story

[NYer]

Is the Regime blinking? (http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/21/76567.html)

Religious leaders are considering an alternative to the supreme leader structure after at least 13 people were killed in the latest unrest to shake Tehran and family members of Ayatollah Rafsanjani were arrested amid calls by former President Mohammad Khatami for the release of all protesters.
HT: Andrew Sullivan

[NYer]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/Sj5rJB02xdI/AAAAAAAAcSc/DTa3OmE46sQ/s1600/tweet%2Bcrap.jpg
From Gateway Pundit

[NYer]

http://ow.ly/fh4v
Her Name Was Neda...



Neda - Unintended Symbol. (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/Sj5rJB02xdI/AAAAAAAAcSc/DTa3OmE46sQ/s1600/tweet%2Bcrap.jpg)

On May 4, 1970 members of the Ohio National Guard killed four students and wounded nine others at Kent State University. Some of the students were protesting the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia. Others in the line of fire were just seeing what was going on, or walking to their classes.

Iconic photos of the event appearing in newspapers and television galvanized the nation and inflamed the anti-war movement in the U.S. Millions of students protested and nearly 1,000 colleges and universities were shut down after the Kent State shooting.

Yesterday, a young woman who was part of the crowd in Tehran, either protesting or simply watching the events unfold, was shot in the chest, apparently by Iranian Basiji security forces on rooftops.

Her death was recorded on video, and the gruesome end of her life sped digitally and virally around the world on social media sites, such as YouTube and Facebook.

"Neda," as she was known, has in a matter of hours become an icon for the Iranian protest movement.

http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2009/06/21/image5101148.jpg

[Hound]

Neda ... al Neda...ringing some bells...

[Hound]

Iran's Strategic Arrests

As part of a broad crackdown on the media and perceived dissidents, the Iranian government has arrested 23 journalists and bloggers since the disputed presidential election (http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7878713&page=1) on June 12.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7891929&page=1

[Hound]

http://www.pacificviews.org/weblog/archives/vigil-tehran.jpg
http://www.pacificviews.org/weblog/archives/vigil-tehran2.jpg

http://www.time.com/time/europe/photoessays/vigil/

[Hound]

Neda Agha Soltanhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/Neda.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neda.png)

1982 – 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neda_(Iranian_protester)

[Hound]

http://www.iranianuk.com/article.php?id=38796

[Hound]

Tweet

RT We need to store water, food, medicine. Gov will cut electricity. Be prepared for this & announcement of strikes


http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/full/13547720.png?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1245649957&Signature=HnCr51P9oVHZWtpBGrIs8e%2FrTBU%3D

[Hound]

Tweet

UNCONF Rafsanjani's has prepared a letter signed by 40 high ranking clerics against Khamanei & recent crack down on protesters

[Hound]

Rafsanjani's family members arrested after deadly protests
Iranian clerics seek supreme leader alternative


http://images.alarabiya.net/large_52527_76567.jpg

Clashes between protesters and police Saturday left at least 13 people dead (File)


TEHRAN/DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)
Religious leaders are considering an alternative to the supreme leader structure after at least 13 people were killed in the latest unrest to shake Tehran and family members of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, were arrested amid calls by former President Mohammad Khatami for the release of all protesters.

Iran's religious clerks in Qom and members of the Assembly of Experts, headed by Ayatollah Rafsanjani, are mulling the formation of an alternative collective leadership to replace that of the supreme leader, sources in Qom told Al Arabiya on condition of anonymity.

Five family members of Rafsanjani, one of Iran's most powerful men, were arrested at rallies on Saturday, including his eldest daughter Faezeh Hashemi, but released later.

http://images.alarabiya.net/demo_3189_5203.jpg
Due to a ban on media, the scale of casualties or injured is unclear

http://media.alarabiya.net/img_en/quotetbl_low.gif

The influential Rafsanjani, 57, heads two very powerful groups. The most important one is the Assembly of Experts, made up of senior clerics who can elect and dismiss the supreme leader. The second is the Expediency Council, a body that arbitrates disputes between parliament and the unelected Guardian Council, which can block legislation.

Members of the assembly are reportedly considering forming a collective ruling body and scrapping the model of Ayatollah Khomeini as a way out of the civil crisis that has engulfed Tehran in a series of protests,

The discussions have taken place in a series of secret meetings convened in the holy city of Qom and included Jawad al-Shahristani, the supreme representative of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is the foremost Shiite leader in Iraq.

An option being considered is the resignation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's president following condemnation by the United States and other European nations for violence and human rights violations against unarmed protestors.

Rafsanjani issued no statements following Khamenei's speech last Friday in which the supreme leader praised him along side Ahmadinejad as Iran's new president.

The moderate Khatami called Sunday for the immediate release of protesters arrested in the country since June 13, saying their release could "calm the situation in the country," the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.




http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/21/76567.html

[Casey]

These pictures are from one of the Arabic forums I visit.

http://www.worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20539_geek4arab_com.jpg

http://www.worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20540_geek4arab_com.jpg

http://www.worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20541_geek4arab_com.jpg

[NYer]

Iran's Unions join protest? (http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/93615.html)

The latest chant:

"natarseen, natarsee, ma hameh baham hasteem."

"be not afraid, be not afraid, we are all together."

And then at the end they shout "down with the dictator."

Well, not only are there reports of peaceful gatherings but signs that unions are joining the protest, thus putting their livelihoods on the line.

Iranian Bus drivers join the resistance I doubt they are doing it on their own. This may signal a turning point as Marxist (a traditionally strong element in Iran)are getting ready for a general strike. Already, they are reports that Iran Khodro Auto Workers Begin Work Slowdown

[Casey]

http://worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20542_geek4arab_com.jpg

http://worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20543_geek4arab_com.jpg

http://worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20544_geek4arab_com.jpg

[Casey]

http://worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20539_geek4arab_com.jpg

http://worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20540_geek4arab_com.jpg

http://worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20541_geek4arab_com.jpg

[Casey]

http://www.worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20548_geek4arab_com.jpg

http://www.worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20550_geek4arab_com.jpg

http://www.worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20551_geek4arab_com.jpg

[NYer]

Ahmad Betebi: (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/iranian-hero-leading-activist-ahmad.html)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/Sj9YIm8lkbI/AAAAAAAAcT8/tn5zlqcvMA8/s400/batebi+3.jpg

Here is Batebi on Obama:

"His (Obama) lack of response will not be regarded lightly. We will watch for how much his response will help the people or the regime. We will know more this week... Obama can hold talks with the regime in Iran if he wants. Is it morally correct for Obama to support the regime? Does he actually believe the people of Iran will appreciate that? The social movement requires support. If the world really wants the advent of terrorism to disappear in the Middle East, if they want peace with the Palestinians and Israel, if they want nuclear techhology to be developed for peaceful things and not nuclear weapons... They only need to support the people of Iran right now. This regime has the most dangerous of ideologies. They're killing the opposition.

Audio & video at link.

[NYer]

Crunch Time Looms? (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528063,00.html)

http://www.foxnews.com/images/540961/0_68_clashes4_320.jpg

Iran's most powerful security force threatened Monday to crush any further opposition protests over the disputed presidential election, warning demonstrators to prepare for a "revolutionary confrontation" if they take to the streets again. It was the sternest warning yet from the elite Revolutionary Guard.

[NYer]

ACORN in Iran? (http://www.presstv.ir/detail/98711.htm?sectionid=351020101) HT: Instapundit

Iran's Guardian Council has suggested that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of people eligible to cast ballot in those areas.

[NYer]

Wild Card - Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (http://threatswatch.org/rapidrecon/2009/06/regime-change-iran-movement-se/)

In fact, what exists is a deep rivalry between the revolutionary Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini and the traditionalist Grand Ayatollah Sistani, both claiming authority over the Shi'a faith. While the Khomeinist revolutionary Khameini clearly believes in Shi'a theocracy, the Iraqi Ayatollah Sistani believes that the faith can exist within a democracy without theological conflict. And while the Iranians work to spin the growing Sunni tribal rejection of al-Qaeda as Americans "negotiating with terrorists," Sistani himself has always had open channels of communication with American forces and the Iraqi government.

Why does this matter for Iran and Iranians? Pay close attention here, for Iraq's Sistani carries great weight among the Iranian Shi'a faithful.

Sistani's appeal does not end at the Iraqi border, as Iranians increasingly observe his leadership with interest and fondness. Some are "intrigued by the more freewheeling experiment in Shi'ite empowerment taking place across the border in Iraq," which is fundamentally different in approach than the Iranian theocratic brand of dictated observance and obedience. The Boston Globe's Anne Barnard reports that within Tehran's own central bazaar, "an increasing number of merchants are sending their religious donations, a 20 percent tithe expected from all who can spare it, to Iraq's most senior Shi'ite cleric."

If that didn't quite sink in, go read that paragraph again. many Iranian merchants have been sending their 20% tithes to Sistani, not Khamenei. Since at least 2007.


Faster, Please ...

[pixikill]

http://www.worldanalysis.net/download/iran/20548_geek4arab_com.jpg




casey, whats that yellow stuff theyre spraying, do you know?

[NYer]

“Head of parliament’s judiciary committee: Mousavi accountable for illegal protests, can be pursued legally.”

“Iran MP: Ground ready to legally pursue Mousavi for ‘acting against national security.”

“Head of the Judicial Commission of Majlis has requested the judicial pursuit of Mir Hussein Mousavi.”

“Ali Larijani, Hashemi Shahroudi, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had a meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei about elections and recent events.”

“People have clashed with plain-clothed individuals and special forces in 7 Tir. These clashes are continuing.”

“Laleh Park and Shiroudi Stadium have become the command center to organize anti-riot police and plain clothes.”

“A group of people holding candles have sat down silently on the ground in 7 Tir Sq. but the special forces are planning to disperse them by attacking them.”

“Laleh Park and Shiroudi gym have become the centers for organizing anti-riot and the plain-clothes forces.”

“Laleh Park is taken over by the anti-riot guards; where they have set up tents and have brought more than 2000 forces.”

“People will demonstrate after 5pm everyday from Enghelab to Azadi to protest the repression and killings.”

http://niacblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/iran-updates-june-22/

[Hound]

Tweets

Unconfirmed : Rafsanjani has votes to remove Khamenei, needs secure support of army. Regime may attack Qom. #iranelection #iranelections RT

British embassy in Tehran is evacuating the families of staff members.

Support frm army and Islam Guards and Mullahs for Mousavi growing NWest Iran regions and Khor

PPL just as bad if not worse than Ahmadinejad: MKO and its terrorist leader Rajavi WE are Green not yellow #iranelection #neda RT RT Rt

RT RT Rt do not let Rajavi fanatics (yellow/portraits of her) hijack the green movement, they are worse than regime #iranelection #neda

"massive, massive, massive police presence - really intimidating...using tear gas & firing live bullets in air"

Qom poised to support the ppl and condemn Khameni. Mullahs r joining protest

[Casey]

casey, whats that yellow stuff theyre spraying, do you know?

I don't know but have read in news articles it is supposed to be tear gas.

[NYer]

Update | 1:16 p.m. The Associated Press reports that the family of Neda Soltan was barred from having a public funeral for her but, even so, the images of her killing are spreading inside Iran:

An acquaintance of her family said Neda worked part-time at a travel agency in Iran and that the government barred the family from holding a public funeral Monday. The acquaintance spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared government reprisal. The Iranian government has banned all public gatherings, though there was no specific information about funerals for those killed in recent clashes.

Although the Iranian government has blocked many Web sites including Facebook and has jammed satellite television signals, the videos of the woman’s death have been circulating inside the country. People have used anti-filtering software to download them. Some Iranians have uploaded the footage to their cell phones and used Bluetooth technology to share it.

The bloody imagery alone could have an important impact on public opinion in Iran, where the idea of martyrdom resonates deeply among a populace steeped in the stories and imagery of Shiite Islam, a faith founded on the idea of self-sacrifice in the cause of justice.

The deaths of protesters during the 1979 Islamic Revolution fueled a cycle of mourning marches that contributed to the overthrow of the U.S.-backed dictator, Shah Reza Pahlavi.

Thousands of people inside and outside Iran have written online tributes to the woman, many condemning the government and praising her as a martyr. Some posted photos of a gently smiling woman they said was Neda, some calling her “Iran’s Joan of Arc.”

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/

[NYer]

Revolutionary Guards commander defies Khamenei's orders to use force on protestors.

A commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has been arrested for refusing to obey Iran's Supreme Leader, according to reports from the Balatarin website.

General Ali Fazli, who was recently appointed as a commander of the Revolutionary Guards in the province of Tehran, is reported to have been arrested after he refused to carry out orders from the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to use force on people protesting the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/20090622/revolutionary-guards-iran-iranian-protests.htm

[malum]

Neda Soltan, Young Woman Hailed as Martyr in Iran, Becomes Face of Protests

Monday, June 22, 2009

http://www.foxnews.com/images/541148/1_61_neda4_320.jpg (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528133,00.html#)

A young woman named Neda Soltan is being embraced as a martyr in Iran after a video of her purported killing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRga9Zm-QYA) at a protest Saturday was posted widely to YouTube and Facebook.

#story .gallery_container p.caption{display:none !important;} #story .gallery_container p.strut{color:#000;} A young woman named Neda Soltan is being embraced as a martyr in Iran after a video of her purported killing at a protest Saturday was posted widely to YouTube and Facebook.


[/URL]
[URL="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528133,00.html#"] (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528133,00.html#)




Protesters in Iran are hailing 26-year-old Neda Soltan as a martyr after graphic videos of her apparent murder at a protest in Tehran hit the Internet. Iran experts say images of her bloody death have galvanized the country and that mourning for her — which has been banned by authorities — will bring deeper unrest.

"Neda," whose identity could not be verified by FOXNews.com, was reportedly gunned down by paramilitary police Saturday during protests in the capital city. Videos posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjQxq5N--Kc), Facebook and Twitter show her bleeding from the nose and mouth as a crowd tries unsuccessfully to stanch the flow and save her life.

The video also shows a moving clip of a man identified as her professor cradling her head and yelling out, "Neda, don't be afraid. Neda, stay with me. Neda stay with me!”

• Click here for photos. (WARNING: Graphic) (http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,7500,00.html)

Reports of how she was killed vary — from a rooftop sniper's bullet to a passing shot by two Basij militiamen on a motorcycle — but the effect has been nearly universal.

In the space of just hours, the philosophy student became the image of Iran's democratic protests, nicknamed the "Angel of Freedom." But it is Neda's real name, which means "voice" or "calling" in Farsi, that is resonating in slogans throughout Iran's capital and beyond.

Her fiance said in an interview with BBC Persian (http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/06/090622_mm_neda_soltan.shtml) that she had not supported any candidate in the allegedly fraudulent elections. Neda wanted "freedom for all," he said.

Mehdi Khalaji, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Affairs, told FOXNews.com that Neda has become "one of the pillars of this movement now," and the bloody images of her dying in the street are its "main icons and symbols."

Her family scheduled a memorial service to be held in a mosque in northern Tehran, but the government forbade ceremony, and she was buried quietly on Sunday with only her family present, say Soona Samsami, executive director of the Women's Freedom Forum, who has been relaying information about protests inside Iran to international media.

All mosques were given a direct order from the government barring them from holding any memorial services for Neda, and her family was threatened with grave consequences if anyone gathered to mourn her, said Samsami.

"They were threatened that if people wanted to gather there the family would be charged and punished," Samsami told FOXnews.com.

Much of the attention and blame for Neda's apparent murder is now being focused on Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose threatening speech Friday preceded the violent protests Saturday at which apparently Neda lost her life. Khamenei is now the prime target for protesters' outrage, Khalaji said.

"For the first time since the election it seems that people are including in their slogans 'Down with Khamenei,' and 'Death to Khamenei,'" he told FOXNews.com.

Protesters have reportedly been attempting to gather in public Monday to remember Neda but have been broken up by the government. Despite the outright ban on their gathering, Iran experts say the government will not long be able to stop public mourning for Neda.

Protesters have used Shiite mourning as a reason to gather, beginning this year after early protests against election returns left seven dead.

Adhering to Islamic tradition of mourning on certain days of the month, protesters have repeatedly gathered again, drawing the ire and the fire of the Revolutionary Guard and creating further opportunities for protest.
Now reformist presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, one of the leaders of the democratic protests in Tehran, has called for a Thursday night memorial service (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mehdi-Karroubi/68765459902?ref=mf) for all protesters who have been killed to be held at the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"Should the masses come it is going to be very devastating because they will be facing those who they believe to be her murderers in the face," said Ali Salehi, a research analyst at UCLA.

Whether or not there is a violent crackdown at Thursday night's memorial, the Islamic underpinnings of the regime are more and more being called into question by Iranians, said Salehi, particularly after the ban on mourning Neda, which contradicts Islamic law, he said.

"Not only is that not right, but according to Islamic tradition it is immoral and improper, so they are essentially breaking one of their own laws out of fear."

[Hound]

Widespread calls for full national strike tomorrow

[NYer]

Shouts of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) again reverberated around Tehran at nightfall, as Mousavi supporters took to the rooftops to chant their defiance of the authorities, a tactic used in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/

[NYer]

Nokia and Siemens: Providing Tech Support to Iran's Tyrants. (http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2009/06/22/iran-siemens-and-nokia-should-jam-their-own-equipment-or-be-boycotted/) HT: Rantburg

Giving advanced equipment to the mullahs is sort of like handing a loaded machine gun to Charles Manson....

[NYer]

Neda Soltan, Young Woman Hailed as Martyr in Iran, Becomes Face of Protests


"It burnt me." (http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/latest-updates-on-irans-disputed-election-3/#more-19923)

It was hot in the car, so the young woman and her singing instructor got out for a breath of fresh air on a quiet side street not far from the anti-government protests they had ventured out to attend. A gunshot rang out, and the woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, fell to the ground. “It burnt me,” she said before she died.

[Hound]

'No memorial service'
The fiance of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose violent death during clashes in Tehran on Saturday was recorded on video and uploaded to the internet, has described the events leading up to her shooting in an interview for BBC Persian TV.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45959000/jpg/_45959503_007534808-1.jpg
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif The authorities are aware that everybody in Iran and throughout the whole world knows about her story http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Caspian Makan
Fiance of Neda Agha-Soltan

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif

Death video girl 'targeted by militia' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8113552.stm)

She had been sitting with her music teacher in a car, stuck in traffic, when she decided to get out because of the heat.
"She got out of the car for just for a few minutes [and] that's when she was shot dead," said Caspian Makan.
Mr Makan quoted eyewitnesses as saying she appeared to have been targeted deliberately by "paramilitaries in civilian clothing".
He added that officials had prevented mourners holding a memorial service at a mosque on Monday.
"The authorities are aware that everybody in Iran and throughout the whole world knows about her story," he told the BBC. "They were afraid that lots of people could turn up."
Election results show Mr Ahmadinejad won the 12 June election by a landslide, taking 63% of the vote, almost double that of Mir Hossein Mousavi, his nearest rival.
Following complaints, the powerful Guardian Council, which oversees the electoral process, said it had found some evidence of voting irregularities but the number had "no effect on the result of the elections", it insisted.
An independent British analysis of the disputed election results has found irregularities in the reported turnout, as well as "implausible" swings in the vote in favour of Mr Ahmadinejad.
Analysts from St Andrew's University and the Chatham House think-tank said votes in favour of Mr Ahmadinejad in a third of the provinces would have required an "unlikely scenario" of voting patterns.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8112812.stm

[Hound]

Revolutionary Guards commander defies Khamenei's orders to use force on protestors



22 June 2009 @ 02:00 pm BST
Next Global News Article (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/20090622/neda-angel-iran-voice-mourning-rally.htm)

A commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has been arrested for refusing to obey Iran's Supreme Leader, according to reports from the Balatarin website.

General Ali Fazli, who was recently appointed as a commander of the Revolutionary Guards in the province of Tehran, is reported to have been arrested after he refused to carry out orders from the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to use force on people protesting the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

[pixikill]

"It burnt me." (http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/latest-updates-on-irans-disputed-election-3/#more-19923)

It was hot in the car, so the young woman and her singing instructor got out for a breath of fresh air on a quiet side street not far from the anti-government protests they had ventured out to attend. A gunshot rang out, and the woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, fell to the ground. “It burnt me,” she said before she died.
stop trying to make me cry.:sad_01:

[pixikill]

I don't know but have read in news articles it is supposed to be tear gas.
tx casey. youre always so nice.

[NYer]

Michael Silence: (http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/silence/archives/2009/06/angel_of_iran.shtml)

As of this posting, the new rally cry for Iran gets 14,100 hits. Watch it grow! (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GFRE_enUS324US325&q=%22angel+of+iran%22)
The Story of Neda. (http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=neda&ei=UTF-8)

HT: Instapundit

[Hound]

CNET


June 22, 2009 11:45 PM PDT
Tech giants deny helping Iran eavesdrop

by Declan McCullagh (http://www.cnet.com/profile/declan00/)

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A joint venture of Siemens AG and Nokia Corp., two large European technology firms, is denying reports that Iran uses its Web-monitoring technology to censor and spy on its citizens' online activities.
Nokia Siemens Networks said Monday that it has sold telecommunications systems to the Iranian government but that any built-in monitoring technology was for voice communications and not the Internet.
"The lawful intercept capability is purely for local voice calls," spokesman Ben Roome said in an interview. "We don't know who may have provided other Internet technologies to Iran."
The company's denial comes as protests over Iran's disputed election enter their second week, amplified by Twittering (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/15/tech/main5090788.shtml) from the Iranian diaspora and cell phone videos showing ongoing street conflicts and the apparent death (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/22/world/main5103649.shtml) of young Iranian woman called Neda.
Images and video clips trickling in from the streets of Tehran--even ones whose authenticity may never be established--have electrified the West and demonstrated the limits of power that the government is able to wield. Because foreign correspondents are being pressured by authorities and forced to leave (http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/114/article_4062.asp), according to journalist advocacy groups, the country's relatively tiny Internet pipe to the outside world is offering a unique glimpse of the situation on the streets.
Iran's Internet restrictions are no secret, of course. As CNET News reported (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10267287-38.html) last week, Web sites including Facebook, YouTube.com, and the BBC have been deemed off-limits by government censors, and there have been recurring reports that Twitter.com and Yahoo Messenger have been blocked as well. Except for some hiccups (http://www.renesys.com/blog/2009/06/strange-changes-in-iranian-int.shtml), though, Iran's Internet authorities have chosen not to pull the plug on the nation's connections to the outside world.
The source of the surveillance technology used by Iran's Internet service providers remains an unresolved political question that could prove an embarrassment for any Western company linked to Tehran's censorial regime. Few technology executives have forgotten the spectacle of Washington politicians calling (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9811598-38.html) Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang to a hearing and denouncing (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9869434-38.html) him as "spineless" for doing business in China, or Cisco being dubbed (http://news.cnet.com/Rights-group-names-Enemies-of-the-Internet/2100-1028_3-6133645.html) as "collaborating with the Chinese government" for supplying Internet switches and routers.
This recent dispute erupted in the form of a front-page article (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124562668777335653.html) in Monday's editions of The Wall Street Journal, which claimed that the Iranian government has developed "one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet" with the help of Nokia Siemens Networks. The headline read: "Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology." (In April, the Washington Times published a similar report (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/13/europe39s-telecoms-aid-with-spy-tech/) that also named Nokia Siemens Networks.)
But Roome, the Nokia Siemens Networks spokesman, said that the newspaper's report was incorrect. He said in a blog post (http://blogs.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/news/2009/06/22/provision-of-lawful-intercept-capability-in-iran/), "Unfortunately, I was unable to clarify for the Wall Street Journal the limited scope of the lawful intercept capability (voice calls only) and rule out...deep packet inspection and Web filtering."
Roome argued that, whatever its faults, even Iran's wiretap-ready mobile phone network has proven vital in spreading word about the political upheaval unfolding amid widespread protests. "Mobile networks in Iran, and the subsequent widespread adoption of mobile phones, have allowed Iranians to communicate what they are seeing and hearing with the outside world," he said. "The proof of this is in the widespread awareness of the current situation."
Complicating the matter is the difficulty of identifying the technology used. It's relatively easy to figure out which Web sites that are off-limits--groups like Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society have made a practice of compiling such lists--but much harder to know what hardware or software is being used to monitor Internet links.
"For the filtering work we are able to verify the actual functionality," said Rob Faris, research director (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/rfaris) for the Berkman Center. "It's just about impossible to document surveillance with the same level of confidence."
In terms of Web blocking, a Berkman Center report (http://opennet.net/studies/iran2005) compiled in 2005 said that Iran used Secure Computing's SmartFilter. It quoted the company's chief executive, John McNulty, as saying: "We have been made aware of ISPs in Iran making illegal and unauthorized attempts to use of our software. Secure Computing is actively taking steps to stop this illegal use of our products."
McAfee now owns (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10047380-83.html) Secure Computing and sells the software as McAfee SmartFilter (http://www.mcafee.com/us/enterprise/products/email_and_web_security/web/smartfilter.html). A product description boasts of "a proven repository of more than 25 million blockable websites across more than 90 categories."
"We have never seen any direct evidence or hard proof that Iran has ever used any McAfee or Secure Computing product," McAfee said in an e-mailed statement on Monday. "McAfee complies with all export laws and regulation applicable to its products. Rigorous due diligence was conducted prior to the acquisition of Secure Computing and there was no indication of any contract in Iran or support being provided in Iran." (A U.S. economic embargo restricts trade with Iran.)
More recent reports (http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=n&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.akhbar-rooz.com%2Fnews.jsp%3FessayId%3D16978&sl=fa&tl=en&history_state0=) suggest (http://opennet.net/sites/opennet.net/files/ONI_Iran_2009.pdf) that Iranian Internet providers have developed or adapted (http://backdoor.iranictnews.ir/T_34469_____%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AE%DB%8C-%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%B5-%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%85-%D9%81%DB%8C%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%86%DA%AF-%D8%B4%D8%B1%DA%A9%D8%AA-%D9%81%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AA.htm) their own Web filtering technology, but shed little light on the question of surveillance.

[Hound]

MIDDLE EAST NEWS
JUNE 23, 2009

Son's Death Has Iranian Family Asking Why





By FARNAZ FASSIHI (http://online.wsj.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=FARNAZ+FASSIHI&ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND)

TEHRAN—The family, clad in black, stood at the curb of the road sobbing. A middle-aged mother slapped her cheeks, letting out piercing wails. The father, a frail man who worked as a doorman at a clinic in central Tehran, wept quietly with his head bowed.
Minutes before, an ambulance had arrived from Tehran's morgue carrying the body of their only son, 19-year-old Kaveh Alipour.
On Saturday, amid the most violent clashes between security forces and protesters, Mr. Alipour was shot in the head as he stood at an intersection in downtown Tehran. He was returning from acting class and a week shy of becoming a groom, his family said.
The details of his death remain unclear. He had been alone. Neighbors and relatives think that he got trapped in the crossfire. He wasn't politically active and hadn't taken part in the turmoil that has rocked Iran for over a week, they said.
"He was a very polite, shy young man," said Mohamad, a neighbor who has known him since childhood.
When Mr. Alipour didn't return home that night, his parents began to worry. All day, they had heard gunshots ringing in the distance. His father, Yousef, first called his fiancée and friends. No one had heard from him.
At the crack of dawn, his father began searching at police stations, then hospitals and then the morgue.
Upon learning of his son's death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a "bullet fee"—a fee for the bullet used by security forces—before taking the body back, relatives said.
Mr. Alipour told officials that his entire possessions wouldn't amount to $3,000, arguing they should waive the fee because he is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. According to relatives, morgue officials finally agreed, but demanded that the family do no funeral or burial in Tehran. Kaveh Alipour's body was quietly transported to the city of Rasht, where there is family.
Everyone in the neighborhood knows the Alipour family. In addition to their slain son, they have two daughters. Shopkeepers and businesses pasted a photocopied picture of Mr. Alipour on their walls and windows. In the picture, the young man is shown wearing a dark suit with gray stripes. His black hair is combed neatly to a side and he has a half-smile.
"He was so full of life. He had so many dreams," said Arsalan, a taxi driver who has known the family for 10 years. "What did he die for?"



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124571865270639351.html

[NYer]

From Twitter-

DougCurran: RT @persiankiwi: reports of large pro-Gov Baseej militia in front of UK embassy Tehran - #Iranelection

Shades of the storming of the US Embassy?

[NYer]

Obama Administration Shows Its True Colors. (http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/22/state-dept-iranian-diplomats-still-welcome-to-celebrate-july-4th-with-us/)

President Barack Obama’s administration said earlier this month it would invite Iran to US embassy barbecues for the national holiday for the first time since the two nations severed relations following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“There’s no thought to rescinding the invitations to Iranian diplomats,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

... Exit quotation: “[T]he Iranians are missing two words from Obama: ‘I condemn.’”

[Hound]

No annulment of vote, says Iran's electoral body
By KARIN LAUB – 18 minutes ago
CAIRO (AP) — Iran's top electoral body said Tuesday it found "no major fraud" and will not annul the results of the presidential election, closing the door to a do-over sought by angry opposition supporters alleging systematic vote-rigging.
Iranian government officials have repeatedly suggested that a revote is extremely unlikely. However, Tuesday's announcement by Iran's top electoral body, the Guardian Council, was the clearest yet in ruling out a new election.
The announcement on Iran's state-run English language Press TV is another sign the regime is determined to crush the post-election protests — the strongest challenge to its leadership in 30 years — rather than compromise.
Government warnings to the protesters have intensified.
Ebrahim Raisi, a top judicial official, confirmed Tuesday that a special court has been set up to deal with detained protesters. "Elements of riots must be dealt with to set an example. The judiciary will do that," he was quoted as saying by the state-run radio. The judiciary is controlled by Iran's ruling clerics.
In recent days, Iran's supreme leader has ordered demonstrators off the streets and the feared Revolutionary Guards has threatened a tough crackdown. At least 17 people have been killed in near-daily demonstrations, including at least one that drew hundreds of thousands.
In recent days, members of the Revolutionary Guard, the Basij militia and other Iranian security forces in riot gear have been deployed across Tehran, preventing any gatherings and ordering people to keep moving. A protest of some 200 people Monday was quickly broken up with tear gas and shots in the air.
In a boost for the embattled regime, Russia said Tuesday that it respects the declared election result, which the Iranian government described as a landslide victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The U.S. and many European countries have refrained from challenging the election outcome directly, but have issued increasingly stern warnings against continuing violence meted out to demonstrators.
Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has charged massive fraud and insists he is the true winner.
However, the Guardian Council found "no major fraud or breach in the election," a spokesman, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, was quoted by Press TV as saying. "Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place."
The 12-member council has the authority to annul or validate the election. On Monday, it said in a rare acknowledgement that it found voting irregularities in 50 of 170 districts, including vote counts that exceeded the number of eligible voters. Still, it said the discrepancies, involving some 3 million votes, were not widespread enough to affect the outcome.
Iran has 46.2 million eligible voters, one-third of them under 30. The final tally was 62.6 percent of the vote for Ahmadinejad and 33.75 percent for Mousavi, a landslide victory in a race that was perceived to be much closer.
According to an analysis by the British think tank Chatham House, the huge margin went against the expectation that the record 85 percent turnout would boost Mousavi, whose campaign energized young people.
Ahmadinejad won crucial backing from Russia on Tuesday, with the Foreign Ministry in Moscow saying it respects the declared election result. In a statement on its Web site, the ministry said that disputes about the vote "should be settled in strict compliance with Iran's Constitution and law" and are "exclusively an internal matter."
Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has longtime political and economic ties with Iran where it is helping build a nuclear power plan at Bushehr. In his only trip abroad since the vote, Ahmadinejad traveled to Russia last week for a conference where he was seen prominently shaking hands with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Many Western democracies, including the U.S., have criticized the way in which the Iranian government has dealt with the widespread protests, and renewed Iranian government threats of a crackdown have heightened concerns.
In New York, U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon urged an "immediate stop to the arrests, threats and use of force," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said Monday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on Iran to recount the votes, but stopped short of alleging electoral fraud. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been outspoken in his criticism of Iran's response to the demonstrations, but said doors must remain open to continue talks on the country's nuclear program.
In contrast, China, Venezuela and some other developing countries tended to be supportive of the Iranian government, whose nuclear activities, alleged involvement in terrorism and influence in regional conflicts have alarmed the West for years.
After a huge opposition rally a week ago, protests have become smaller, but demonstrators have been more willing to confront Iranian troops.
On Monday, Tehran riot police fired tear gas and live bullets to break up about 200 protesters paying tribute to those killed in the protests, including a young women, Neda Agha Soltan, whose apparent shooting death was captured on video and circulated worldwide. Witnesses said helicopters hovered overhead.
Caspian Makan, a 37-year-old photojournalist in Tehran who identified himself as Soltan's boyfriend, said she had not been deterred by the risk of joining protests. "She only ever said that she wanted one thing, she wanted democracy and freedom for the people of Iran," he told an Associated Press reporter during a telephone call from Tehran.
Severe restrictions on reporters have made it almost impossible to independently verify reports on demonstrations, clashes and casualties. Iran has ordered reporters for international news agencies to stay in their offices, barring them from reporting on the streets.
A number of journalists have been detained since the protests began, though there have been conflicting accounts. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders put the figure of reporters detained at 34.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said 13 were still in custody, including Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari.
The Iranian government must release all journalists and halt "unreasonable and arbitrary measures that are restricting the flow of information," the committee said. "Detaining journalists for reporting news and commentary indicates the government has something to hide."

[Hound]

Obama Administration Shows Its True Colors. (http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/22/state-dept-iranian-diplomats-still-welcome-to-celebrate-july-4th-with-us/)

President Barack Obama’s administration said earlier this month it would invite Iran to US embassy barbecues for the national holiday for the first time since the two nations severed relations following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“There’s no thought to rescinding the invitations to Iranian diplomats,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

... Exit quotation: “[T]he Iranians are missing two words from Obama: ‘I condemn.’”

The Iranian gov will be busy at another weenie roast.

[Hound]

Majlis raps interior minister for violence-tinged election
Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:28:16 GMT

Font size : http://www.presstv.ir/images/icon/font_inc.gif (javascript:inc()) http://www.presstv.ir/images/icon/font_nor.gif (javascript:nor()) http://www.presstv.ir/images/icon/font_dec.gif (javascript:dec())
http://www.presstv.ir/photo/20090623/barghi20090623133921578.jpg
Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli takes the rap for violence flare-up.


A group of Iranian parliamentarians have summoned Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli to address a number of questions regarding the June 12 presidential election and its aftermath.

Some 24 lawmakers asked Mahsouli to expound on a number of controversial issues, including the recent night raids on university dormitories and private residences by unknown groups, which have sparked a storm of protests in recent days, Tabnak reported.

Mahsouli took the rap for failing to identify and arrest the perpetrators of the attacks and leaving the issues in a haze of ambiguity.

He was also scolded for what the lawmakers believed to be “a lack of crisis management during the nine consecutive days of nationwide turmoil”.

The lawmakers demanded that Mahsouli give an adequate explanation regarding the sudden crackdown on Reformists, which has so far placed a large number of political figures behind bars.

The session comes shortly after Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani expressed his deepest concern over the Interior Ministry's course of action towards the post-vote developments.

Larijani, in a rare internal criticism, held the Interior Ministry responsible for the recent attacks against civilians and university students.

“The Interior Ministry should clarify why the security forces destroyed the building and why students were injured or even killed,” said Larijani.

The Majlis speaker also recommended fresh television debates, asserting that "the voice of the people who have taken to the streets in millions should be heard.”

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=98834&sectionid=351020101

[Hound]

Washington Times journalist arrested in Iran: friend

Tue Jun 23, 2009 6:56am EDT


TEHRAN (Reuters) - A Washington Times journalist covering Iran (http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/iran)'s disputed election has been arrested on charges of "illegal activities," a friend told Reuters Tuesday.
The friend said the journalist, a Greek national, was arrested three days ago in Tehran and that his embassy had been informed.
(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Louise Ireland)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved




NOTE:No corresponding article at the Washington Times website at this time

[Hound]

Twitter:

Journalist & friend Iason Athanasiadis has been arrested in Iran. PLEASE help get the word out. Early hours are pivotal.


Iason Athanasiadis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iason_Athanasiadis#column-one), search (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iason_Athanasiadis#searchInput)
Iason Athanasiadis is a writer, photographer, political analyst, and television producer who has contributed to a range of media, including the BBC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC), al-Jazeera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Jazeera), Channel 4[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iason_Athanasiadis#cite_note-0), and specializes in the Middle East (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East).
A graduate of Oxford University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_University)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iason_Athanasiadis#cite_note-1), Iason has written for the Christian Science Monitor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science_Monitor), the Financial Times (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Times), the International Herald Tribune (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Herald_Tribune), the Sunday Telegraph (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Telegraph), The Guardian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian), the Toronto Star (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Star), the Washington Times (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Times), and Australia's leading current affairs magazine The Diplomat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diplomat).[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iason_Athanasiadis#cite_note-2)
He is a Nieman Fellow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieman_Fellow) at Harvard University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University) from 2007 to 2008.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iason_Athanasiadis#cite_note-3)

[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iason_Athanasiadis&action=edit&section=1)] Some articles by Iason Athanasiadis



World Politics Review: "Russia Steps Up Diplomacy in Renewed Bid for Middle East Influence" (http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=582)
Asia Times Online: "A troubled triangle: Iran, India and Pakistan" (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GD22Ak02.html)
Global Journalists: "Press Cards No Longer Shields" (http://www.globaljournalist.org/magazine/2004-2/no-longer-shielded.html)
Center for Research on Globalization: "Iran Deploys its War Machine" (http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2522)

[NYer]

Tiananmen in Slow Motion (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-schweber/irans-revolution-a-hard-a_b_219089.html)

The government's strategy appears to be Tiananmen in slow motion: the application of low-level but steady violence in the hopes that the protesters will eventually give up. There are some signs that the strategy is working. Protests continued Saturday night and Sunday, but the numbers are down. Tactics like using the police to bar access to public squares and forcing people to keep moving are making it much harder to mount large-scale sustained marches. Using police and basiji forces to prevent gatherings or disperse them before they grow too large - rather than trying to disperse them by force after the fact -- and the widespread arrests of perceived or potential leadership figures are strategies aimed at turning a flashpoint confrontation into a sustained low-level counterinsurgency operation, a strategy should sound familiar.

[Hound]

Repression stepped up yet again as Iran becomes world’s biggest prison for journalists

Published on 21 June 2009
In the same country





19 June 2009 - European Union’s 27 leaders urged not to recognise Ahmadinejad’s reelection (http://www.rsf.org/European-Union-s-27-leaders-urged.html)
18 June 2009 - Journalists in France demonstrate in support of their Iranian colleagues (http://www.rsf.org/Journalists-in-France-demonstrate.html)
17 June 2009 - Press freedom violations recounted in real time (http://www.rsf.org/Press-freedom-violations-recounted.html)



The Islamic Republic of Iran now ranks alongside China as the world’s biggest prison for journalists. The crackdown has been intensified yet again following Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s endorsement of the result of the 12 June presidential election and the opposition’s decision to call another demonstration on 20 June.
Iran now has a total of 33 journalists and cyber-dissidents in its jails, while journalists who could not be located at their homes have been summoned by telephone by Tehran prosecutor general Said Mortazavi.
“The force of the demonstrations in Tehran is increasing fears that more Iranian journalists could be arrested and more foreign journalists could be expelled,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The regime has been visibly shaken by its own population and does not want to let this perception endure. That is why the media have become a priority target.”
The press freedom organisation added: “The international community cannot continue to ignore the situation. It must have a clear and unanimous reaction that is proportionate to the gravity of these events. And there will never be any question of recognising the results of the 12 June election.”
Reporters Without Borders already wrote to the leaders of the European Union’s 27 member countries urging them not to recognise President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection (http://www.rsf.org/European-Union-s-27-leaders-urged.html).
It has emerged that Mohammad Ghochani, the editor of Etemad Meli (a daily owned by Mehdi Karoubi, one of the opposition presidential candidates), was arrested at 2 a.m. on 18 June. Intelligence ministry officials took him away to an unknown location, probably the security wing of Tehran’s Evin prison.
Ghochani is also the editor of the dailies Shargh and Hammihan and the weekly Saharvand Emroz. The publication of all these newspapers had already been suspended before his arrest.
Reporters Without Borders has also learned that blogger and human rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari was arrested at her Tehran home on 14 June (see her blog: http://azadiezan.blogspot.com (http://azadiezan.blogspot.com/)).
Husband-and-wife journalists Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee and Jila Baniyaghoob were arrested at midnight of 20 June by intelligence ministry officials in plain clothes who searched their home and then took them away to an as yet unknown location, probably the security wing of Tehran’s Evin prison.
A winner of the Courage in Journalism prize awarded by the International Women’s Media Foundation, Baniyaghoob edits a news website that focuses on women’s rights, Canon Zeman Irani (http://irwomen.net (http://irwomen.net/)). Her husband, Amoee, writes for various pro-reform publications.
Reporters Without Borders has also been able to confirm that Ali Mazroui, the head of the Association of Iranian Journalists, was arrested in the morning of 20 June.
The BBC confirmed in the afternoonof 21 June that its Tehran correspondent, Jon Leyne, has been ordered to leave the country within 24 hours. Officials accused him of “supporting rioters”. The authorities had previously accused Britain of “conspiring“ against Iran.
Journalists and activists held in Evin prison are being put under a lot of pressure to make filmed “confessions” acknowledging their participation in a “velvet revolution.” Reporters Without Borders has also received many allegations of torture.
The state radio and TV broadcaster is meanwhile putting out false information about the opposition candidates and the cancellation of today’s demonstration. Foreign news agency correspondents are also being pressured not to report anything about the opposition.
A few hours after Ayatollah Khamenei’s speech yesterday endorsing Ahmadinejad’s election and banning any demonstrations, several videos were posted online showing individuals on rooftops chanting “Allah Akbar!” (see this Iranian blogger’s video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZfm... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZfmYq7O0WU)).
After being blocked since 11 June, the Iranian news website Entekhab (www.entekhabnews.com/ (http://www.entekhabnews.com/)) has now been closed down on the orders of the Tehran prosecutor general.
At least 20 journalists had already been arrested since 12 June (see list below). Reporters Without Borders has not been able to trace many others. Some may have found refuge but others may now be with those of their colleagues who had already been in jail for some time. Even before the election, Iran was ranked as the Middle East’s biggest prison for journalists and cyber-dissidents.
Twenty-three journalists have been arrested in the week since the presidential election results :


VISIT WEBSITE FOR LIST

http://www.rsf.org/spip.php?page=article&id_article=33474

[NYer]

Dispatches From the Iranian Cyberfront. (http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1096)

I’ve spent the last seventeen hours living inside a cyberpunk novel. A libertarian cyberpunk novel. It’s been a weird and awesome experience.

Within an hour after I received a plea for help from Iran, a regular commenter on this blog recruited me into a hacker network that has been forming to support the democratic Iranian revolutionaries by providing them with proxy servers, Tor anonymizers, and any other technologies needed
for them to communicate over channels the Iranian regime cannot censor or control.

I know this network has contacts on the ground among the revolutionaries. I don’t know who they
are, and don’t want to know. Most of the other network members are just names on an IRC channel. But we’re putting together a stealth network at amazing speed. Nothing matters as much as the courage and determination of the Iranians on the ground, but we aim to make a difference in our own way and we have the tools to do it.

This disorganization has only been forming for a very short time. It doesn’t really have leaders. It didn’t have even a name when I joined it, though I’ve given it one that looks like it might stick. Until and unless somebody else steps up to the job, I’m our public contact.

This role carries a non-zero risk that I will be targeted for assassination, or interrogation followed by execution, by agents of the Iranian regime - we’ve had more than one death threat against core members already. I take this risk with eyes open because we need somebody to be public, and I know I’ve already been a jihadi target since 2006; at least I can keep some other poor bastard out of the line of fire. I now expect to remain continuously armed for the duration of the Iranian crisis.

Rostam, this is how I’m answering your plea. We’ll do what we can for your people. For freedom.

[NYer]

Don't worry. It's just one bullet and it's over. (http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2009/06/dont-worry-its-just-one-bullet-and-its.html)

HT: Instapundit

These maniacs in Iran might think they can hide what they've done from their own people, yet now the entire world knows what evil they're capable of.

Neda Agha-Soltan's memory will live a lot longer than the 26 years she had on earth, senselessly murdered in broad daylight by subhuman thugs.

Sure, they'll try to silence the people, but I'm optimistic they're too late.

[Hound]

UK expels two Iranian diplomats




The UK is to expel two Iranian diplomats in a tit-for-tat action after Tehran ordered two UK diplomats to leave the country.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the move in the House of Commons.
He said it was in response to Iran ordering two UK diplomats to leave the country over allegations that were "absolutely without foundation".

[Hound]

Arrested Iranians face terrifying ordeal

Most of the hundreds of protesters arrested in Iran have disappeared into a tortuous system of detention



Comments (59) (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/23/iran-protesters-arrested?commentpage=1)
Buzz up! (http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?publisherurn=the_guardian665&targetUrl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/23/iran-protesters-arrested&summary=%3Cstrong%3EAngus+McDowall%3A+%3C%2Fstrong %3EMost+of+the+hundreds+of+protesters+arrested+in+ Iran+have+disappeared+into+a+tortuous+system+of+de tention&headline=Arrested%20Iranians%20face%20terrifying%2 0ordeal%20%7C%20Angus%20McDowall%20%7CComment%20is %20free%20%7Cguardian.co.uk)
Digg it (http://digg.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fcomme ntisfree%2F2009%2Fjun%2F23%2Firan-protesters-arrested&title=Arrested+Iranians+face+terrifying+ordeal+%7C +Angus+McDowall)




http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/6/23/1245747228600/angus.jpg (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/angus-mcdowall)


Angus McDowall (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/angus-mcdowall)
guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/), Tuesday 23 June 2009 11.30 BST
Article history (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/23/iran-protesters-arrested#history-byline)


When I asked an Iranian friend if he planned to go out and protest (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/15/iran-opposition-rally-banned-mousavi) this week, he said he was afraid. "It isn't the idea of getting beaten up that's the problem," he said. "I'm much more scared of being arrested."
For the hundreds – or even thousands – of people seized on the streets (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv-bIlCf8FA) and in their homes over the past 10 days, the real ordeal is only just beginning. A few have already been paraded on Iranian television, implausibly claiming to be common thugs, terrorists or agents in the pay of foreign governments.
But most have simply disappeared into the Islamic republic's tortuous system of detention. Prisoners can be held by different bodies – the judiciary, the intelligence ministry, the police or even the revolutionary guards – and might wait weeks before seeing a judge.
After student protests in 1999 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3879535.stm) – until last week the most significant anti-regime demonstrations since the revolution – more than a thousand people were thrown into prison. Some lingered there for years. Others died inside.
It is clear from the beatings meted out when protesters were arrested this week that their detention is unlikely to be comfortable. But the best information on how they might be treated comes from former guests of the regime at the main Tehran prisons.
When Kianoosh Sanjari (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kianush_Sanjari) was seized by plainclothes revolutionary guardsmen after a protest in 2002, he was beaten up in the back of the car on his way to the police station and his front tooth was broken. His thumbs were tied behind his back, he was blindfolded, his head was shaved (a sign of shame) and, after days in solitary confinement, he was taken before a revolutionary court.
He was transferred to Prison 59, a military security facility at a Revolutionary Guards barracks in Tehran. For three months he was held alone in a cell too small to allow him to stretch out. Wardens mocked him for the amount of weight – about 20kg – he lost.
Sanjari, who is now seeking asylum in the US, was forced to make televised confessions, which were never broadcast but reserved for future use. The tactic is one that many former prisoners have complained of. When he was released, he was let out of a patrol car, the blindfold still over his eyes, in the centre of Tehran. It took him some time to realise where he was.
During a later spell in Evin, the most notorious of Iran's political prisons, he was repeatedly beaten by interrogators. He was held in section 240, one of the main political cell blocks. "The old guy who took me from cell to cell kept hitting me in the mouth," Sanjari said. "He was a really mean old guy. He took me to a solitary cell where I spent 70 days. When I was interrogated afterwards, I was blindfolded and slapped in the face over and over again."
Many Tehranis are all too familiar with the drab collection of concrete buildings huddled around the side of the mountain on the northwestern outskirts of Tehran. Those who have not actually been held at the regime's pleasure have waited at the forbidding gates for news of a loved one stuck inside.
It was while taking photographs outside the gates of Evin, in 2003, that the Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi (http://www.zibakazemi.org/home.html) was arrested. In the days she was held and interrogated there, she was beaten over the head, suffered a haemorrhage and died.
Even for those who had not infringed the rules, an arrest could be sudden and terrifying. Laila, a young Iranian woman who grew up in the west, was arrested with three friends when they accidentally took a photograph of a courthouse on a busy Tehran street. Police ran over and bundled them into the court where they were ordered to kneel on the ground facing a wall. The friends were split up, blindfolded and led along winding corridors and steep flights of stairs before being thrust into bare rooms.
Laila was questioned for 12 hours non-stop during the first night of arrest – the interrogators taking shifts and repeating the same questions over and over. The following day they were put into a minivan and made to sit on the floor, so they could not see out of the windows.
It was only much later, when they came through a metal gate, that they realised where they were. "We immediately knew we were in Evin," said Laila, who had visited her father there years earlier when he was a political prisoner. "At first we were too shocked to be frightened but then we realised how bad things were going to be."
They were given regulation prison chadors, their possessions were thrown into bin bags and they were marched to a dingy corridor where they were made to sit on blankets at intervals of six or seven yards. They were not permitted to raise their heads or speak – and stayed in this uncomfortable position, occasionally weeping, for about 18 hours.
Worst of all were the constant mind games. One guard would tell Laila that their case had been resolved and they would soon be freed. Long hours later, another would lean in close and say: "This is just the beginning. You're going to go deeper and deeper into this prison and it will be very hard to get out."
As a reporter in Iran (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/12/mondaymediasection.pressandpublishing1), I was held for a few days by the "parallel" security forces – the intelligence branch of the revolutionary guards – after straying into the wrong area of countryside while on holiday. Compared to the physical trials endured by Iranian nationals, my own experience bordered on the comfortable. But I can vouch for the unsettling effect of interrogators' mind games. After a few hours of questioning, my brain felt like it had turned to spaghetti. For the hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of people who have been swept into prisons over the past 10 days, the real trauma is only just beginning.

[Hound]

HOW THE WRONG NEDA PHOTO BECAME IRAN'S FACE OF FREEDOM (http://wipoun.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-wrong-neda-photo-became-irans-face.html)

On the evening of June 21, 2009, I, Dr. Amy L. Beam, was watching the unfolding events of Iran simultaneously at my computer and on Al Jazeera and CNN TV. I am in Europe. The TV newscasters kept repeating that this had become a Twitter Revolution in Iran. I've never before used Twitter to search for news, but this prompted me to. I logged onto twitter.com and searched for "Iran demonstrations". I saw the top search term was #iranelections so I searched for this and kept updating my search every minute. Twitters were pouring.


This is how I saw the Twitter posting that had a link to the youtube video of Neda being shot in Iran. It had just been uploaded. About 120 people had viewed it within several minutes. I was curious to know the dead woman's name so I emailed the person who uploaded the video. He thought the name was Neda Soltani. He explained that this video had been sent to him, outside of Iran, by the doctor who had been at Neda's side as she bled to death. The doctor's friend shot the video with his cell phone. The doctor also sent an explanatory note.


So I went immediately to Facebook and searched for Neda Soltani. A number of Neda profiles came up along with photos. Some had last names similar to Soltani. I decided I would try to eliminate the Neda's who were still alive, so I wrote to Neda Soltani, the beautiful Iranian woman wearing a patterned headscarf whose photo has become famous:






"Dear Neda,
I am trying to identify the Neda Soltani shot to death in Tehran June 20. I can only do this by process of elimination. Please reply if you get this. Thank you.
Amy"


She replied about an hour later:





"My Dearest Amy,

First, I should like to thank you for your compassion, and care.
It feels so good to know people around the world care for us!


I am not the one you are looking for, but I want you to know I am grateful.


Pray for the safety of my people.


Best,
Neda Soltani"



She and I then became "friends" on Facebook so we could post messages to one another. I also became friends with Hamed R. who is the man who uploaded the video file of the Neda who was shot to death.

The LIVING Neda Soltani (woman in the patterned headscarf) decided to do some research herself. She found a website written in Farsi about the Neda who was killed and she translated it from Farsi to English. She then posted this on my Facebook wall. And HERE'S WHERE THE MISTAKE WITH THE PHOTO HAPPENED:


For those of you familiar with Facebook, you know that whenever someone posts a message on your wall, the thumbnail profile photo and the name of the person doing the posting appears above his or her comment. So, of course, the name and photo of the living Neda Soltani appeared above the English and Farsi information about Neda Agha-Soltan, the woman who was killed.


Hamed R. and others who were viewed this posting on my Facebook wall by the living Neda Soltani made the unintentional mistake of thinking the photo of the person who posted the Farsi-English translation was the photo of the woman who was killed. So the photo of Neda wearing the patterned headscarf was copied and reposted EVERYWHERE within minutes and hours.


By the time I woke up June 22, the wrong photo of the living Neda Soltani was being displayed on TV, blogs, youtube videos, placards and banners around the world. Neda Soltani emailed me via Facebook begging for help to correct the mistake. I have spent hours posting corrections and asking people to remove her photo. Most people do; some people seem hell-bent on ignoring the truth and they insist on spreading this photo as the symbol of the Neda who was killed.


Some people changed their own Facebook profile photo to that of the woman in the headscarf and changed their name to Neda Soltani. One young man explained he did it three days after Neda's death to honor her memory. I am sure people meant no disrespect; they only wanted to honor her. When informed of the mistaken photo they removed it. However, as fast as one false "Neda Soltani" Facebook page is removed or corrected, another one appears.


The real, living Neda Soltani has removed her photo from her Facebook. However, now when you search for Neda Soltani on Facebook a whole list of profiles comes up. Thus, the REAL Neda Soltani, who is very much alive and very distressed, can no longer use her Facebook which was pretty much her main form of communication. If all these people who changed their Facebook names to Neda Soltani only knew what a problem they have caused for her, I feel sure they would remove the name. I know they only mean to honor the Neda who was killed.


Now the dilemma arises of knowing who is the real living Neda Soltani and do I really speak for her. I have screen shots of my Facebook private message postings between us but wish to keep them private. I communicate with her by private email now.


On June 23, Neda Soltani again emailed me the following. I have thought hard as to whether to share her private email, but in order to make people understand the gravity of this mistaken identity with her photo and her request to the world to correct the mistake, here is her email to me. I have removed some of the content to protect her privacy:




Dear Amy,
I'm having a hard time accessing facebook.
and to tell you the truth, I'm very scared!!!!
All around the world they are talking about my photo, which has turned into The symbol of liberty, rebellion, etc.
i'm in danger!
i don't know what to do!
thanks for ur caring compassion
i wish i could see u, and embrace u...
take care
neda

http://wipoun.blogspot.com/

[NYer]

Iranian Women's Movement: (http://www.sign4change.info/english/spip.php?article537)

This statement was circulated among women’s rights activists in the current conditions of a near complete communication shut-down. Therefore, many women’s rights activists [interested in signing] might not have yet seen this statement at this point. Zhila Bani-Yaghoub and her spouse, Bahman Amouiee, are among the undersigned but have since been arrested and are currently among the detainees.

Stop the Repression of Iran’s Women and Men

Release All Detainees

Although the non-democratic tenth presidential election was one of the most promising elections for bringing about peaceful change, what ensued afterward gave rise to widespread protests by the public.

Alongside civil and political rights activists, labor activists, students, journalists, and ethnic rights activists, a large spectrum of women’s rights activists from several campaigns and tendencies also participated in the election in order to say "no" to a government with a discriminatory orientation and to demand an end to gender discrimination.

A hope for change brought millions of women and men to ballot boxes, but the official results transformed this hope into despair and led to widespread demonstrations by the population. The response of the establishment to these protests has been blatant violence, beating, bloodying, injuring, and killing innocent citizens, and the arrest of human rights lawyers and activists, civil and political activists, journalists, students and ethnic rights activists.

Repressive forces, including those who give and those who carry out the orders, once again assaulted universities and dormitories in bloody fashion calling to the minds of all Iranians tired of violence the bitter memories of the events of July 9th 1999 in [Tehran] University dorms. Reports indicate that a significant number of female and male students have been killed, injured, arrested, or are missing across several Iranian cities.

In addition, the blocking of phone and internet communication channels has minimized access to information and and has distressed and disrupted the public psyche. Through complete control of the media, especially all radio and television broadcasting, the establishment is whipping up anger in the population by portraying those who protest and criticize its totalitarian behavior as hooligans and rioters. Meanwhile, without paying any heed to their rights, the state is subjecting people to various forms of brutal violence.

We, the undersigned activists of the women’s rights movement, condemn the violence and humiliation that has continued to be perpetrated against Iranian women and men in recent years and which is aimed at repressing them. We emphasize our continued commitment to achieving the demands of the women’s rights movement, which has had a profound role in educating the public and in civil struggles in recent years, and we express our solidarity with those who protest the results of this election. We demand that those arrested in recent days be released without condition and we call for securing and protecting civil and political freedoms.

[Hound]

Recent tweets UNCONFIRMED

Tehran stadium turned into Basij base and torture camp.

RT Women, plz do not listen 2 calls 2 take off Hijab on Thursday. Keep 2 election, we need one message only.

AlArabiya TV reported that a high-ranking source in Qom cnfrm that Rafsanjani has enough support to remove Khamenei

PLZ RETWEET - Iranian women get ready to remove all hijab or head cover on Thursday


Iranian TV airs protesters confessions blaming foreign govts. Welcome to 1984 land

[NYer]

Iran charges family 'Bullet Fee.' (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124571865270639351.html)

At the crack of dawn, his father began searching at police stations, then hospitals and then the morgue.

Upon learning of his son's death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a "bullet fee"—a fee for the bullet used by security forces—before taking the body back, relatives said.

Mr. Alipour told officials that his entire possessions wouldn't amount to $3,000, arguing they should waive the fee because he is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. According to relatives, morgue officials finally agreed, but demanded that the family do no funeral or burial in Tehran. Kaveh Alipour's body was quietly transported to the city of Rasht, where there is family.

At today's presser, Major Garrett asked President Obama 'What took you so long?'

[NYer]

No Meddling? (http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/70942)

CNN Interview with a young Iranian Protester:

Mohammad: Yes. Let me tell you something. For about three decades our nation has been humiliated and insulted by this regime. Now Iranians are united again one more time after 1979 Revolution. We are a peaceful nation. We don’t hate anybody. We want to be an active member of the international community. We don’t want to be isolated… We don’t deny the Holocaust. We do accept Israel’s rights. And actually, we want — we want severe reform on this structure. This structure is not going to be tolerated by the majority of Iranians. We need severe reform, as much as possible.

Roberts: Interesting perspective this morning from Mohammad, a student demonstrator there in Tehran.

Mohammad: Excuse me, sir. I have a message for the international community. Would you please let me tell it?

Roberts: Yes, go ahead.

Mohammad: Americans, European Union, international community, this government is not definitely — is definitely not elected by the majority of Iranians. So it’s illegal. Do not recognize it. Stop trading with them. Impose much more sanctions against them. My message…to the international community, especially I’m addressing President Obama directly – how can a government that doesn’t recognize its people’s rights and represses them brutally and mercilessly have nuclear activities? This government is a huge threat to global peace. Will a wise man give a sharp dagger to an insane person? We need your help international community. Don’t leave us alone.

Chetry: Mohammad, what do you think the international community should do besides sanctions?

Mohammad: Actually, this regime is really dependent on importing gasoline. More than 85% of Iran’s gasoline is imported from foreign countries. I think international communities must sanction exporting gasoline to Iran and that might shut down the government.

Now had Mohammad actually begged for universal government healthcare, perhaps President Obama might have responded.

[NYer]

Twitter -

Mousavi has stated 'If I am arrested or killed - strike until the Gov falls' - #Iranelection

[NYer]

Clerics Join Protests. (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/23/iran.protest.faces/index.html?eref=rss_topstories)

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/meast/06/23/iran.protest.faces/art.iran.clerics.gooya.jpg

In a blatant act of defiance, a group of Mullahs took to the streets of Tehran, to protest election results that returned incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

[Atlas]

Twitter -

Mousavi has stated 'If I am arrested or killed - strike until the Gov falls' - #Iranelection

A strike is the only way they're going to win this, unless the army throws in with the protestors

[NYer]

Dubbed "The New Nostradamus," Bruce Bueno De Mesquita's predicts Iran's future. (http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/06/bruce-bueno-de-mesquita-predictions-on.html)

From Feb. 2009 -

Predictions on Iran

1. Iranian government will tone down its nuclear ambitions to the point where it will devleop weapons-grade nuclear material only for research purposes

2. Real power rests not with the mullahs or even with the Supreme Leader, but with what he calls the “moneyed interests” of Iranian society: “the banker, the oil people, the bazaris”. Currently quiet and moderate mullahs will become more vocal.

3. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad influence will decline and has been in decline.

[docj227]

No Meddling? (http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/70942)

CNN Interview with a young Iranian Protester:

Mohammad: Yes. Let me tell you something. For about three decades our nation has been humiliated and insulted by this regime. Now Iranians are united again one more time after 1979 Revolution. We are a peaceful nation. We don’t hate anybody. We want to be an active member of the international community. We don’t want to be isolated… We don’t deny the Holocaust. We do accept Israel’s rights. And actually, we want — we want severe reform on this structure. This structure is not going to be tolerated by the majority of Iranians. We need severe reform, as much as possible.

Roberts: Interesting perspective this morning from Mohammad, a student demonstrator there in Tehran.

Mohammad: Excuse me, sir. I have a message for the international community. Would you please let me tell it?

Roberts: Yes, go ahead.

Mohammad: Americans, European Union, international community, this government is not definitely — is definitely not elected by the majority of Iranians. So it’s illegal. Do not recognize it. Stop trading with them. Impose much more sanctions against them. My message…to the international community, especially I’m addressing President Obama directly – how can a government that doesn’t recognize its people’s rights and represses them brutally and mercilessly have nuclear activities? This government is a huge threat to global peace. Will a wise man give a sharp dagger to an insane person? We need your help international community. Don’t leave us alone.

Chetry: Mohammad, what do you think the international community should do besides sanctions?

Mohammad: Actually, this regime is really dependent on importing gasoline. More than 85% of Iran’s gasoline is imported from foreign countries. I think international communities must sanction exporting gasoline to Iran and that might shut down the government.

Now had Mohammad actually begged for universal government healthcare, perhaps President Obama might have responded.
i believe he speaks for the majority of young people in iran. they are the best hope for peace in the middle east. they are easily the most educated and most progressive group in the area, and that includes israelis.

[Hound]

UNCONFIRMED Tweet

Mousavi campaign office raided, declared "HQ for Psychological War Against the Country's Security"

[Hound]

Iran minister says CIA funding "rioters": report

Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:22am EDT

http://m1.2mdn.net/viewad/817-grey.gif (http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v8/3856/0/0/%2a/m;44306;0-0;0;38350672;1627-170/40;0/0/0;;%7Eokv=;type=featured_broker;sz=170x40;articleI D=USTRE55N27920090624;%7Eaopt=2/1/bc/1;%7Esscs=%3f) http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/reuters.com.dart/news/globalcoverage/GCA-Iran;type=featured_broker;sz=170x40;articleID=USTR E55N27920090624;ord=1150? (http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/reuters.com.dart/news/globalcoverage/GCA-Iran;type=featured_broker;sz=170x40;articleID=USTR E55N27920090624;ord=1150?)










TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran (http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/iran)'s interior minister on Wednesday accused U.S. spy agency the CIA of helping to fund "rioters," stepping up accusations of Western involvement in street unrest following the country's disputed election.
"Britain, America and the Zionist regime (Israel) were behind the recent unrest in Tehran," Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars News Agency.
"Many of the rioters were in contact with America, CIA and the MKO and are being fed by their financial resources," he said. The MKO (Mujahideen Khalq Organization) is an exiled Iran (http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/iran)ian opposition group.
(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian and Hossein Jaseb; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Louise Ireland)

[NYer]

US Contacted Ayatollah Before Election. (http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/24/us-contacted-irans-ayatollah-before-election/?feat=article_top10_read)

Prior to this month's disputed presidential election in Iran, the Obama administration sent a letter to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling for an improvement in relations, according to interviews and the leader himself.

Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed the letter toward the end of a lengthy sermon last week, in which he accused the United States of fomenting protests in his country in the aftermath of the disputed June 12 presidential election.

[NYer]

Crackdown in Baharestan Square. (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/crackdown-in-baharestan-square-3-people.html)

Update: Several Deaths ...

Saeed Valadbaygiat is liveblogging the protests from Baharestan Square in Tehran at Revolutionary Road .
This is an amazing report!

>In Baharestan Square the Police are shooting. A girl is shot and the police are not allowing to let the people help them.

>Cell network down in Baharestan & nearby area

>Conflict still in Baharestan Sq they even people who talk with their cellphone

>The girl who was shot was taken to a private clinic, not known yet of her well being...alive or not?

>People gathered in Baharestan but police & plain cloths don't let the core of the rally to form

>All shops and Passages are closed at Baharestan SQ, Gunshot being heard from Jomhori St

> Gunshot being heard at Baharestan Square.

>About 5,000 Protesters gatherd at Sadeghieh Sq, Bassij and Hezbollah attcking them

>Hezbollah Attcked to some people trying to gather at Tajrish Square

>Army Helycopters flying over Enghelab Sq. Army Vans moving toward Azadi St with heavy Machine Guns.

>Hezbollah Attcked to some people trying to gather at Tajrish Sq.

>Protesters gatherd at Sepah Sq

>More than 3 people have been shot in Baharestan's conflict, The shooting is still continues and conflicts increasing!!!!

[Hound]

Recent Tweeting...Unconfirmed

RT Iran They are throwing poeple off bridges & beating them to die according to an eyewitness who was going to baharestan sq for protesting

RT Iran they pull away the dead into trucks - like factory - no human can do this - we beg Allah for save us -

T Iran Lalezar Sq is same as Baharestan - unbelevable - ppls murdered everywhere

Trying get confirmation, Mousavi and Karoubi arrested. If so we must call national strike from Thursday.

RT Iran Brutal attack & massacre happened at Baharestan Sq. 2day..clear that entire nation of Iran held hostage by terrorists!

RT Iran Can confirm rpts that today was one of the bloodiest days, basij were RUTHLESS & just beat or killed anything in sight

CNN Update:500 security forces were hiding in mosque + came out to attack ppl in square

"In Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping ppl like meat - blood everywhere - like butcher . . .

RT The denier of the holocaust is causing one of his own? Ironic & sad. #iranelection (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23iranelection) Call your Govt and insist the UN get involved NOW RT

[Hound]

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Eyewitness Account of the Massacre at Baharestan Square, Iran. (http://liberal4lifeblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/eyewitness-account-of-massacre-at.html)

This is a rush transcript done by me, some of the words I don't know how to spell so I put the (sp?) tag after them. Video below.

Ivan: Can you tell us what you saw today when you tried to go to Baharestan Square?

Caller: Yes, it was uh, 5:30, I was going uh towards uh Baharestan with my friends, and uh this was everyone not only just supporters of one candidate the other, eh everyone all of my friends we were going to Baharestan to express our opposition to these killings these days and demanding freedom, uh, but uh the black uh clad police, they stop everyone at sadi(sp?) they let uh, they en, they um uh emptied the busses, uh, that were taking people there and let the private cars go on and uh we went on until faredosee(sp?) and then all of a sudden some 500 people with clubs and woods they uh came out of hidayan(sp?) mosque and they pulled into the streets and they uh started beating everyone and they they uh, they tried to beat everyone on sadi(sp?) bridge and um throwing them off of the bridge and...

Ivan: This is a pedestrian bridge?

Caller: Yes, a pedestrian bridge and everyone also on the sidewalks they beat a woman so savagely that uh, she was a drenched in blood. her husband who was watching the scene he just fainted and um I also saw people shooting uh, i mean the the security forces shooting on people on lawlezar(sp?) and uh at first people were brave that booed the security forces but they were beating people like Hell, this was a massacre. They were trying to beat people so that they would die. They were cursing, saying very bad words to everyone. they were beating old men and this was a ... this was exactly a massacre. You should stop this! You should stop this! You should help the people of Iran who demand freedom!

Ivan: Um, uh,

Caller: You should help us!

Ivan: I uh ... how many of you were there in this terrible situation?

Caller: There were thousands of people on, on the street but it was me and 10 of my friends.

Ivan: And, and you said they the security forces were shooting at the people, did you see anybody injured by gunfire?

Caller: No, as I explained earlier, I didn't see mysel, I heard the shooting and my friends and I we just scat-tered uh, we heard the shooting near lalizar(sp?) and we were near there and we just ran away. I didn't see again what happened, I'm sure people are dead there but i couldn't see, I couldn't catch the film or anything.

Ivan: Um, my dear this is this is really terrifying to hear and we're not only getting this report from you, we're got a report from another source in Tehran, describing the situation today being terrible. Uh saying people were being shot like animals, they beat the people like animals are you safe right now?

Caller: Yes, exactly, exactly, exactly this is what, what's happening they beat people so bad. You know in, in the previous days they are killing students with axe you know they, they put the axe through the heart of young men and it's so, em ... devastating! I don't know how to describe it I can't find the words, but this is horrific! This is genocide! This is a massacre! This is HITLER! And you should, you people should stop it! I mean it's, long time we have been exposed to this and nobody takes action! It's time to act!

Ivan: Um, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Um, I want to make sure that that you don't get in to trouble for talking to us this way, and, and thank you for your bravery in sharing this with you, I know this situation is uh, is terrifying on the streets of Tehran today.

Caller: Ok, thank you.

Ivan: Ok, stay with us, I'm gonna pass back to Tony now. Uh, a harrowing account from a young woman, ah, telling us about what's going on ah, just a few hours ago in downtown Tehran. Tony?
Tony: Look um, Ivan appreciate it and uh, ah I know you're still talking to sources. Uh, we need to take a, a deep breath and consider what we've heard here, let's do that, Let's take a break, we're back with more CNN newsroom in just a moment.

[NYer]

Liz Cheney: (http://www.therightscoop.com/video-liz-cheney-obama-is-putting-america-on-the-wrong-side-of-history-hannity-june-23-2009/) “President Obama said that we’re going to offer unconditional talks if you unclench your fist and in response they’re shooting young women in the streets in Tehran.”

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/clintonsucks1/0bamafail.jpg

[NYer]

A reader wrote to tell us earlier that CNN had conducted a phone interview with a woman who said she had witnessed today’s events in Tehran. This telephone interview does not appear to be posted on CNN’s Web site yet, but another reader points out that some of the audio of the woman’s account has been posted on YouTube.

Using this video and a rough transcription of some of the interview made by The Guardian, we have been able to piece together what the woman told Ivan Watson of CNN:

I was going towards Baharestan with my friend. This was everyone, not just supporters of one candidate or another. All of my friends, they were going to Baharestan to express our opposition to these killings and demanding freedom. The black-clad police stopped everyone. They emptied the buses that were taking people there and let the private cars go on. We went on until Ferdowsi then all of a sudden some 500 people with clubs came out of [undecipherable] mosque and they started beating everyone.

They tried to beat everyone on Saadi bridge and throwing them off of the bridge…. And everyone also on the sidewalks. They beat a woman so savagely that she was drenched in blood and her husband, who was watching the scene, he just fainted. I also saw people shooting, I mean the security forces shooting on people, on Lalezar. Of course were afraid….

They were beating people like hell. It was a massacre. They were trying to beat people so they would die. They were cursing — saying very bad words to everyone. They were beating old men. And this was exactly a massacre. You should stop this. You should stop this. You should help the people of Iran who demand freedom. You should help us.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/

[Hound]

Neda Soltan's family 'forced out of home' by Iranian authorities

Parents of young woman shot dead near protests are banned from mourning and funeral is cancelled, neighbours say
<LI class="third-party-tool no-comments ">Buzz up! (http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?publisherurn=the_guardian665&targetUrl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/24/neda-soltan-iran-family-forced-out&summary=Parents+of+young+woman+shot+dead+near+prot ests+are+banned+from+mourning+and+funeral+is+cance lled%2C+neighbours+say&headline=Neda Soltan family 'forced out of home' by Iranian authorities |World news |guardian.co.uk)
Digg it (http://digg.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld %2F2009%2Fjun%2F24%2Fneda-soltan-iran-family-forced-out&title=Neda+Soltan+family+%27forced+out+of+home%27+ by+Iranian+authorities)


A correspondent in Tehran
guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/), Wednesday 24 June 2009 18.00 BST
Article history (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/24/neda-soltan-iran-family-forced-out#history-byline)
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2009/6/24/1245842838761/Nedas-house-001.jpg The home of Neda Agha Soltan


The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of Neda Agha Soltan out of their Tehran home after shocking images of her death were circulated around the world.
Neighbours said that her family no longer lives in the four-floor apartment building on Meshkini Street, in eastern Tehran, having been forced to move since she was killed. The police did not hand the body back to her family, her funeral was cancelled, she was buried without letting her family know and the government banned mourning ceremonies at mosques, the neighbours said.
"We just know that they [the family] were forced to leave their flat," a neighbour said. The Guardian was unable to contact the family directly to confirm if they had been forced to leave.
The government is also accusing protesters of killing Soltan, describing her as a martyr of the Basij militia. Javan, a pro-government newspaper, has gone so far as to blame the recently expelled BBC correspondent, Jon Leyne, of hiring "thugs" to shoot her so he could make a documentary film.
Soltan was shot dead on Saturday evening near the scene of clashes between pro-government militias and demonstrators, turning her into a symbol of the Iranian protest movement (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/23/neda-iran-obama). Barack Obama spoke of the "searing image" of Soltan's dying moments at his press conference yesterday.
Amid scenes of grief in the Soltan household with her father and mother screaming, neighbours not only from their building but from others in the area streamed out to protest (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/protest) at her death. But the police moved in quickly to quell any public displays of grief. They arrived as soon as they found out that a friend of Soltan had come to the family flat.
In accordance with Persian tradition, the family had put up a mourning announcement and attached a black banner to the building.
But the police took them down, refusing to allow the family to show any signs of mourning. The next day they were ordered to move out. Since then, neighbours have received suspicious calls warning them not to discuss her death with anyone and not to make any protest.
A tearful middle-aged woman who was an immediate neighbour said her family had not slept for days because of the oppressive presence of the Basij militia, out in force in the area harassing people since Soltan's death.
The area in front of Soltan's house was empty today. There was no sign of black cloths, banners or mourning. Secret police patrolled the street.
"We are trembling," one neighbour said. "We are still afraid. We haven't had a peaceful time in the last days, let alone her family. Nobody was allowed to console her family, they were alone, they were under arrest and their daughter was just killed. I can't imagine how painful it was for them. Her friends came to console her family but the police didn't let them in and forced them to disperse and arrested some of them. Neda's family were not even given a quite moment to grieve."
Another man said many would have turned up to show their sympathy had it not been for the police.
"In Iran (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iran), when someone dies, neighbours visit the family and will not let them stay alone for weeks but Neda's family was forced to be alone, otherwise the whole of Iran would gather here," he said. "The government is terrible, they are even accusing pro-Mousavi people of killing Neda and have just written in their websites that Neda is a Basiji (government militia) martyr. That's ridiculous – if that's true why don't they let her family hold any funeral or ceremonies? Since the election, you are not able to trust one word from the government." A shopkeeper said he had often met Soltan, who used to come to his store.
"She was a kind, innocent girl. She treated me well and I appreciated her behaviour. I was surprised when I found out that she was killed by the riot police. I knew she was a student as she mentioned that she was going to university. She always had a nice peaceful smile and now she has been sacrificed for the government's vote-rigging in the presidential election."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/24/neda-soltan-iran-family-forced-out

[NYer]

No Hot Dogs For You! (http://twitter.com/MajoratWH)

Gibbs: hot dog diplomacy ended. All 4th of July invites to Iranians rescinded.

HT: Allahpundit

[Casey]

Twitter

2:17 PM CST June 24,2009

@Nokia: you sold the tech to spy. Post the know-how to get around it NOW. U have blood on ur hands. #iranelection (http://search.twitter.com/search?lang=en&max_id=2314792034&page=1&q=&#37;23IranElection) #neda RT plz
half a minute ago from HootSuite

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

RT confirmed: NON-IRANIAN MILITANTS KILLING IRANIANS! Hezbollah and Hamas from Lebanon. Fight back! They are not ur brothers! #iranelection
less than 20 seconds ago from web &#183; Reply &#183; View Tweet

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

Thursday's rally will be @ 4:30pm from Vali-asr intersection to Enghelab sq. #iranelection

half a minute ago from web &#183; Reply &#183; View Tweet

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

Everyone with friends in Tehran, Dutch embassy will open doors to protesters seeking refuge. Farminieh, Sonbol street #7. #iranelection

5 minutes ago from web &#183; Reply &#183; View Tweet

[NYer]

Moussavi's Dilemma: Fight or Fold. (http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/06/23/sea-change/)

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c60bf53ef01157152943e970b-500wi

The Financial Times described the dilemma of Mir-Hossein Moussavi, who has been forced by events to either lead from the front or be left behind. It is the dilemma of every leader who seeks to “ride the tiger”. The Chinese phrase “Ch’i ‘hu nan hsia pei” means that “he who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount”, which means that members of the elite who seek to ride a popular wave are often obliged to go where it takes them.

The genie, once released, is not easily coaxed back into the bottle.

[NYer]

Iranian Banks moving money out of Iran. (http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rbcdaily.ru%2F&sl=ru&tl=en&history_state0=)

Google translation from Russian ...

[Hound]

Anonymous Voice Needs Help!!!!!!!!!





Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Persiankiwi is in Trouble (http://aricmayer.blogspot.com/2009/06/turning-point-in-green-revolution.html)

For those who have been following the twitter streams coming out of Iran, persiankiwi (http://twitter.com/persiankiwi) has been one of the lead sources of information since the election. So far his/her/their twitter stream has been infused with excitement, potential and hidden dangers, as if these were furtive dispatches in a Matrix like underground resistance, tapping in and out of the web to upload small bits and direct traffic towards some useful end. The violence was in the background and the message was of movement and hope.

And now this today. The blunt end of trauma. The last few hours in chronological order:


just in from Baharestan Sq - situation today is terrible - they beat the ppls like animals -

I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads - blood everywhere - pepper gas like war -

they were waiting for us - they all have guns and riot uniforms - it was like a mouse trap - ppl being shot like animals

saw 7/8 militia beating one woman with baton on ground - she had no defense nothing - #Iranelection sure that she is dead

so many ppl arrested - young & old - they take ppl away -

ppl run into alleys and militia standing there waiting - from 2 sides they attack ppl in middle of alleys

all shops was closed - nowhere to go - they follow ppls with helicopters - smoke and fire is everywhere

phone line was cut and we lost internet - #Iranelection - getting more difficult to log into net -

rumour they are tracking high use of phone lines to find internet users - must move from here now - #Iranelection

reports of street fighting in Vanak Sq, Tajrish sq, Azadi Sq - now - #Iranelection - Sea of Green - Allah Akbar

in Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping ppl like meat - blood everywhere - like butcher - Allah Akbar -

they catch ppl with mobile - so many killed today - so many injured - Allah Akbar - they take one of us

they pull away the dead into trucks - like factory - no human can do this - we beg Allah for save us -

Everybody is under arrest & cant move - Mousavi - Karroubi even rumour Khatami is in house guard

we must go - dont know when we can get internet - they take 1 of us, they will torture and get names - now we must move fast -

thank you ppls 4 supporting Sea of Green - pls remember always our martyrs - Allah Akbar - Allah Akbar - Allah Akbar

Allah - you are the creator of all and all must return to you - Allah Akbar -

The last line sounds like a bendiction. The tone has changed dramatically and if these reports are true, I fear that this a turning point in the revolution. Either the violence just caught up to persiankiwi, or the militia attacks on demonstrators have become much more dramatic. When a government decriminalizes and encourages civic violence towards members of its own population, the results can be horrifying beyond imagination. So far the protest movement tried to position itself as peaceful. But passive resistance only works in the end when the crowd has no stomach to continue the violence. Ghandi won in India because the British public could no longer stand the violence that was being perpetrated in its name. But when the ruling, armed, supporters of the government not only support the violence but actively participate in it, passive resistance will be met with more brutality as in Tibet.

There is enough evidence from reports on western platforms such as the BBC to indicate that there are preparations to step up the violence and use the five day extension granted to protest the election results to smash the resistance before Ahmadinejad is finally declared the winner.

Whatever the situation on the ground in Tehran, persiankiwi's reports ring with pathos and clarity. To emphasize just how far we are here in the West from what is happening in Tehran, take a look at PDN's photo of the day (http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/2009/06/1609).

[Hound]

June 24
We’re paid 200 thousand Tomans ($200) per day

By Jalal Keyhan Manesh
Saturday morning June 21, as Tehran was about to face a day full of unrest, the presence of the white (civilian) clothed personnel who were beating and brutalizing people with their batons and clubs become more prominent. These personnel are often often hired daily and as one of them says "the Iranians are paid 200 thousands Tomans ($200) per day and the non-Iranians several times more." The "club-wielder" who the Rooz reporter talked to said, "we stay in a dormitory but the non-Iranians stay in a hotel."
The following is this special report:
Four days after the election results were announced, the white (civilian) clothed forces speaking with unfamiliar accents and wearing anti-riot police helmets emerged on the streets. Some witnesses say, "we don’t understand what these club wielders say." Some also state that they have seen in front of themselves, Arabic speaking baton holders. Yesterday in a snack bar I had the opportunity to speak with one of these white (civilian) clothed personnel.
I was inside the shop that he entered. He asked for a cold drink while he was still holding his club. I started talking to him:
Hello brother! Don’t be tired!
— God bless you! (The anxiety is visible in his eyes. He has a thick accent.)
Where are you from?
— Torbat.
Which Torbat?
— Torbaj-e Jaam.
How old are you?
— 36 years old.
Do you have a family?
— No. A wife and children are expensive. I’m unemployed.
Unemployed? Are you not a Basiji? Don’t you receive a salary from Sepah (Revolutionary Guards)?
— No. I’m not a Basiji. I’m unemployed.
But you’re employed now, aren’t you?
— Yeah.
Why are you holding a club?
— We’re brought here to beat the Monafegh [hypocrites, referencing the MKO], so they gave us this club.
Who gave it to you?
— Haji. He said beat them so they cannot get up. They are traitors.
What do you think?
— That’s none of my business. I only get my money.
So you’re paid to beat. Do you enjoy it?
— Yeah! They pay me to beat. Wouldn’t you do it too?
How much do they pay?
— 200 Thousand Tomans. (His eyes lighten up.)
That’s a lot. What do you want to do with it?
— I’ll get a wife. When I have this much money, I can even get two. Do you know how much it will become [in 10 days]? 2 million! Though I might not go back to Torbat-e Jaam. I might stay here. Haji said there will be more demonstrations. They will keep us employed.
How many days have you been in Tehran?
— 3 days. I’m to stay 7 more days.
Where are the others, who are with you, from?
— I don’t know every one, but in our dorm there are people from Mazandaran, Arak, and Khoozestan. Also from Torbat-e Heydaieh and Khavaaf. (He’s drank his soda. Asks for a cigarette. I give him. He lights it up. We continue talking while he smokes.)
There are also Arabs. No?
— Yes. But I’ve heard they are in a hotel. It’s said that they’re from Lebanon. When we were given Tuna cans for dinner last night, the guys were saying that Arabs get better food.
Were is your dorm?
— I don’t know. I don’t know Tehran, but it’s far. We go that way to get to the dorm. (He is pointing to the east of Tehran.)
Have you been in Tehran before?
— No. It’s the first time.
Do you pray?
— Yes. But here they say when you’re in duty, you cannot even go to bathroom.
Don’t you feel bad you beat people?
— People? Haji says the chanters are Monafegh. I believe him. He is Haji. Haji doesn’t lie, you know. (At this time, a large and obese man enters the shop. Looks around angrily and sees the young man.)
He says, "what are you doing here? Who did you talk to?" The man says, "Nothing. Came here to get soda." "Go to your position. Run!"
The man takes his club and goes out. He’s had a cold drink and feels good. Will there be a job for him in seven days?


http://tehranbroadcast.com/An-Interview-with-one-of-the-white.html

[Casey]

June 24
We’re paid 200 thousand Tomans ($200) per day

By Jalal Keyhan Manesh
http://tehranbroadcast.com/An-Interview-with-one-of-the-white.html
Wow

Unbelievable.

[Casey]

Here is an Iranian forum that is trying to keep reports up to date as well organizing attacks on Iranian state websites.

http://forums.iransportspress.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21

[Hound]

MPs 'snub' Ahmadinejad poll party


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45969000/jpg/_45969171_ahmadinejad226afp.jpg Official election results said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won easily

More than 100 MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, local press reports say.
All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night but 105 did not turn up, the reports say.
A BBC correspondent says the move is a sign of the deep split at the top of Iran after disputed presidential polls.
Meanwhile, Mr Ahmadinejad has told the US not to interfere in Iranian politics, the Fars news agency reports.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif ANALYSIS
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45969000/gif/_45969470_jon_leyne.gif
Jon Leyne
BBC News
There are signs the government is beginning to regain control. Wednesday appears to have had the least protests of any day since the result was announced.
But any idea that the opposition is about to go gently is probably an illusion.
This is an argument within Iran about the future of the country. The two sides have deeply differing views on how Iran should be run, and its place in the world. And neither is about to give ground.

Iran poll row set to rage on (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8117801.stm)

"I hope you [US President Barack Obama] will avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express regret in a way that the Iranian people are informed of it," he was quoted as saying.
President Obama on Tuesday said he strongly condemned the "unjust" violence used on protesters.
Separately, key protest leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said on his website that 70 academics were arrested after meeting with him.
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.
Severe reporting restrictions imposed on foreign media in Iran mean the BBC cannot verify the reports.
Heavy security
About 50 MPs in the Iranian parliament are reformist and would not have been expected to attend Mr Ahmadinejad's party.
One of those who reportedly did not attend is Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, a high-profile figure who shares some of Mr Ahmadinejad's hardline views but has been critical of some aspects of the government's handling of the protests.
The high number of other MPs who stayed away is another indication that the disputed election has split the nation, says the BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Tehran.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif IRAN UNREST
12 June Presidential election saw incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected with 63% of vote
Main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi called for result to be annulled on grounds of electoral fraud
Street protests saw at least 17 people killed and foreign media restricted

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif

Q&A: Election aftermath (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8101621.stm)
How Iran is ruled (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8051750.stm)
Who's who in Iran (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8102406.stm)
Iran: Send your questions (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/8116508.stm)

The opposition has vowed to continue with its legal challenges over the election result, which saw Mr Ahamadinejad declared an easy winner.
Mr Mousavi, his nearest rival, alleges the election was rigged and wants a re-run.
But time and options are running out for the opposition, says our correspondent.
The Guardian Council, which supervises elections, is expected to follow the line laid down by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and say the result will stand, our correspondent adds.
Ayatollah Khamenei said again on Wednesday he would "not yield" over the election result.
Hours later, riot police were reported to have clashed again with demonstrators who defied government decrees to stop the street protests.
Witnesses said they saw police beat protesters with batons, fire tear gas and shoot into the air to disperse the crowds in central Tehran.
But Wednesday's protest was smaller than on previous days amid an increasingly heavy security presence on the streets.
Reformist election candidate Mehdi Karoubi on Thursday called off a planned ceremony to mourn those killed in the protests, saying he had been unable to get permission for it.
Diplomatic row
Iran has accused foreign governments of inflaming the protests.
President Ahmadinejad said US President Obama "made a mistake" with his comments about the crackdown in Iran.
"Our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously [former US President George W] Bush used to say," he was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying.
On Wednesday, Washington said it had rescinded invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend US 4 July celebrations held by embassies around the world.
A White House spokesman said Iranians had not replied anyway, but it was described by the BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington as the first concrete step taken by the Obama administration in protest at the crackdown in Iran.
Also on Wednesday, Tehran said it was considering downgrading ties with Britain, after expelling two diplomats the previous day for "activities incompatible with their status".
The UK later announced that two Iranian diplomats were being sent home in retaliation.

[Hound]

By Ramin Mostaghim, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
2:25 AM PDT, June 25, 2009
Reporting from Tehran -- Authorities arrested 70 university professors after a meeting with an opposition leader, a dissident website announced today as state-controlled broadcast outlets intensified a media blitz against the West.

Iran's supreme leader vowed Wednesday that he would neither reconsider vote results nor bow to public pressure over the disputed reelection of his ally, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-arrests26-2009jun26,0,5415539.story

[Hound]

How The Iranian Military Can Be Flipped: A Field Guide
As the protests in Iran continue and reports (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/22/iran.protest.stories/) of violence in the streets proliferate, we started to wonder what could make members of the Basij and other paramilitary groups abandon their ties to the regime and back the opposition. So, we called founding chair of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, Peter Ackerman, to see if he had any advice. First, he stressed just how important it is to flip the troops: "If loyalty shifts don't occur, ultimately the movement will sort of dissipate and vanish. With these shifts, the movement's progress will accelerate and it will become an even more potent force than it is currently." Then he got into specifics:
Use the clerics. "What you need to do to create the flip in the loyalty of the military is to have third parties of moral authority come to them and their families and argue for that change. That's why it is important to consider the significant split among the clerics. This dissenting faction is dispersed throughout Iran so they could be the ones to start the dialogue. They in turn would lay out an alternative version that, with all things being equal, is more attractive than the existing reality."
Make the troops see a better alternative to the present. "Whoever you're dealing with in the military, you're not going to appeal to them just by saying violence isn't nice. You have to say, ‘Look--we're trying to build something that is more attractive to you long term.' We've seen this work before in South Africa, Poland, and Chile."
Hold your fire. "If the dissidents start shooting and throwing rocks, it will be very difficult to get defections from military."
Consider what groups you're working with. "In general terms--the more elite the unit, the more their culture is insulated from everyone else in society, and thus the harder it is to flip. The Basij, as I understand it, would therefore be the last to flip, as they represent some of the more extreme and isolated elements of militarized society; they have been trained to elicit a ferocious response from their actions. The more the people come from a variety of places around the country, and the more they interact with society, the easier it is to flip. So other elements in the police and traditional military would be good candidates to flip, particularly since many of these members have business interests and the police come from all parts of society; they are not as rabid and extreme. However, all security forces are relatively young and thus they have a stake long-term of what the world will look like. Despite other factors that would likely make the Basij the hardest to flip, its organization, as I understand it, is decentralized, which presents an opportunity because you can break off pieces."
Diminish personal risk and instill a group mentality. "There need to be tactics so that the Basij or the police or the military can act in a disloyal manner in a way that doesn't create enormous personal risk. You need to reduce the risk in the minds of each individual member of the military that they can express themselves without getting themselves killed. That comes from two things: One, collective action, where others in their group act together and to let them know they are part of a collective mutiny; in effect, so they can't be singled out. The other is to take action that is not overtly disobedient. So, for example, if the Basij are given orders to go to a certain place to repress a certain strike, they could use less than 100 percent effort. The act of that and the communication that they are expending less than 100 percent effort reaches others, but it does not make it so clear to the people at the top. And if orders aren't fully obeyed, the legitimacy of the Iranian theocracy is called into question."
--Amanda Silverman


http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/06/23/how-the-iranian-military-can-be-flipped-a-field-guide.aspx

[Hound]

RT from many: Thursday's rally will be @ 4:30pm from Vali-asr intersection to Enghelab sq. #iranelection (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23iranelection) TIME OF LIBERATION IS NEAR !

8EST ?

[NYer]

Mapping the Illegitimate Coup d'Etat Regime's Pecking Order. (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/mapping-illegitimate-coup-detat-regimes.html)

It is said that one week prior to the elections, the hardliners defeat in the elections became inevitable; a coup d’etat leadership chain of command was organized and prior to the elections, a total blueprint was put in place for carrying out this coup d’etat. The plan is carried through effectively, step by step but it is confronted with an unforeseen problem which now stands in their way and that was, not only the widespread chain of protests that forced them to step up the oppression, but the insistence and resistance of other electoral candidates not to accept defeat and walk away. When it was confirmed that Mir Hossein Moussavi did in fact glean the majority of the votes, the supreme leaders son, Mojtaba Khamenei, accompanied by Misters Admiral Firooz-Abadi, Commander Ghassem Soleimani, Davood Ahmadinejad and Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, were granted audience at 18:30 on Tuesday, 22nd of Khordad (June 12th, 2009) at the home of the leadership, in order to receive their directives from the supreme leader. During this meeting, different strategies are described by Mojtaba Khamenei and finally after agreeing on the specific electoral strategy, the individuals on the below list were approved. During the next meetings, which included all the people seen here and held for the purpose of securing the devised procedures and plans, all swore an oath that for the sake of the preservation of the absolute supreme leadership and the establishment of an Islamic rule, as well as setting the stage for the appearance of the twelfth imam, they will not refuse anything and will willingly pay any price.

You can't tell the players without a scorecard. There's also video Here. (http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-279934?ref=email)

[Hound]

Anonymous Voice Needs Help!!!!!!!!!




Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Persiankiwi is in Trouble (http://aricmayer.blogspot.com/2009/06/turning-point-in-green-revolution.html)

For those who have been following the twitter streams coming out of Iran, persiankiwi (http://twitter.com/persiankiwi) has been one of the lead sources of information since the election. So far his/her/their twitter stream has been infused with excitement, potential and hidden dangers, as if these were furtive dispatches in a Matrix like underground resistance, tapping in and out of the web to upload small bits and direct traffic towards some useful end. The violence was in the background and the message was of movement and hope.

And now this today. The blunt end of trauma. The last few hours in chronological order:

just in from Baharestan Sq - situation today is terrible - they beat the ppls like animals -

I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads - blood everywhere - pepper gas like war -

they were waiting for us - they all have guns and riot uniforms - it was like a mouse trap - ppl being shot like animals

saw 7/8 militia beating one woman with baton on ground - she had no defense nothing - #Iranelection sure that she is dead

so many ppl arrested - young & old - they take ppl away -

ppl run into alleys and militia standing there waiting - from 2 sides they attack ppl in middle of alleys

all shops was closed - nowhere to go - they follow ppls with helicopters - smoke and fire is everywhere

phone line was cut and we lost internet - #Iranelection - getting more difficult to log into net -

rumour they are tracking high use of phone lines to find internet users - must move from here now - #Iranelection

reports of street fighting in Vanak Sq, Tajrish sq, Azadi Sq - now - #Iranelection - Sea of Green - Allah Akbar

in Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping ppl like meat - blood everywhere - like butcher - Allah Akbar -

they catch ppl with mobile - so many killed today - so many injured - Allah Akbar - they take one of us

they pull away the dead into trucks - like factory - no human can do this - we beg Allah for save us -

Everybody is under arrest & cant move - Mousavi - Karroubi even rumour Khatami is in house guard

we must go - dont know when we can get internet - they take 1 of us, they will torture and get names - now we must move fast -

thank you ppls 4 supporting Sea of Green - pls remember always our martyrs - Allah Akbar - Allah Akbar - Allah Akbar

Allah - you are the creator of all and all must return to you - Allah Akbar -

The last line sounds like a bendiction. The tone has changed dramatically and if these reports are true, I fear that this a turning point in the revolution. Either the violence just caught up to persiankiwi, or the militia attacks on demonstrators have become much more dramatic. When a government decriminalizes and encourages civic violence towards members of its own population, the results can be horrifying beyond imagination. So far the protest movement tried to position itself as peaceful. But passive resistance only works in the end when the crowd has no stomach to continue the violence. Ghandi won in India because the British public could no longer stand the violence that was being perpetrated in its name. But when the ruling, armed, supporters of the government not only support the violence but actively participate in it, passive resistance will be met with more brutality as in Tibet.

There is enough evidence from reports on western platforms such as the BBC to indicate that there are preparations to step up the violence and use the five day extension granted to protest the election results to smash the resistance before Ahmadinejad is finally declared the winner.

Whatever the situation on the ground in Tehran, persiankiwi's reports ring with pathos and clarity. To emphasize just how far we are here in the West from what is happening in Tehran, take a look at PDN's photo of the day (http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/2009/06/1609).

Update:
Numerous tweets update that persiankiwi (http://twitter.com/persiankiwi) is said to be in hiding and safe

[Hound]

http://online.wsj.com/img/wsj_print.gif

OPINION (http://online.wsj.com/public/search?article-doc-type=&#37;7BCommentary+%28U.S.%29%7D&HEADER_TEXT=commentary+%28u.s.)
JUNE 25, 2009

Iran's Democrats Deserve Full Support

Appeasing tyrants has never worked in the past.



By GARRY KASPAROV (http://online.wsj.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=GARRY+KASPAROV&ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND)

Regardless of its short-term outcome, the Green Revolution in Iran is already a tremendously important event. Iranian citizens are risking their lives to defend their votes and giving the lie to the idea that democracy cannot sprout in hostile soil without external influence. This is of great relevance to people living in autocracies, especially in Russia, my home country.
The Iranian dictatorship is harvesting the bitter fruit of its own policies of radicalization. For decades it exploited fanatical religious beliefs and hosted mass demonstrations. Now these forces are turning against the regime. Citizens who once chanted "Death to America" now call for the blood of Ayatollah Khamenei.
This is encouraging news, but autocrats learn from each other and from history how to hold onto power. 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.
According to industry analysts, Iran could produce up to four million more barrels of oil per day if foreign companies were allowed to modernize the country's oil infrastructure. Rapidly increasing Iran's oil output would likely force oil prices to fall. However, if Ahmadinejad retains power, foreign companies aren't likely to be invited in and Israel may well feel compelled to attack Iran's nuclear sites, which will likely drive up energy prices.
After watching the Iranian regime murder its own people in cold blood, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be able to tell his people that they won't face an existential threat if Iran acquires nuclear weapons. The Ahmadinejad government has also lost its moral legitimacy and is therefore more likely to support a proxy war against Israel through Hamas and Hezbollah in hopes of uniting its people against a foreign enemy.
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. I understand the reluctance to provide Iranian leaders with the opportunity to smear the protestors as American stooges. But can the leader of the Free World find nothing more intimidating than bearing witness when it is clear that the regime doesn't care who is watching?
Sen. Richard Lugar (R., Ind.) and Fareed Zakaria on CNN, among others, have defended Mr. Obama's extreme caution. Mr. Zakaria even compared the president's actions to how George H.W. Bush responded timidly to the impending collapse of the Soviet Union and its hold on Eastern Europe in 1989. Mr. Zakaria explained, "Those regimes could easily crack down on the protestors and the Soviet Union could send in tanks." True. 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.
President Dwight Eisenhower might have learned that lesson in 1956 when he said nothing and the Soviets sent tanks into Budapest anyway. Likewise, in 1968 the Soviets cracked down in Czechoslovakia even though the West said little. Regardless of what Mr. Obama says, the Iranian leaders will use all the force at their disposal to stay in power.
There is no reason to withhold external pressure that can tip the balance inside Tehran. Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is not an ideal democrat. But should he and his supporters win power they will owe their authority to an abruptly empowered Iranian electorate. It is reasonable to expect that the people will hold a Mousavi government accountable for delivering the freedoms that they are now risking their lives to attain.
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.
Mr. Kasparov, leader of The Other Russia coalition, is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal.

[Hound]

Iranian Human Rights Lawyer: 'People Are Demoralized'

By Davar Iran Ardalan
Human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltanijust spoke with me from his law office in Tehran. He is a colleague of Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2003/ebadi-autobio.html).
Soltani said he was finishing up some casework and would be joining a rally in Azadi Square in Tehran in response to the call by reformist presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi to gather for a peaceful protest of Friday's election results, in which incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104244385).
Soltani is a founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran.
Here are excerpts from the telephone interview (translated from Farsi):
Question: "What is the atmosphere like today in Tehran?"
Soltani: "The situation is very dangerous and yet Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mr. Karrubi have both called for calm and non-violent protest. Both presidential candidates have asked those who voted for them to march towards Azadi Square in Tehran. I plan to do the same today."
Question: "There are reports of wide spread arrests what have you heard?"
Soltani: "Yes, we have heard this and just this morning we received a phone call from the dormitory of the University of Tehran in the Amirabad Shomali area. We were told that at midnight last night government agents stormed Tehran University dormitories in that location and arrested hundreds of people. We were told that many were beaten and taken away."
Question: "How would you characterize what you are seeing today?"
Soltani: "We have had 28 to 29 elections in Iran in the past 30 years and have seen nothing like this. The government didn't allow for any independent monitoring of the elections and vote count. The people are demoralized and want there to be complete transparency.
"On behalf of all of Iran's human rights activits, we call on the Iranian government to allow for a recount of the votes and to have independent NGO's (non-governmental organizations) and international monitors present. This is the only way that we can get to the truth."(Davar Iran Ardalan is supervising senior producer of Weekend Edition. Earlier, she posted about an e-mail she received from a Tehran (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/06/by_davar_iran_ardalan_ive.html).)

9:47 AM ET | 06-15-2009 | permalink (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/06/iranian_human_rights_lawyer_pe.html)



Abdolfattah Soltani will be honored with the Nuremberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg) International Human Rights Award on September, 17th 2009.

http://www2.nuernberg.de/internet/press/human_rigths.html

[Casey]

http://iran.greenthumbnails.com/

Show your support! Put your twitter icon on our Green Wall! #iranelection

ORANGE COUNTY CALIFORNIA - Candlelight Vigil to support change @ Huntington Beach Pier - Thursday, June 25 8pm - TONIGHT!

8134 users have added their picture! PLEASE add yours, and then tell your friends and followers! SPREAD THE WORD

[NYer]

CLAUDIA ROSETT: Where’s The U.N. On Iran? A thundering silence from the would-be defender of human rights.

Iran’s regime is already in gross violation of a series of U.N. sanctions over a nuclear program the U.N. Security Council deems a threat to international peace. The same regime has now loosed its security apparatus of trained thugs and snipers on Iranians who have been, in huge numbers, demanding their basic rights. Surely top U.N. officials such as Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon should be leading the charge for liberty and justice, with the strongest possible criticism and measures against the Iranian regime.

But that’s not happening. While Iranian protesters have been risking their necks to try to rid their country of a malignant despotism, the U.N. has hardly even qualified as voting “present.”

Imagine the U.N. as a sort of Thugs’ Protective Association and you will seldom go far wrong.

http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/80775/

Also, there's this:

HMM: MPs ’snub’ Ahmadinejad poll party. “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. A BBC correspondent says the move is a sign of the deep split at the top of Iran after disputed presidential polls.”

http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/80775/

[Hound]

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs119.snc1/4868_198552000530_851205530_7457372_8158796_n.jpg

Women At Forefront Of Iranian Protests

http://gdb.rferl.org/4054380E-18E6-4CF5-BD47-C3C22ACC84AF_w393_s.jpg (http://gdb.rferl.org/4054380E-18E6-4CF5-BD47-C3C22ACC84AF_mw800_mh600.jpg)
A female supporter of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Musavi attended a campaign rally in late May in Tehran. Her hands read: Women = Men.

June 22, 2009
By Golnaz Esfandiari
A woman named Neda has become an icon of the ongoing antigovernment protests in Iran.

Millions of people in Iran and throughout the world have now seen a graphic amateur video (http://www.rferl.org/content/Neda_Quickly_Becoming_Symbol_Of_Iranian_Protests/1759800.html) of Neda's apparent death on a street in central Tehran, after having been shot in the chest while attending one of the rallies with her father.

http://gdb.rferl.org/E5F4BBA0-0458-46E2-AF6E-2B393A498CE8_w250_s.jpg (http://gdb.rferl.org/E5F4BBA0-0458-46E2-AF6E-2B393A498CE8_mw800_s.jpg)
Neda Agha Soltan, who was reportedly killed when hit by a bullet during a protest in Tehran on June 20.
Some in Iran are calling for June 20, the day of the violent crackdown on protesters that was apparently Neda's last, to become known as "Neda's Day." Neda mean "voice" in Persian.

Neda was reportedly buried (http://www.rferl.org/content/Opposition_Supporters_Rally_In_Tehran_Despite_Warn ing_Of_Crackdown/1760136.html) hastily in Tehran's Behesht Zahra cemetery on June 21. According to unconfirmed reports, authorities banned a mourning ceremony for her at a mosque in the capital today.

The tragic images have served as a reminder of the prominent roles that thousands of women from all walks of life are playing in the protests against Iran's recent presidential election, which they believe was rigged.

'Take To The Streets'

Indeed, it was a woman, Effat Hashemi, the wife of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was among the first to call for public protests in the event of fraud.

Her call was captured in a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U57ngkhmqJ4), released early last week, that shows her speaking to reporters after casting her ballot on June 12.

Reporter: "What is your advice to the supporters of the candidates after election day?"
Hashemi: "They must take to the streets if there is fraud."

It's not clear if Hashemi participated in any of the protests, but her daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, did -- and was briefly detained for her actions.

Yasaman, a 42-year old housewife, isn't famous, but she, too, participated in the rallies. She tells RFE/RL that she is now sitting at home, expecting to be detained.

"They're coming for everyone, one by one," she says.

She laughs and says she's not scared.

Yasaman and many other Iranian women say they voted for Mir Hossein Musavi or fellow reformist Mehdi Karrubi because they were hoping for change. Both of the presidential candidates addressed women's issues in their campaigns and both promised more rights to Iranian women.

Wife Also Campaigned

Musavi appeared at campaign rallies with his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, a former university chancellor and an adviser to former President Mohammad Khatami. Rahnavard had actively participated in the campaign by giving speeches, interviews, and writing articles. In the last week, she has reportedly met twice with students and told them that Musavi will not give up his defense of people's rights.

http://gdb.rferl.org/4CD58595-D347-4341-94C4-8D55C60A87D5_w250_s.jpg (http://gdb.rferl.org/4CD58595-D347-4341-94C4-8D55C60A87D5_mw800_s.jpg)
Zahra Rahnavard, wife of Mir Hossein Musavi, at a press conference in Tehran before the vote
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad also pledged to grant women more rights and is said to have had some support among women. One of Ahamdinejad's staunchest supporters is Fatemeh Rajabi, a hard-line female journalist and wife of government spokesman Fatemeh Rajabi.

Yet a number of women told RFE/RL that they cast their ballot on June 12 just to say "no" to Ahmadinejad, whom they described as being "antiwoman" and "antifreedom."

Prominent Tehran-based women's-rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh tells RFE/RL that she believes women have many good reasons to protest against Ahmadinejad's reelection.

"In the past four years, not only women's gatherings came under attack," Sotoudeh says. "[Many women] were repeatedly summoned by the judiciary and put on trial. They faced long jail terms, but they also faced serious problems because of their appearance and they were constantly attacked and beaten up."

During last week's demonstrations in Tehran and other cities, women of all ages and segments of society were seen at the forefront of the protests. Some were holding banners; chanting slogans; defying police. Some were seen beating back Basij militia and plainclothes agents who were attacking protestors with sticks.

A video of a young Iranian girl (http://www.rferl.org/content/A_Swift_Kick_In_The_Pants/1755586.html) kicking a member of the riot police was making the rounds.

In one picture of the recent unrest, a woman in chador is seen running to protect a man who is being beaten by baton-wielding security forces.

Active Roles

Zahra Gholamipour, the leader of Iran's Pan-Iranist party, tells RFE/RL that women in Iran have always played an active role in society, despite the discrimination they face.

"Iranian woman are not the type of women who remain silent and consider themselves lesser than men -- even though, unfortunately, after the revolution, [women's rights] have been violated," she says. "Today, we see that women are ahead of men in these rightful protests."

http://gdb.rferl.org/63D28699-DB13-4D03-81CA-AFE6DB43613A_w250_s.jpg (http://gdb.rferl.org/63D28699-DB13-4D03-81CA-AFE6DB43613A_mw800_s.jpg)
Angry Iranian women come to the aid of a man being beaten during recent election protests.
Gholamipour, who participated in some of last week's protests, says that during some rallies women outnumbered men.

Women in Iran face considerable legal discrimination. For example, they don't have equal rights in divorce and child custody, and they are not allowed to travel outside the country without the permission of their fathers or husbands.

But eyewitnesses say that when it came to the crackdown, security forces treated the protesters equally.

Women were beaten up -- brutally in some cases. And women are among the 23 or so reported so far killed in the postelection unrest.

"Iranian women showed again how strong they are," says Gholamipour. "Many times they were beaten up with electric sticks, but they would come back and [defy] the police. These women are mothers, they are sisters. These women feel responsible."

No matter what results from the current crisis, both Gholamipour and Sotoudeh believe that women, who make up about 65 percent of Iran's university students, will keep pushing for more rights.

Some have already come up with a new slogan: "Our Neda, Our Voice."

[NYer]

Ayatollah Montazer:i (http://niacblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/iran-updates-june-25/) “Worldly positions are not permanent”

According to Mowj news, Ayatollah Montazeri “harshly criticized the inappropriate actions of the authorities.”

Ayatollah Montazeri praised the people of Iran for proving their braveness and maturity once again by participating in political and social scenes and expressed his regret that in reaction to people demanding their rights the authorities “have taken an approach and committed actions that is beyond imagination by any just human being.”

Montazeri said “I have been involved in the struggles against the previous (Shah) regime and the establishment of the Islamic Republic as much as I can. I feel ashamed in front of the people and clearly announce that beloved Islam…is different from the behavior of the current rulers. These actions and policies being done under the banner of religion will certainly cause large segments of people to become cynical regarding the principles of Islam and theocracy and will ruin the hard and valuable work of the Islamic ulema.”

Montazeri harshly criticized the militarization of the society saying “In a country and a regime which is proud of being Islamic and Shiite, and only 30 years after the victory of the revolution when people still remember the last scenes of the past regime, how could they turn Tehran and other large cities into a big garrison while the world is watching? They have put our brothers in the armed forces against the people. By using plainclothes agents, who are reminders of baton-carrying agents of Shah, cowardly shed the blood of the youth and men and women of this land.”

Montazeri then posed questions to authorities asking “was this the strategy of Prophet Mohammad and Imam Ali? They never cursed and accused their enemies and didn’t silence them by the sword…Now, a group of people thinking that they can commit any crime because they see themselves as being close to the government; attack student dorms, beat them and throw them down the building, commit chain murders and terrorize intellectuals of this nation and be immune from punishment; this is not compatible with any religion and custom.”

Montazeri advised the people to “pursue their reasonable demands while maintaining their calm.” He also advised the authorities, asking them to stop using harsh and irrational measures which destroys people’s trust and exacerbates the separation between them and regime. “[The authorities] should not create divisions among the people, apologize for their past mistakes, and understand that worldly positions are not permanent.”

Do I hear an Amen?

[NYer]

Nokia and Siemens Beware. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597329897257219.html)HT: Instapundit

Lawmakers are seeking to crack down on foreign companies that provide spy technology to Iran with a bipartisan bill that would bar firms that provide sensitive technologies to Iran from doing business with the U.S. government.

The legislation responds to a Wall Street Journal article this week that Iran had built an extensive monitoring system, including equipment provided by a joint venture of Finnish cellphone maker Nokia Corp. and German conglomerate Siemens AG.

Both companies do extensive business with U.S. agencies. Siemens has nearly 2,000 contracts with the U.S. government valued at a total of more than $250 million for 2009, according to a federal government spending Web site. It holds more than 300 contracts with the Pentagon alone, and many more with the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and Energy.

[NYer]

Iranians Pay Respects at Neda's Grave. (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-neda26-2009jun26,0,600301.story)

"I read the news on the Web, and I saw the picture of the grave," said one man, hovering near the burial site. "I figured out the location of the grave and came.

"We are here for Neda and our deceased relatives too," he said. "We are here to utter our respect for them."

The man said that he too was in the street that day.

"She was with us," he said. "Maybe one of us would have been killed that day. We are here to respect her, and all the martyrs they killed in the last days."

Another man who came to pay tribute said he found it amazing that the government was fighting against ordinary people.

"Not even the politicians, or some students, but normal people in the streets," he said in disgust.

"All of us are in danger, like Neda," said a third man at the grave site.

"Now the military has taken the power and prevents us from paying our respects. It's not a big request! We want respect to Neda."

[NYer]

Iranians Pay Respects at Neda's Grave. (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-neda26-2009jun26,0,600301.story)

"I read the news on the Web, and I saw the picture of the grave," said one man, hovering near the burial site. "I figured out the location of the grave and came.

"We are here for Neda and our deceased relatives too," he said. "We are here to utter our respect for them."

The man said that he too was in the street that day.

"She was with us," he said. "Maybe one of us would have been killed that day. We are here to respect her, and all the martyrs they killed in the last days."

Another man who came to pay tribute said he found it amazing that the government was fighting against ordinary people.

"Not even the politicians, or some students, but normal people in the streets," he said in disgust.

"All of us are in danger, like Neda," said a third man at the grave site.

"Now the military has taken the power and prevents us from paying our respects. It's not a big request! We want respect to Neda."

[Hound]

Russia seriously concerned by Iran use of force

Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:02am EDT







MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it was seriously concerned by the use of force in Iran (http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/iran) after a disputed presidential election and urged Tehran to settle all issues in a democratic way, Interfax news agency reported.
"We naturally express our most serious concern about the use of force and the death of civilians," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on the sidelines of a meeting of Group of Eight foreign ministers in Italy.
"We count on all questions which have arisen in the context of the elections being resolved in accordance with democratic procedures," Lavrov said.
Russia and China earlier this month congratulated Iran (http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/iran)ian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his controversial re-election as he attended a summit in Russia.
Official results handed Ahmadinejad a landslide victory while defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi has said the vote was rigged.
Group of Eight powers deplored the post-election violence in Iran (http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/iran) on Friday and called on Tehran to resolve the crisis soon through democratic dialogue.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Conor Sweeney; editing by Robert Woodward)



&#169; Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

[Hound]

Former Revolutionary Guard Member: 'Military Coup' Underway In Iran

http://media.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/images/2009/jun/sazegara_200.jpg File photo of Sazegara, taken Oct. 6, 2003. Henghameh Fahimi/AFP/Getty Images


By Mark Memmott
One of the founders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, who's also a former deputy prime minister, tells Weekend Edition's Scott Simon that what amounts to a "military coup" has occurred in his country. And he claims authorities know the election was rigged.
According to Mohsen Sazegara (http://www.sazegara.net/english/):

Right after the election, 11 o'clock at night, was a military coup because they went to (presidential candidate Mir Hossein) Mousavi's headquarters -- five persons from the Revolutionary Guard -- and told him that, 'Yes, the leader says that this is true, you have won the election, you are the elected president, but you can't be the president. (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad should remain in the position.'
"And then they started to invent those fake numbers in Ministry of Interior. And right after that they started to arrest the people, to disconnect the country, to dismiss the reporters, and that is the reason that we call it a military coup." Here's Scott's interview of Sazegara, who became a leading dissident in Iran -- leading to his arrest in 2003 -- and now lives in the United States:


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/06/former_revolutionary_guard_mem.html

[Hound]

Tweets

Snipers have high-tech guns with night vision on long range. They can spot you. Wear dark close and dont smoke.

Resistance 2 ppl b vigilant 4 snipers on rooftops& windowsTry to take their pic for later identification these killers


Confirmed firsthand account of another "Allahu Akbar" protester killed on the rootfop, this one in Tehran.

[Hound]

Features (http://www.rferl.org/archive/Features/latest/651/651.html)

'What Will Happen To Those Arrested In Iran? I Can Tell You'

http://gdb.rferl.org/DC076E52-D08C-4142-891B-DEFB6BC09FF4_w393_s.jpg (http://gdb.rferl.org/DC076E52-D08C-4142-891B-DEFB6BC09FF4_mw800_mh600.jpg)
"Inside there was nothing to sleep on and no electric light. There was no way to tell the time except by the daylight when it shone through the watchman’s peephole at one end and a ventilation vent at the other."

June 25, 2009
By official count, some 450 people have been arrested in opposition protests against Iran’s presidential election results. Many sources inside Iran put the count in the thousands. To those arrested 10 years ago, in Iran’s last great wave of student demonstrations, what the new detainees face next is already clear. Ali Fathi (a pseudonym) was one of those students arrested in 1999. This is his story.
What will happen to the people who have been arrested in the protest rallies in Iran? I can tell you.

I was arrested during the 1999 student demonstrations in Tehran, exactly 10 years ago.

What I did was as trivial in terms of real crime as what the protesters in Iran have done now by expressing rage over the presidential election results.

But the punishment I received was so out of proportion to my actions – and so truly criminal – that I had to flee my homeland and seek political asylum in Europe.

In 1999, Mohammad Khatami was president and reformist hopes were high that the Islamic republic’s oppressive ideological atmosphere was lifting slightly.

I was a university student and we were enjoying an unprecedented amount of freedom to speak our minds in class. That included the compulsory class all students have to take in the roots of the Islamic Revolution.

'Change Was In The Air'

At that time, even the presence of the Basij among the students – 50 percent of all university places are reserved for the members of the militia – did not have its usual chilling effect. Change was in the air.

Then came the sparks that ignited the demonstrations that swept campuses across Tehran and spread to other cities in the summer of 1999.

http://gdb.rferl.org/137EDD13-B77D-4CF0-A455-B614244E9B43_w250_s.jpg (http://gdb.rferl.org/137EDD13-B77D-4CF0-A455-B614244E9B43_mw800_s.jpg)
Students, their mouths taped shut, hold up portraits of reformist newspaper editor Abdollah Nuri after Nuri was sentenced to five years in prison for "anti-Islamic propaganda" in December 1999.
Some students at Tehran University protested the closure of one of the most popular reformist newspapers. Their small demonstration was attacked by vigilantes armed with clubs who beat at least one student to death as police did nothing.

Our rage boiled over. Tens of thousands of students took to the streets demanding the dismissal of police officials. We also called on Khatami to speed up reforms and give us a more open society.

I was with a group of about 50 students on my campus which tore down a poster of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that hung in one of the buildings. Someone set fire to the picture. The riot police took the simplest course. They locked the campus gates and arrested everyone found inside.

But they did not take us to a police station. Instead, we were blindfolded and taken outside of the legal system to a place where our parents could never find us.

'Stripped Us Naked'

The place was one of the semi-abandoned military camps outside Tehran that date back to the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. There we were shoved into metal freight containers – the kind used for shipping. They stripped us naked and gave us two blankets each.

Inside there was nothing to sleep on and no electric light. There was no way to tell the time except by the daylight when it shone through the watchman’s peephole at one end and a ventilation vent at the other.

I was in the container with four other boys. We were all barely 20. And we were inside for two weeks -- naked, powerless, and face-to-face with the fear of being totally at the mercy of our captors.

I was in the container with four other boys. We were all barely 20. And we were inside for two weeks -- naked, powerless, and face-to-face with the fear of being totally at the mercy of our captors.

Food was thrown in once a day. From time to time, we were taken out for questioning. And both those processes helped to destroy whatever shreds of our dignity remained.

The first interrogation sessions were simply beatings. Men who were clearly convinced that we had violated all laws of God and man kicked us until we fell down. Then they kicked our faces. As they did, they shouted “Allahu Akbar,” calling on God to be pleased with them. They were skinheads, but with hair and beards.

Then the real questioning began, and it, too, was to show there was no way out.

'No Correct Answers'

The interrogators wanted to know who pulled down the picture of the Supreme Leader, to what organizations I belonged, and to what organizations my friends and classmates belonged.

It did not matter what I said. There were no correct answers.

“Do you know Masud Rajavi (the spiritual leader of the armed resistance group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran)?”

“No.”

“You are lying. Everyone knows that bastard. You are lying about everything.”

Sometimes they seemed to want to understand my problem.

“You were one of those who shouted,” the interrogator said.

“No, I wasn’t.”

“You were! Go ahead and shout now. Shout as much as you want.”

And they offered treatment.

“You have extreme tendencies. You just need some balancing.”

And then, turning to one of the strongmen, “Brother X, take him for balancing.” The balancing was more beating.

Nothing To Confess

The interrogations were conducted with a hood over my head. Looking down, I could see only the floor. Once I saw the hands of one of the interrogators after he cuffed my head. His hands were twice the size of mine.

http://gdb.rferl.org/189E8C98-969A-4C4A-AA58-015D5C964C2F_w250_s.jpg (http://gdb.rferl.org/189E8C98-969A-4C4A-AA58-015D5C964C2F_mw800_s.jpg)
Students try to shake hands with then-President Mohammad Khatami (second from right) after his speech at Tehran's Elm-o-Sanat University in December 1999.
After two weeks, I was transferred to a succession of other prison cells, with no idea where I was. Sometimes, the cells were pitch dark. Sometimes, they had four brilliant light bulbs shining 24 hours a day.

I was lucky I had nothing to confess. And I was lucky that made me of no real interest to my captors. After eight months, as inexplicably as the way they had treated me, they let me go.

But now I was a criminal with a history of imprisonment. And that meant all of Iran would be my lifetime prison.

With a prison record, I could not return to university. I could not get a job. My only course was to leave Tehran and return to my small provincial city. And there, where everyone knows everyone, I was an outcast.

My parents had all but given me up for dead. For months they had gone around every prison in Tehran trying to locate me. At every place, they were told there was no record of me being detained. But one official said it was likely I had been made to “disappear.”

The police sent my prison file to an old man in my home town who had lost three sons in the Iran-Iraq war. He owned a men’s shoe store next to the local bank that no one shopped in because the fashions were 10 years old. But he was powerful because he was strongly linked to the Revolutionary Guards.

This man was my parole officer. I had to appear before him each week to show I was still in town. If I wanted to visit friends in another city, I needed his permission.

His only demand of me was to pray. Not just in the mosque but in private prayer meetings as well. And eventually, I complied.

That was how I began my journey out of Iran. As he gained trust in me, I could more easily get permission for longer absences. And on one of these absences, I slipped out of the country.

Dehumanizing

The escape route that people take -- across the Iranian border, across Turkey, by ship to Greece, and overland to France -- is well known. Some of those who are now in jail for protesting the presidential election results – if they are released -- will undoubtedly take it, too. It is horrible, full of dangers, and as dehumanizing as being in prison.

I was tricked by traffickers as one group handed me off to another that claimed it had not been paid. So, I soon ran out of money.

I rode in freight containers. And I rode hanging onto the bottom of a speeding truck. That means sitting on a small metal bar a half-meter above the asphalt and hanging on with arms that become so paralyzed the muscles no longer contract. I was numb with fear.

Was it worth this to escape my home country and to leave my parents and dearest friends? Of course not.

But for me it was a question I never had to ask. The government of my country took my country away from me. And my crime was nothing more than taking part in a political demonstration.

http://www.rferl.org/content/What_Will_Happen_To_Those_Arrested_In_Iran_I_Can_T ell_You/1762681.html

[Hound]

‘Worthy of execution’
In Friday's central Muslim sermon at Tehran University, a senior cleric, Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami, called for harsh retribution for dissent. "Anybody who fights against the Islamic system or the leader of Islamic society, fight him until complete destruction," he said in the nationally broadcast speech.
The cleric alleged that some involved in the unrest had used firearms.
"Anyone who takes up arms to fight with the people, they are worthy of execution," he said. "We ask that the judiciary confront the leaders of the protests, leaders of the violations, and those who are supported by the United States and Israel strongly, and without mercy to provide a lesson for all."
Khatami said those who disturbed the peace and destroyed public property were "at war with God," and said they should be "dealt with without mercy."



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31564910/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/?ocid=twitter

[NYer]

Iran Turmoil Causing Terrorist Economic Crisis. (http://threatswatch.org/rapidrecon/2009/06/iranian-turmoil-causes-terrori/)

Faster Please ...

[NYer]

We Are Iran. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFrjZVHIQDE)

[Hound]

Iranian diplomats disinvited from Canada Day ceremonies

Updated Thu. Jun. 25 2009 4:12 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
The Harper government has disinvited Iranian diplomats from attending Canada Day ceremonies in Ottawa to express its displeasure with the Iranian government's bloody crackdown against opposition supporters.
The move follows a similar one by the U.S. for its July 4th celebrations.
Reporting from Ottawa, CTV's Graham Richardson said the government is "trying to send a signal in a very strong way they are not pleased with what's going on in Iran" following disputed presidential elections.
Richardson said a senior government source told him that part of Canada Day "is celebrating Canadian liberties," and that the government "doesn't see a role for Iran to play on that day given what happened in Iran over the last few weeks."
Traditionally the prime minister invites representatives of foreign governments to celebrate Canada Day on Parliament Hill.
On Wednesday the White House announced that it had withdrawn invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend Fourth of July festivities at U.S. embassies around the world.

[Hound]

IranElection on Twitter

Anatomy of the first 18 days...

http://webecologyproject.org/

[NYer]

Oh No, She Dint. (http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2009/06/oh-no-she-dint.html)

Pity it's a photoshop.

[Hound]

Oh No, She Dint. (http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2009/06/oh-no-she-dint.html)

Pity it's a photoshop. Bummer

[/URL]


July 10, 2008, 9:16 am In an Iranian Image, a Missile Too Many

By Mike Nizza and Patrick J. Lyons (http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/)http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/01/science/0709-lede-IRAN.jpgIn the four-missile version of the image released Wednesday by Sepah News, the media arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, two major sections (encircled in red) appear to closely replicate other sections (encircled in orange). (Illustration by The New York Times; photo via Agence France-Presse)
Latest update at 3 p.m. Eastern Agence France-Presse has retracted the image as “apparently digitally altered.” More developments at the bottom of the post.
As news spread across the world of Iran’s provocative missile tests, so did an image of four missiles heading skyward in unison. Unfortunately, it appeared to contain one too many missiles, a point that had not emerged before the photo was used on the front pages of The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, The Chicago Tribune and several other newspapers as well as on BBC News, MSNBC, Yahoo! News, NYTimes.com and many other major news Web sites.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/10/world/10lede-papers.jpgThe Los Angeles Times, The Palm Beach Post and Chicago Tribune, among others, used the image on their front pages on Thursday.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/10/world/10nytmissile-190.jpgOur home page at 3:56 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.
Agence France-Presse said that it obtained the image from the Web site of Sepah News, the media arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, on Wednesday. But there was no sign of it there later in the day. Today, The Associated Press distributed what appeared to be a nearly identical photo from the same source, but without the fourth missile.
As the above illustration shows, the second missile from the right appears to be the sum of two other missiles in the image. The contours of the billowing smoke match perfectly near the ground, as well in the immediate wake of the missile. Only a small black dot in the reddish area of exhaust seems to differ from the missile to its left, though there are also some slight variations in the color of the smoke and the sky.
Does Iran’s state media use Photoshop? The charge has been leveled before (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24492_Iranian_Fauxtography_Bust&only). So far, though, it can’t be said with any certainty whether there is any official Iranian involvement in this instance. Sepah apparently published the three-missile version of the image today without further explanation.
For its part, Agence France-Presse retracted its four-missile version this morning, saying that the image was “apparently digitally altered” by Iranian state media. The fourth missile “has apparently been added in digital retouch to cover a grounded missile that may have failed during the test,” the agency said. Later, it published an article quoting several experts (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h02c0KdPqnRSFFVj9dn9pWaVMCJQ) backing that argument.
Along with major doubts about the image, American intelligence officials had larger questions on exactly how many missiles were fired. One defense official said that “at least 7, and possibly up to 10″ had taken flight in all, though the intelligence data was still being sorted out. Only one of them was said to be a Shahab 3.
Throughout the day, several news sites have taken steps to disown the photograph that they ran on Wednesday, including LATimes.com (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/07/iran-doctored-m.html) and MSNBC.com (http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/10/1191157.aspx).
In a sentiment no doubt echoed by news organizations everywhere, an MSNBC editor acknowledged that the four-missile picture was initially welcomed with open arms. “As the media editor working the msnbc.com home page yesterday, I was frustrated with the quality of a fuzzy video image we published of the Iranian missile launch,” said Rich Shulman, the network’s associate multimedia editor. “So I was thrilled when the top image crossed the news wires.”
Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting from Washington.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/10/world/ledemissiles1.jpghttp://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/10/world/ledemissiles2.jpgTop, the image that Agence France-Presse obtained from Sepah News on Wednesday. Below, another image that The Associated Press received from the same source on Thursday, which appeared to be taken from the same vantage point at almost the same time.

[URL]http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/in-an-iranian-image-a-missile-too-many/

[Hound]

...

[Hound]

Iran: A Rift that Cannot be Healed

26/06/2009 By Amir Taheri

http://www.asharq-e.com/images/writers/amir.taheri.gif Amir Taheriwas born in Iran and educated in Tehran, London and Paris. Between 1980 and 1984 he was Middle East editor for the London Sunday Times. Taheri has been a contributor to the International Herald Tribune since 1980. He has also written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Taheri has published nine books some of which have been translated into 20 languages, and In 1988 Publishers'' Weekly in New York chose his study of Islamist terrorism, "Holy Terror", as one of The Best Books of The Year. He has been a columnist Asharq Alawsat since 1987



Whatever the outcome of the current power struggle in Tehran, one thing is certain: the ruling establishment is split down the middle, with little possibility of reconciliation in the near future.
One could see the split in all the constituencies that together form the Khomeinist establishment.
The politically active segment of the Shiite clergy is split, with some senior mullahs like Hussein-Ali Montazeri, Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili, and Yousef Sanei, siding with the opposition.
On the other hand, other senior mullahs such as Muhammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ahmad Jannati, and Ahmad Khatami support the "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei who has emerged as the regime's field commander.
The military are equally split.
Some, like Defense Minister General Mostafa Muhammad Najjar and Interior Minister General Sadeq Mahsouli have sided with Khamenei's new hard-line stance.

Others like Admiral Ali Shamkhani, a former defense minister, and General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a former Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have indicated support for the opposition.
The split in the IRGC may be deeper than many suspect.
According to unconfirmed reports, at least 17 mid-ranking IRGC officers have been relieved of their posts. A senior commander, General Ali Fazli, who led the elite "Master of the Martyrs' Division", has been "reassigned" after refusing to order troops to crush the demonstrators.
The position of General Muhammad-Ali Jaafari, the IRGC's Commander, remains an enigma. Although promoted under Ahmadinejad, he has, on occasions, indicated unhappiness with the president's style, if not the substance of policies.
General Hassan Firuzabadi, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, and the country's most senior military figure, has also tried to remain neutral, although some claim that his sympathies lie with the opposition.
Among senior technocrats, some like former Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Velayati, have rallied to the "Supreme Guide" without ifs and buts. Others like Gholam-Reza Aghazadeh, who heads the nuclear project, and former Foreign Minister Kamaleddin Kharrazi, have indicated support for the opposition. Deputy Oil Minister Akbar Torkan has just been dismissed because of suspected sympathies for the opposition.
Other influential figures such as General Muhammad-Baqer Qalibaf, the Mayor of Tehran, and Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Islamic Majlis, Iran's ersatz parliament, have tried to sit on the fence, making noises in support of the opposition one day and professing loyalty to the "Supreme Guide" the next.
The current showdown has also divided Iran's academic elite.
More than 400 university professors and faculty deans have resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the election.
In contrast, hundreds of academics have rallied behind Ahmadinejad and condemned Mousavi for "doing the work of the enemies of the regime."
The merchant class of the bazaars, a mainstay of the Khomeinist regime,
is also split between supporters and opponents of the regime.
In recent days, rival appeals have been published for the bazaar to shut down in protest at the election results or to celebrate Ahmadinejad's "historic victory."
Initially, some in the West, including some of US President Barack Hussein Obama's advisors, claimed that the pro-Mousavi’s revolt was little more than an expression of anger by Iran's upper middle classes and "the golden youth" of Tehran's wealthy districts. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Today, the two camps are present throughout Iranian society, cutting across class, regional, and age boundaries. Mousavi enjoys much support among both the rural and urban poor while Ahmadinejad has partisans among the rich even in the posh districts of Tehran.
It would be interesting to see what happens when some of the key organs of the regime hold their next meetings.
Take the High Council of National Defense. Both Ahmadinejad and Mousavi are ex-officio members along with other players such as former presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. One half might side with Mousavi, the other half with Ahmadinejad.
Then we have the pompously named Council for the Discernment of the Interests of the Established Order, or the Expediency Council for short. It is headed by Rafsanjani, with General Mohsen Rezai Mir-Qaed, one of the three defeated presidential candidates, as secretary-general.
And, yet, at least half of the council's members have expressed support for Ahmadinejad.
A similar situation exists in the Assembly of Experts, a 92-mullah organ whose task is to supervise the work of the "Supreme Guide." Rafsanjani, now regarded as a key figure of the opposition, chairs the assembly. Legally speaking, the assembly has the power to impeach Khamenei and dismiss him as "Supreme Guide". However, that would require a two-third majority that Rafsanjani is not able to produce at this time.
The split in the Islamic Majlis, the ersatz parliament, is even more glaring. According to some estimates, a third of the members tilt towards Mousavi with another third favoring Ahmadinejad. The remaining third belongs to the "party of the wind", siding with whoever may seem to be winning.
Within the Council of Ministers, headed by Ahmadinejad, at least four men are believed to be sympathetic to the opposition, and thus likely to be purged in the coming reshuffle.
Many of the more charismatic figures of the Khomeinist movement broke with it long ago. Among them is former Interior Minister Abdallah Nuri, a mid-ranking cleric, who was a favorite of the late Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini. Nuri is now regarded as the most senior ex-Khomeinist to support regime change in Iran.
The split also extends into the leading families associated with Khomeinism.
One of Khomeini's granddaughters has emerged as a passionaria for the Mousavi camp. On the other hand, a grandson of the late ayatollah is a propagandist for Ahmadinejad.
Khamenei's eldest son Mujtaba has become an ardent advocate of Ahmadinejad, touring the country to mobilize support for him. On the other hand, Khamenei's brother, Hadi, is a supporter of Mehdi Karroubi, one of the defeated presidential candidates, and a vocal opponent of Ahmadinejad.
The 12 June presidential election forced the various rival factions of the regime into two broad camps.
Under different circumstances, this might have evolved into a two-party system, allowing rival factions to alternate by forming the government.
Mousavi might have been allowed to win and form a new administration. Such an outcome would have provided a rather discredited regime with new legitimacy through elections. The system would have remained intact with the defeated faction preserving its chances of returning to power in future elections. Those chances would have been all the stronger because the system does not allow "outsiders" to stand for election.
Now, however, all that we could expect is a bloody showdown at the end of which the winner will launch a massive purge at all levels. In the Khomeinist system, there is no room for compromise, whether at home or in the field of foreign policy.
Amir Taheri's new book " The Persian Night: Iran Under the Khomeinist Revolution" is published by Encounter Books in New York and London.
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=17211

[Hound]

<LI class=subject>19 Facts about Baha’i spies in Iran
June 26th, 2009
From an Iranian
To: The Respected President of the GuinnessBook of World Records
Dear Sir,http://i.usatoday.net/news/_photos/2008/08/05/bahaix-large.jpg
We would like to nominate Iran for consideration as the world record holder with respect to the nineteen (19) accomplishments below:
1. Iran is the first country in the world to label over 400,000 followers of the same religions as spies.
2. Iran is the first country in the world where spies are freely and openly going about their lives and the government is not apprehensive about them. However, once in a while, a few of these spies are arrested in order to keep the government militia from boredom; then the spies are interrogated for a few months so that interrogators may gain experience. Sometimes, spies are tortured for the practice of the torturers. Ultimately, a few face firing squads for testing of the guns.
3. Iran is the first country in which spies are born as spies. There is no need for the courts to prove the allegations against them since they are innately convicts from birth. They have no rights; therefore, there is no need to consider their civil rights when bringing charges against them.
4. Iran is the first country where if spies recant their faith and convert to Islam, they are no longer spies, but are considered saved.
5. Iran is the first country in which spies, when arrested, have to attend Islamic studies classes – with the aim of their conversion to Islam.
6. Iran is the first country where its spies are secret agents of Britain, Russia, America and Israel, all at the same time. Interestingly, the spies themselves and the leaders of these countries are unaware of such affiliations; only Shariyat-Madari (editor-in-chief of Kayhan, government of Iran backed newspaper) knows.
7. Iran is the first country that has had thousands of spy groups and spy gatherings that have been in contact with the Ministry of Intelligence for the past 25 years.
8. Iran is the first country that banned gatherings of thousands of espionage groups and asked spies to dismantle their assemblies. However, the members of these groups are required to sign pledges consenting that they will not teach their religious beliefs! Even more interesting, members of these groups refuse to sign such pledges.
9. Iran is the first country where spies are not paid. Instead, they spend their own money to tend to the affairs of their community, to eliminate poverty and improve literacy. These activities are the biggest proofs of spying charges against them.
10. Iran is the first country where spies introduce themselves as followers of a religion that the government of Iran equates with espionage. The followers of this religion do not even outwardly hide their convictions to save their own lives.
11. Iran is the first country where spies have established moral and educational courses for their members. Strangely, the government denies them entrance to universities to prevent them from spying in institutions of higher education.
12. Iran is the first country where spies are drafted for two years of obligatory military service. They are even given guns and receive intensive military training.
13. Iran is the first country where spies receive lashes with utmost love; their properties are confiscated with Islamic fairness; they are executed with utmost kindness and Islamic compassion. The government bestows, with utmost friendliness, civil rights specified for spies, in the form of imprisonments, forced free labor, insults and slanders.
14. Iran is the only country in which, there are potentially 40 million spies. Women that ask for the same rights as men are called spies. Men that defend these women are also called spies.
15. Iran is the first country that provides all necessary means for these spies to leave the country and cheers when they have left.
16. Iran is the first country that doesn’t find it necessary to compile documents and evidences to prove espionage charges. Whoever says that he or she is a Baha’i, that person is automatically a spy. Whoever says women are human beings with the same rights as men is a spy. Whoever is engaged in medical research for finding a cure for AIDS is a spy. Whoever establishes an N.G.O. (Non Governmental Organization) for helping children and saving the environment is a spy!
17. Iran is the first country in which at the election time, nobody is labeled spy and all have equal rights and should vote.
18. Iran is the first country in which spies, without any bias and in all fairness, are convicted, sentenced, insulted, and their names publicized by mass media, before they are even tried in courts!
19. Iran is the only country in which Baha’is are not permitted to work in any government office or agency, they hold no position of influence, they have no access to any sensitive or classified document, and they have only opened their little shops and are busy with their businesses, and yet they are still spies!!!
[Translation by Iran Press Watch.]
http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/4066

[Hound]

We Are Iran. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFrjZVHIQDE)


Guardian Council today also banned balloons & warned that the Iranian Air Defense system is on full alert.

I am not sure if that is a joke or not...

[Hound]

Iran militia raids 'target homes'


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45980000/jpg/_45980366_007556204-2.jpg Basij militia members are used to help quell civil unrest

Human Rights Watch has accused Iran's volunteer Basij militia of carrying out night-time raids, destroying property in private homes and beating civilians. The New York-based group says the raids are an attempt to stop the nightly rooftop chants against the government.
It also says satellite dishes are being confiscated to stop people from watching foreign news.
Meanwhile, on state TV, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again attacked what he said was US and European meddling.
And Iranian media reported that the public relations chief of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi had been banned from leaving the country.
Abolfazl Fateh, who was preparing to travel to the UK to work on his doctorate, told Reuters news agency that he was restricted for his role in post-election developments.
Trashing streets

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif Witnesses say the Basijis are trashing entire streets... to stop the nightly rooftop chants http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Sarah Leah Whitson
Human Rights Watch

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif

Profile: Basij militia force (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8106699.stm)

After being banned from taking to the streets, opposition protesters in Tehran have been chanting anti-government slogans from their rooftops and balconies in the last few days, starting every evening at 2200 local time.
But Human Rights Watch has now complained that members of the Basij militia have been raiding houses to stop the protests.
"Witnesses are telling us that the Basijis are trashing entire streets and even neighbourhoods as well as individual homes trying to stop the nightly rooftop protest chants," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director, in a statement posted on the group's website.
Videos have also been posted on the internet of the aftermath of the raids, showing damage to satellite dishes.
A man interviewed on the video - which the BBC did not shoot, but which appears to be authentic - said he could not complain to the police because they too were involved in the violence.
Some 17 people are thought to have died in street protests in the past two weeks, and Tehran has imposed severe restrictions on journalists and the internet.
'No meddling'
The latest developments come a day after US President Barack Obama praised the bravery of protesters in the face of "outrageous" violence.
President Ahmadinejad hit back at Mr Obama on Saturday, repeating his call not to interfere in Iranian affairs.
He said that if European and American officials believed they could affect the way that Iran's government went about its business, they were wrong.
The Iranian authorities are consistently blaming foreigners for what has happened in Tehran, and have accused Mr Mousavi of being in league with them, the BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Tehran says.
Mr Mousavi has called for an annulment of the 12 June presidential vote because of "election rigging".
Iran's powerful Guardian Council is due to give its final ruling on the election on Sunday, but a spokesman on Friday already insisted there had been no election fraud.

[Hound]

It might save their lives

http://www.iranian.com/main/files/blogimages/police.jpg (http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/shorts/it-might-save-their-lives)


by Shorts (http://www.iranian.com/main/member/shorts)
23-Jun-2009

This is a document that a friend of mine who is an Iranian-American police officer has put together. He is the member of the SWAT team and he's an expert on anti riot tactics. he has been watching and studying the videos and the tactics that basij has been using and he put the document together. It would be great to spread this document and pass it on to the kids in Iran. It might save their lives. -- SB
Here are some simple ways of defending yourself when attacked by Basij or Security forces.
Anti riot attacks
Once caught by security forces, the best way to break free is by swinging relentlessly in all directions. Keep in mind that security forces have to hold on to you, which means they only can use one hand to deflect the blows. Brass Knuckle is extremely effective when trying to break loose from the grip of security forces. Wooden brass knuckle is strong and simple to make. The image above is a sample of a basic wooden brass knuckle that can be made with a piece of wood, a cutter and a drill. It should not take more than 30 minutes to make a wooden brass knuckle. Wooden brass knuckle is extremely strong, light weight and versatile. Make sure that the top edges are sharp and round.
Motorcycle attacks
Iranian Basij motorcycle units use attack and retrieve tactics which is meant to create fear more than anything else. The same tactic was used by US police forces on horsebacks when confronting the civil right protestors. The advantage of utilizing motorcycles in urban environment is obvious: motorcycles can go places that cars can’t. However, motorcycles have disadvantages which can handicap the force that uses them.
The most effective way of disabling motorcycles is using tire spikes. Though made of carbon cratnor material, the Basij motorcycle tires cannot withstand multiple punctures. The easiest way to spike Basiji’s tires is by using a simple tire spike system called Iron Caltrop. This simple device can be made in a matter of minutes by wrapping two pieces of nail together in a 65 degree angle. By dropping a handful of Iron Caltrop on the ground, you can deflate the tires of Basijis’ motorcycles in a matter of minutes. If you ride, you know how difficult it is to steer a motorcycle with two flat tires.
Tear gas
A fabric socked in vinegar can very well protect you against tear gas. Cover your nose and mouth with the fabric and keep plenty of water around to wash your eyes if you come in direct contact with tear gas. Urban Legend: burning tires will reduce the effect of tear gas. Not true, it actually increases the effect and it smells bad too.
Batons
Riot police is trained to use batons. They understand that it’s easy to hit a stationary target and much easier to hit a target that is running away. Hitting somebody with baton is a matter of timing. The worst thing you can do is to run away from baton whirling security guards because it allows them to time the strike perfectly. The most effective way to counter a security guard with baton is to throw off his timing by going directly at him. That’s right. Run away and turn and go directly at him. When you go directly at the guard and close the distance, you completely screw up his timing. A boxer cannot hit a person that is standing 2 inches away from his face. That’s why boxer bounce around. A baton whirling guard is just like a boxer, he needs to time his strikes. By going directly at the guard and closing distance you mess-up his timing and might even be able to take him down.
Riot formation
Basij and police security guardsmen perform best when crowd disperses and becomes separated. The worst scenario for the riot police is when the crowd is together and inseparable. South Korean labor protestors in the 90s were the best organized units in history of rioting. Thousands of them held on to each other (locked arms) and no matter what, they did not let go. It made it impossible for the riot police to disperse them.
Just a few tips. Please translate and send it back to the youth in Iran. This can save their lives.

[Hound]

Ahmadinejad Vows a 'Crushing' Response
By KARIN LAUB
AP

EDITOR'S NOTE: Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.
(June 27) — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Saturday to make the U.S. regret its criticism of Iran's post-election crackdown and said the "mask has been removed" from the Obama administration's efforts to improve relations.
Ahmadinejad — with his internal opponents virtually silenced — all but dared Obama to keep calling for an end to repression of demonstrators who claim the hardline leader stole re-election through massive fraud.
[/URL]
http://www.aolcdn.com/_media/kegallerypub/blank.gif (http://javascript<b></b>:soKe.pgPopUp('news-news_media_iranprotests'))

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad slammed President Barack Obama for his criticism of Iran's post-election crackdown on protests in a speech in Tehran Saturday. Ahmadinejad said if Obama continued to call for an end to repression of demonstrations against Iran's presidential election, "the response of the Iranian nation will be crushing."
"You should know that if you continue the response of the Iranian nation will be strong," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to members of Iran's judiciary, which is directly controlled by the ruling clerics. "The response of the Iranian nation will be crushing. The response will cause remorse."

[URL]http://news.aol.com/article/iranian-president-challenges-obama/543215

[Hound]

From The Times

June 29, 2009
Iran 'has arrested 2,000’ in violent crackdown on dissent


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00580/6_2_580960a.jpg
An Iranian resident in Japan holds a placard denouncing President Ahmadinejad. Iran has clamped down heavily on protest at home




Martin Fletcher

div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited { color:#06c; } More than 2,000 Iranians have been arrested and hundreds more have disappeared since the regime decided to crush dissent after the disputed presidential election, a leading human rights organisation said yesterday.
“A climate of terror and of fear reigns in Iran today,” the International Federation for Human Rights, an umbrella body for 155 human rights organisations, said as it released the startling figures.
Last night 3,000 protesters tried to gather outside a mosque in Tehran where they believed that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated presidential candidate, was going to speak. The police rapidly dispersed them and Mr Mousavi never appeared.
Having largely suppressed such protests, the security forces are engaged in a purge of dissidents in an apparent effort to decapitate Mr Mousavi’s so-called green movement.




Prominent Iranian actors, actresses, writers and singers are believed to have been seized at the weekend for supporting the demonstrators. Several opposition bloggers have fallen silent, probably because they have been detained. Almost anyone who dares to challenge President Ahmadinejad’s re-election is now considered an enemy of the state.
At least one senior Mousavi aide and other unidentified Iranians have appeared on state television to “confess” that the demonstrations were part of a foreign conspiracy against the Islamic Republic.
Human Rights Watch says that the Basiji — volunteer Islamic militiamen — are raiding houses, beating civilians and destroying their cars and other property in an effort to silence the nightly rooftop chanting that has become the opposition’s last means of peaceful protest. “The Basiji entered our neighbourhood and started firing live rounds into the air, in the direction of the buildings from which they believe the shouting of ‘Allahu akbar’ [God is greatest] is coming from,” a middle-aged Tehran resident said.
“Shortly thereafter my cousin arrived at our apartment. He was very shaken. The Basiji had entered their house and they had destroyed the doors and they had destroyed cars in the street. In every neighbourhood of Tehran people are talking about how the Basiji and other security services are coming into their houses and terrorising people.”
A senior Western diplomat said that the regime had achieved a short-term victory and was determined to press home its advantage. “It is a system which has been challenged and which now strikes back.”
The Obama Administration and the European Union said that they would have to engage with the regime to try to halt its nuclear programme, despite the charges of election-rigging and brutality.
David Axelrod, President Obama’s senior adviser, said: “Nuclear weapons in Iran and the nuclearisation of that whole region is a threat to that country, all countries in the region, and the world, and we have to address that. We cannot let that lie.”
Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said: “We would like very much that soon we will have the possibility to restart multilateral talks with Iran on the important nuclear issues.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, appeared on state television to mock what he described as the absurd and interfering criticism of Iran by Western leaders, and to call for national unity in the face of foreign threats. “If the nation and political elite are united in heart and mind, the incitement of international traitors and oppressive politicians will be ineffective,” he declared.
President Ahmadinejad hit back at President Obama’s increasingly blunt criticism of the regime by asking what had happened to his talk of change, and added: “If you continue your meddlesome stance, the response of the Iranian nation will be crushing. The response will cause remorse.”
Despite the regime’s intense pressure on Mr Mousavi to accept the election result, he issued another defiant website message yesterday in which he rejected the regime’s offers of a partial recount and renewed his demand for a new ballot. One Iranian analyst called it a “hell no, I won’t go” statement.
Mr Mousavi said that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cronies did not steal the election merely by stuffing ballot boxes, but that they broke electoral laws before, during and after the voting. “Limiting the probe into complaints about electoral irregularities to recounting 10 per cent of the ballot boxes cannot attract people’s trust and convince public opinion about the results,” he said.
Mehdi Karoubi, another defeated candidate, also rejected the regime’s offer. “How is it possible to answer controversies through counting some ballots?” he wrote in a letter to the Guardian Council, which oversees elections.
The opposition’s options look increasingly limited. With street demonstrations no longer possible, the battle is turning into a behind-the-scenes political struggle that could last many weeks or months.
Mr Ahmadinejad has the support of Mr Khamenei, the security forces, the judiciary and most government institutions. Mr Mousavi has the backing of two former Presidents, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. The Parliament and the clerics, two powerful constituencies, appear split.
Meanwhile the millions of Mousavi supporters who took to the streets after the election now lack a plan, direction and clear leadership. “Everybody is depressed, everybody is afraid,” said a young man from north Tehran. Another man, from Isfahan, lamented: “We have no one to lead us.”

[NYer]

And Obama still wants to talk to these thugs. (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/amazing-film-captures-basij-thugs.html)

Busted! Regime thugs shoot down at democracy protesters on the street from a rooftop in Tehran.
This is one of those videos that you will not forget. What kind of regime fires on its own people peacefully demonstrating for freedom?
This should be widely circulated...

Well, I'm trying ...

[NYer]

Dude ... (http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/198014.php)

[American_Jihad]

Dude ... (http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/198014.php)

lol :add09:

[NYer]

Stand by Iranian people. (http://wincoast.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=1470614)

On June 24, Iranian Superstar Andy Madadian went into an LA recording studio with Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and American record producers Don Was and John Shanks to record a musical message of worldwide solidarity with the people of Iran. This version of the old Ben E. King classic is not for sale - it was not meant to be on the Billboard charts or even manufactured as a CD.....it's intended to be downloaded and shared by the Iranian people...to give voice to the sentiment that all people of the world stand together....the handwritten Farsi sign in the video translates to "we are one". If you know someone in Iran - or someone who knows someone in Iran - please share this link


Download here. (http://content.mydamnchannel.com/datastore/donwas/standbyme.mp3)

[NYer]

Another young woman shot. (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/another-girl-shot-in-tehran-video.html)

New video from Tehran shows another young girl being loaded into an ambulance after she was reportedly shot by regime thugs. The girl is completely surrounded by protesters who are shouting and capturing the scene on cell phone cameras.

[NYer]

About that Cairo speech ...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/SkmVR6SglqI/AAAAAAAAcf0/VhjzNlE4ovM/s400/obama+aljazeera.JPG

[Hound]

June 30, 2009
The fight for Iran’s future is far from over

The Islamic Republic is dead. But will it be replaced by a Taleban-style emirate or democracy?

Amir Taheri

div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited { color:#06c; } As the post-election crisis in Iran enters its third week, one thing is clear: the oxymoron that was the Islamic Republic is already dead.
If the radical faction led by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, wins the power struggle, Iran will drop its “republican” pretensions to become an Islamic emirate or an imamate. But if the opposition wins, the theocratic aspect of the regime will end, allowing Iran to become a normal republic in which power belongs to the people.
For 30 years, Iran has suffered from a split personality: trying to remain faithful to the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s ersatz version of Islam while pretending to have a people-based system of government.
The moment of truth for the death of the Islamic Republic came when Ayatollah Khamenei broke with tradition and declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the victor in the election even before the polls had closed. Over the past two weeks he has ignored demands for a rerun of the controversial election or even a complete recount of the votes, insisting that Mr Ahmadinejad is President not because the people elected him but because the Supreme Leader says so.
BACKGROUND




Iran ‘has arrested 2,000 dissenters’ (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6597957.ece)



British Embassy long a target for protests (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6598134.ece)



British fury as Iran takes embassy men hostage (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6597815.ece)



Ahmadinejad orders Neda death inquiry (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6601570.ece)




Over the past 30 years the Islamic Republic has organised 30 elections at various levels, from local to presidential. In every case the Supreme Leader merely endorsed the results once they had been established and announced by the Government. That kept alive the fictitious claim that the Islamic part of the system recognised the republican element. This time, however, that separation disappeared, as Ayatollah Khamenei not only announced the results but also stated publicly that he had wanted Mr Ahmadinejad to win.
The government-controlled media have highlighted the change in the nature of the regime. They now refer to Ayatollah Khamenei’s speech endorsing Mr Ahmadinejad’s re-election as “Fasl el-Khitab”, a theological term that means “end of the discussion”. Propaganda now refers to the ayatollah as “Emir al-Momeneen” (Commander of the Faithful), a title initially used for Ali ibn Abi-Talib, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law and the first imam of Shiaism.
An editorial last week in Kayhan, whose editor is appointed by the Ayatollah, put the new situation in graphic terms: “Imam Ali is back, the Commander of the Faithful. But this time he is not alone!” The editorial said that Iran was now ruled by “the Vicar of Allah” in a “pure Muhammadan system”.
The new system that seems to be emerging in Iran appears to be modelled on two Islamic states of recent times. The first is the imamate in Yemen — in which a descendant of the Prophet through Imam Ali ruled the country, with the Koran regarded as the imamate’s only Constitution. That was ended by a military coup in 1960. The second is the emirate set up by the Taleban in Afghanistan in the 1990s: any pious man could become emir, enabling Mullah Muhammad Omar, a Pushtun with no Arab ancestry, to gain the title of Commander of the Faithful. Ayatollah Khamenei, who claims descent from the Prophet, could base his claim of legitimacy on the more specifically Shia doctrine of rule in the absence of the “Hidden Imam”.
That Ayatollah Khamenei is no longer the arbiter standing above factions is clear from his almost daily interventions in the bitter power struggle in Tehran. Over the past two weeks he has tried to divide the opposition while uniting as much of the Establishment as possible behind the new emerging imamate.
That the regime is ready to abandon its democratic pretensions is clear from the crackdown that has claimed at least 25 lives and led to more than 3,000 arrests. Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a spokesman for the hardline faction, has called for opposition leaders to be tried on treason charges. Mr Ahmadinejad is preparing a second phase of the purges he started four years ago by expelling “half-pregnant” elements — individuals who dream of keeping the theocratic system behind a democratic façade. However, it is becoming clear that force alone cannot impose authority.
The regime has deployed 100,000 men from the paramilitary Basij to control Tehran and eight other major cities. But such a build-up cannot be sustained. There is the risk of the fighters siding with the protesters. Hussein Taleb, the commander-in- chief of the Basij, said yesterday that “large numbers of individuals dressed as members of the Basij” have been arrested after they took part in protest marches. The Basij, mostly teenagers from the provinces, are vulnerable to “seduction”: people invite them into their homes, give them food and soft drinks, and ask them to swap sides. “Exposed to this kind of brainwashing, some might succumb to temptation,” Taleb admits.
If the Basij disintegrates, the regime could play its trump card: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. However, the IRGC is also split, with an unknown portion of it sympathetic to the opposition. Worse still from the regime’s point of view, the IRGC if unleashed may be tempted to grab power for itself rather than protecting the mullahs.
The unknown is the intention of the millions who remain angry at the regime. To judge by the continuing sporadic demonstrations, and chants of “Death to the dictator!” shouted from rooftops, the genie appears unwilling to return to the bottle.
My guess is that the movement will not just fade away. It may suffer setbacks and losses, but it is bound to end up finding its true leaders and demanding the changes that a majority of Iranians want. The fight for Iran’s future is far from over.


Amir Taheri is author of The Persian Night: Iran under the Khomeinist

Revolution


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6605062.ece

[Hound]

Iran: Maryam Rajavi warns of execution of detainees http://ncr-iran.org/images/M_images/pdf_button.png (http://ncr-iran.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=6638) http://ncr-iran.org/images/M_images/printButton.png (http://ncr-iran.org/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6638&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=1) http://ncr-iran.org/images/M_images/emailButton.png (http://ncr-iran.org/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform&id=6638&itemid=1) Tuesday, 30 June 2009 http://ncr-iran.org/images/stories/2009/june13/20june2009_1.jpgNationwide uprising in Iran – Statement 62
Regime forms 3-man committee to deal with detainees of uprising
NCRI - Mullah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, the notorious head of the regime’s Judiciary, has set up a three-man committee to deal with those arrested in the course of the Iranian people’s nationwide uprising. The regime’s state television said on Monday that the committee would consist of Prosecutor-General mullah Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi, General Inspection Organization Director Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, and First Deputy Judiciary chief Ebrahim Reissi.
This new committee is reminiscent of the “Death Committee” founded by Khomeini in 1988 which in the space of a few weeks ordered the execution of 30,000 political prisoners. Pour-Mohammadi and Raissi were both members of the “Death Committee”. Pour-Mohammadi, a former Interior Ministry under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was at the time of the massacre a deputy Intelligence Minister and played the greatest role in carrying out Khomeini’s order for the massacre of political prisoners.
Dorri-Najafabadi, a former Intelligence Minister, is responsible for many killings and crimes in this regime, including the chain murders of political opponents in the late 1990s which took place while he was minister. All three members of the new committee have committed crimes against humanity.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, warned of the possibility that detainees of the Iranian people’s uprising would be executed and said that the mullahs’ Supreme Leader is trying to save himself and his regime from the people’s wrath through executions, killings, and spread of fear and terror. Mrs. Rajavi called on the UN Secretary General and Security Council to condemn the crimes of the mullahs’ regime and refer the criminal file of those responsible for executions, killings and suppression, which include Ali Khamenei, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Shahroudi, Dorri-Najafabadi, Pour-Mohammadi and Raissi, to an international tribunal.
Mullah Ahmad Khatami, a member of the mullahs’ Assembly of Experts, in a sermon on June 26 said those arrested had “waged war on God”, and he urged the Judiciary to execute them.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
June 30, 2009


http://ncr-iran.org/content/view/6638/1/

[NYer]

http://www.floppingaces.net/wp-content/uploads/aria09062320090622031346.jpg

[NYer]

Regime hangs six Mousavi supporters. (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/07/iranian-regime-hangs-6-mousavi.html)

http://www.floppingaces.net/wp-content/uploads/090626-twitoons-08ss_full.jpg

[NYer]

Where Is My Vote? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xfoWW3bhV8)

[NYer]

Rigged! (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1196783/Rigged-Suspicious-Iranian-ballot-papers-Ahmadinejad-scrawled-handwriting.html?ITO=1490)

'Suspicious' Iranian ballot papers show name Ahmadinejad scrawled in same handwriting

[NYer]

US Ambassador to UN won't say Iran Regime is illegitimate. (http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/01/video-us-ambassador-to-un-wont-say-iranian-regime-is-illegitimate/)

http://www.floppingaces.net/wp-content/uploads/lb0623cd20090622081736.jpg


Honduras? Well ...

[NYer]

Berman Post (http://www.bermanpost.com/2009/07/iranian-revolution-day-twenty.html): Iranian revolution - Day 20.

http://www.floppingaces.net/wp-content/uploads/090626-twitoons-09ss_full.jpg

[NYer]

Leading Clerics defy Ayatollah. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html?ref=world)

HT: Rantburg

The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country's supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country's clerical establishment.

A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult -- if not impossible.

"This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic," said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. "Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei."

Faster, Please ...

[NYer]

The Storm Ahead (http://pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen/2009/07/05/the-storm-ahead/)

The Iranian tyrant, Ali Khamenei, told his cluster of top advisers two days ago that it was time to totally shut down the protests, and he ordered that any and all demonstrators, regardless of their status, be arrested (although there is no longer room for new prisoners in Tehran’s jails; they are now using sports arenas as holding areas). He further ordered that all satellite dishes be taken down (good luck with that one; there are probably millions of them in Tehran alone). He ordered that the crackdown be done at night, to avoid all those annoying videos. By Sunday night, hundreds of new arrests had been made, including the regime’s favorite targets: students, intellectuals, and journalists.

His deadline: July 11th. He told his minions that if that were accomplished, the rest of the world would come crawling to him.

He may be right about most of the rest of the world, which has distinguished itself by its fecklessness, but he is certainly not right about his own people, who have sabotaged a major petroleum pipeline in Lurestan, and who are planning to go on strike in the next few days. I don’t know the provenance of the people who hit the pipeline (perhaps the fact that the political desk of the Tehran Times reported it is significant), but calls for strikes, building towards a big demonstration on July 9th, come from Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami.

Of course in the US, the media is focused on ... Michael Jackson.

[NYer]

The New Democrats (http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=cd438858-9a24-4214-aa53-645c7fe476c7)

What we are witnessing right now in the streets of Tehran is, first and foremost, a political battle for the future of the Iranian state. But closely linked to this political fight is also an old theological dispute about the nature of Shiism--a dispute that has been roiling Iran for more than a century.

Faster, Please. Long. Please read the whole thing.

[NYer]

Obama's Next Move. (http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/07/06/obama-s-next-move-for-iran.aspx)

The big question now: How long is Obama willing to give the Iranians to demonstrate a good-faith negotiating posture before he starts turning the sanctions screws on them? I think we're probably still a few months and some complex maneuvering away. Even if Obama is skeptical about the prospects for talks (and I suspect he is), his team believes it's critical that the international community perceive the US to have made a good-faith negotiating effort of its own. Even if Khameinei and Ahmadinejad are giving America the finger, an important kabuki dance remains.


Good Cop. (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443739359&pagename=JPost&#37;2FJPArticle%2FShowFull)

Bad Cop. (http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/FullArticle/CTOP/ntopNews_uUSTRE56507F20090706?src=RSS-TOP)


Meanwhile, Executions accelerate as general strike looms. (http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/update-iran-executions-accelerate-as.html)

[NYer]

The Iraq Effect (http://www.slate.com/id/2222254/)

The most exciting and underreported news of the past few weeks in Iran has been that the emerging challenger to the increasingly frantic and isolated "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. And Rafsanjani has recently made a visit to the city of Najaf in Iraq to confer with Ayatollah Ali Husaini Sistani, a long-standing opponent of the Khamenei doctrines, as well as meeting in the city of Qum with Jawad al-Shahristani, who is Sistani's representative in Iran. It is this dialectic between Iraqi and Iranian Shiites that underlies the flabbergasting statement issued from Qum last weekend to the effect that the Ahmadinejad government has no claim to be the representative of the Iranian people.

Blame Bush!

[NYer]

Ahmadinejad Family Feud. (http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/07/07/78095.html)

http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/family-feud.jpg

The unrest that has rocked Iran since the June 12 election has been broadcast across the world but another fight is taking place and has received little media attention as it is an internal dispute between members of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's family.

Ahmadinejad's son-in-law, Mehdi Khurshidi Azad, has been disowned by his father because he lashed out at him in defense of the incumbent's re-election. "From now on, I have no son called Mehdi," said Ahmed Khurshidi Azad. "Thanks Mr. Ahmadinejad. I gave you a decent son and you gave me back someone who doesn't hesitate to hurl accusations at anyone including his own father."

[NYer]

Ten Years Ago Today. (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/07/ten-years-ago-today-iranians-remember.html)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/SlXKU9GfJRI/AAAAAAAAcsk/mwwoJlfqtvQ/s400/batebi1.jpg

The Iranian Student Protests of July, 1999 (Also known as 18th of Tir and Kuye Daneshgah Disaster) were at the time the "worst", most widespread and violent public protests in Iran, since the early years of the Iranian Revolution.

They began on July 8, 1999, with peaceful demonstrations in Tehran against the closure of the reformist newspaper, Salam. This was followed by an attack on a student dormitory that night by riot police in which a student was killed. This in turn sparked six days of demonstrations and rioting throughout the country in which at least three more people were killed and more than 200 injured.

Read the whole thing ...

[NYer]

Police attack thousands of protesters. (http://sweetness-light.com/archive/iran-police-attack-1000s-of-protesters)

Iranian police fired tear-gas on Thursday as thousands of demonstrators defied government warnings and staged a march to commemorate the anniversary of bloody student unrest in 1999, witnesses said.

Protesters chanted "Death to the dictator" as they gathered in the streets around Tehran University, the epicentre of the violence 10 years ago.

Police deployed reinforcements after a first volley of tear-gas failed to disperse the demonstrators, who continued to grow in number, the witnesses said. Police then fired a second volley.

Officers in riot gear had been out in force to try to stifle any gathering as the authorities remained on tenterhooks following the wave of protests over last month’s hotly disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that saw hundreds of thousands take to the streets.

The authorities had warned of a harsh response to any commemoration of the 1999 violence in which at least one student was killed and dozens wounded when hardline vigilantes stormed student dormitories, according to an official toll…

Groups of students have held small commemorative gatherings in previous years, but Tehran governor Morteza Tamadon issued a blunt warning for this year’s anniversary.

"If some people make moves that are contrary to security initiatives under the influence of anti-revolutionary networks, they will be trampled under the feet of our alert people," he told the official IRNA news agency…

http://www.stuntgrunts.com/sections/photo_gallery/bunny.jpg

Still going ....

[NYer]

Live-Blogging (http://shooresh1917.blogspot.com/)

# Enghelab sq. getting busy. Forces are present. People protest in front of Chinese embassy as well!
# Army Unit (IRG) Positioned infront of Interior Ministry
# Heavy Security Forces at Enghelab Sq.
# Guards moving toward Jmalzadeh Cr. and Police replaced at Enghlab Sq
# Army Helicopters Flying Over Enghelab Sq, Park Laleh and Azadi St
# A group of people are protesting in front of Chinese embassy
# People Gathering at Vanak Sq
# Enghelab Sq is not completely closed but Police standing everywheree try to find key protesters among crowd
# Guards moving toward Jmalzadeh Cr. and Police replaced at Enghlab Sq
# There is no traffic! No security forces around Mohseni and Mirdamad
# ALARMING declaration by General Hossein Hamedani of the Basij Forces
# People & Basijis Clashes in SA’adatabad Enghelab and Tehran Universty a lot of demo
# No Mobile Network at Centrlal Tehran.
# Shiraz:clashes between people and basidj in darvaze qoran
# On St. 12 Farvardin, Tehran 300 ppl sitting on the ground
# I just called someone in Enghelab Sq. They are protesting safely! no clashes till now
# Riot Guards moving to Enghelab sq - Police force being ordered back to bases.
# Regular Security Forces ordered to leave Enghelab Sq. Guards units taking over
# ppl moving in a stream to wards Enghelab from 100 bed hospital/Khomeini Hos
# Thousends of people gathered in front of Polytechnic Uni and moving toward Valieasr St..
# SARI:arge crowd armed with flowers and cameras in center of Sari
# Basij & plainclothed at & around Dr. Beheshti Sq.
# At 5 pm , thousends of people will march toward Valieasr St in support of political priosoners and will chant " Political prisoners should be free"
# basij throwing protesters from pedestrian bridges in Shiraz
# At Enghelab Sq ,people walking on pedestrian ways,Police forces are there as well ,plainclothes are beween people.
# Enghelab square is packed with people, Basijis are beating people, people are coming from surronding streets
# Police shooting tear gas to people. people shouting dead to dictator
# Clashes between police and people in Ebghelab Square
# Clashes reported in Saatad Abad. Hundreds of protesters sitting on the ground in 12-e-Farvardin
# Clashes between ppl who were moving towards Valieasr Sq and police forces
# Clashes near Tehran university, police beating up protestors, tear gas fired
# Enghelab square being packed with people coming from side streets, Basijis fighting them with batons & tear gas
# Thousands of people are marching toward Valiasr square from Politechnic, one person is arrested in Enghelab square
# ppl R moving toward Tehran Univ. & chant Don't be afraid, we all are together
# Security forces started using tear in Karegar st. Tehran gas
# Police arrested a girl , they treated her very bad ...they pulled her on the ground on the way to the van .Several people were arrested
# Teargas fired at Enghelab Sq. clashes in Enghelab and Azadi Sq.
# 2-3000 people now in Revolution (Enghelab) Square in Tehran
# people and basijj clash at Enghelab square - people outnumber basijj by 10 to 1
# Clashes infront of Tehran Universi and VankSq
# People are joining the demonstration from Imam Hossein Sq. towards Enghelab Sq
# Police arresting seemingly at random, throwing tear gas into buses.
# Hundreds of Protesters chanting against the regime infron of Ploytechnic University, Near Azadi Sq.
# Police used Teargas against people trying to push them back at Vanak Sq
# Protests reported in Tabriz, Isfahan & Shiraz as well.
# Heavy Clashes at Karegar Shomali St, (Near Enghlab Sq.) Tear gas, Fire and blockage...
# Mashhad:In Imam reza Shrine ppl gatherd and number of them are icreasing minute by minute...
# Isfahan streets are full of plaincloths and ppl are standing in streets from Khaju Brdg to Siosepol!
# Next 2 Tehran University PPL are chanting death to the dictator and asking the Police Force to join them
# Gathered ppl at Ferdowsi Sq r increasing ,thers's a big crowd!
# More than 30 ppl were arrested againt Tehran Uni..
# Gunshots and tear gas fired at Engelab Sq
# Esafahan Basijis attacking PPL with teargas
# PPL got attacked and eye witness reported bloody PPL and teargas.
# A big group of ppl are marching in Vesal St
# Since 6pm some new groups of ppl have came to streets ...
# Helicopters moving in around the University
# From Tehran Uni to beginning of Enghelab st at least 4000 ppl clapping full Bassij presence some scattred
# Police Shooting Teargas at Poeple infront of Tehran University
# Heavy Clashes in mohammad ali jenah St.
# People are being arrested brutally in Enghelab, and tear gass is used in Vanak
# People are boo-ing the bassij and sec force as they try to disperse them & shout.. "shah Soltan Velayat ur time is up'
# uni slogans:"I will kill the one who killed my brother".."down with dictator" SHAH SOLTAN VELAYAT ur times up
# A lot of riot police have came in, and we saw them attacking people, in cooperation with basij.
# Tehran:Gunshots heard at Keshavarz Blvd.
# Tehran time:19:37
# GunShots heard from Kargar Shomali St
# ppl in Tabriz move toward Abresan intersection
# Many of Tehran Marketers are closed in July 9th occasion
# Clashes in front of Evin Prison!

This is not about an election anymore ...

[NYer]

Ahmadinejad vs The Fly. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJhyMrv0mvw)

Now where's Barack "Fly-Slayer" Obama when you need him?

[NYer]

More on the July 9 protests. (http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20090709_more_protests_break_out_in_iran/)

http://www.truthdig.com/images/eartothegrounduploads/iranprotestdeux_300.jpg

The crowds that emerged in Tehran on Thursday to once again contest the recent national election numbered in the mere thousands, but the first mass protest in 11 days demonstrated that the postelection unrest has yet to be resolved in Iran.

Demonstrators dispersed by nightfall. But after sunset, shouts of "death to the dictator" could be heard from rooftops around the city — a half-hour nightly ritual by Mousavi supporters that has continued even since the previous crackdown.

Faster, Please ...

[NYer]

Swedish Catholic woman sews green petition for Iran. (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/07/swedish-catholic-woman-sews-green.html)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/SlbA1zXGQkI/AAAAAAAAcuc/zt3po3TTpVU/s400/iran+supporter.jpg

She's already done more for the Iranian people than the Obama administration.

[NYer]

HT: Nico Pitney The Rooftop Project. (http://www.mightierthan.com/2009/07/rooftop/)

[NYer]

Montazeri's Fatwa (http://tehranbureau.com/grand-ayatollah-montazeris-fatwa/)

In a very important development, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the most senior cleric living in Iran, and one of the top two* marja’ taghlid (source of emulation) in Shiite Islam, issued a series of Fatwas, calling the Supreme Leader illegitimate and saying that he was working with the government against religion. Montazeri has called on people to take action against this injustice, even if they have to pay a heavy price for it.

Also, a Rafsanjani Sighting. (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran13-2009jul13,0,2848040.story)

The semiofficial Iranian Labor News Agency reported Sunday that Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will deliver the nation's weekly keynote religious sermon. Rafsanjani, who chairs powerful boards that oversee the office of the supreme leader and adjudicate disputes between government bodies, is the highest-profile backer of opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who lost to Ahmadinejad in an election marred by allegations of vote-rigging.

Mousavi's Facebook page said that he and his ally, former President Mohammad Khatami, would attend the prayer sermon. The Facebook page invited supporters who poured into the streets in recent weeks to attend, though Mousavi's website carried no such announcement.

[NYer]

HT: Pamela Geller

Prize-winning Photojournalist Arrested. (http://www.demotix.com/news/prize-winning-photo-journalists-arrested-iran)

It was on the morning of the 11th of July that the secret police forcibly entered the flat of Majid and arrested him in front of his wife and children. He was taken to a secret location and his flat was raided, with the authorities taking into custody tape recordings and other personal possessions. Majid Saeedi was the prominent photographer of Iranike and nine other publications since 1998. In 2001, in collaboration with Time magazine, Majid covered the war in Afghanistan and garnered 4 prizes with Japanese news source Asahi Shimbun.

Satyar Emami, a fellow photo journalist disappeared sometime between the hours of Saturday and did not turn up for work on Sunday afternoon. His disappearance has been linked to that of Majid’s arrest.

[NYer]

Nico Pitney: New Iran Media Law (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-news/reporting/nico-pitney)

This sounds frightening, via the state-backed Tehran Times:

Iran has proposed a new set of media guidelines to ensure that any criticism of state affairs will not stray from objectivity in the future.


Head of Iran's General Investigation Organization Mostafa Pourmohammadi said Tuesday that the projected guidelines would by no means limit the influence of state media, but would merely ensure that future criticism is constructive and presented in a non-judgmental manner.

The new media law came after state media became awash with provocative, insulting, derogatory, and defamatory reports following the June 12 elections.

[NYer]

I Confess, Again (http://www.roozonline.com/english/opinion/opinion-article/article/2009/july/14//i-confess-again.html)

Interrogators, you can’t stop the coming of the spring.

Read the whole thing.

[NYer]

Iran election death toll exceeds reported numbers. (http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/07/iran-election-demonstration-death-toll.php)

The number of deaths during post-election protests in Tehran exceeds government reports [press release], the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) [advocacy website] reported Wednesday. The rights group claims that at least 34 demonstrators died on June 20, contrary to government reports of 11 deaths on that day and 20 deaths total since the disputed June 12 election [JURIST news archive]. The number was determined from morgue records of three hospitals located near major demonstration areas where militia and security forces opened fire on protesters. ICHRI spokesman Aaron Rhodes stated that information being gathered suggests that "hundreds of protesters were slaughtered" during the election demonstrations. The group also alleges that those thought to be detained may also be dead. Family members of missing protesters have reported that they were shown hundreds of photographs of corpses [Norooz report, in Persian] by authorities for identification purposes.

Who's the Great Satan now?

[NYer]

More bad news for Aquavelvajad (http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2009/07/14/statistical-tests-suggestive-of-fraud-in-irans-election.html)

An American statistician says strong statistical evidence backs up the claims of Iranian protestors that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the June election was fraudulent.

Walter Mebane of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor analyzed Iranian election data and found anomalies strongly suggesting that ballot boxes were stuffed with extra votes for Ahmadinejad. Mebane also identified 81 towns where further investigations are likely to find evidence of fraud.

“This suggests that the actual outcome should have been pretty close,” says Mebane, who described his analysis on a paper posted on his website June 15 and updated June 29. The official results showed Ahmadinejad getting almost twice as many votes as his closest rival.

“His data is highly, highly, highly suggestive that something odd was going on,” says political scientist Henry Brady of the University of California, Berkeley. “Someone who really knows the geopolitical makeup of Iran might be able to take this analysis further.

Drip ... drip ... drip ...

[NYer]

Iranian VP Resigns. (http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/16/iranian-vp-resigns/) (From Ed Morrissey)

The official Iranian news media reports today that the Vice-President of Iran, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, resigned three weeks ago. The man originally appointed by Mohammed Khatami - who has joined protesters in defying the mullahs over the results of the presidential election — also served as head of Iran’s nuclear program, which the BBC considers more significant:

The head of Iran’s nuclear organisation, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, has resigned, according to the ISNA news agency.

The report said the nuclear chief had submitted a letter of resignation to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nearly three weeks ago. …

Mr Aghazadeh also stepped down as the country’s vice-president, ISNA reported.

The BBC says that the reasons for Aghazadeh’s resignation were “unclear.”

Seems pretty clear to me.

[NYer]

Rafsanjani leads Friday Prayers, attempts to coax the genie back into the bottle. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-news/reporting/nico-pitney)

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/33192_151.jpg

Former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful cleric in Iran who supports reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, delivered the Friday sermon in Tehran today for the first time since June's presidential election. The sermon was heavily attended; many thousands of people are now demonstrating in the city, and reports indicate that riot police are out in large numbers, using tear gas and batons. Details on Rafsanjani's speech are below (at link) -- the time stamp is 6:00AM.

[NYer]

Fear and terror less and less effective. (http://niacblog.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/fear-and-terror-less-and-less-effective/)

The main slogans were “Baradar’e basiji chera Baradr Koshi” (”Brother basiji, why do you kill your brother?”, the speaker after Rafi was urging people to shout “death to America” and “death to Israel” people responded in mass by shouting “death to Russia” and “death to the dictator..."

[NYer]

36 Army officers arrested over protest plans. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/19/iran-army-officers-arrested)

[NYer]

"It's Not A Theocracy Anymore" (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/world/middleeast/21guards.html?_r=2&hp)

As Iran’s political elite and clerical establishment splinter over the election crisis, the nation’s most powerful economic, social and political institution — the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps — has emerged as a driving force behind efforts to crush a still-defiant opposition movement.

Meet the new boss ... same as the old boss.

[NYer]

Amir Taheri: (http://www.nypost.com/seven/07222009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/ajad_hoping_for_a_lifeline_from_o_180708.htm) A'jad hoping for a lifeline from O.

WILL President Obama help the Khomeinist re gime regain some of the legitimacy it lost in last month's rigged presidential election?

Former President Muhammad Khatami raised that question Sunday while meeting with families of some of the 5,000 activists arrested during anti-regime protests.

Khatami, a mid-ranking mullah, was echoing remarks by another former president, Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has indicated he won't recognize President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election to a second four-year term.

In his speech, Khatami suggested holding a referendum to establish the legitimacy of the regime. He didn't specify the question to be put to the vote but insisted that an "outside authority," such as the United Nations, supervise it.

Remarks by both Rafsanjani and Khatami show that the opposition is determined to not endorse a second Ahmadinejad administration. Even if such an administration seemed a fait accompli, much of the establishment, perhaps even a majority, would continue to withhold its allegiance.

The two former presidents have indicated they won't attend Ahmadinejad's inauguration, which has been postponed to Sept. 2 in hope of finding a compromise to end the boycott.

To cover up his isolation at home, Ahmadinejad hopes to tempt the West with promises of negotiations.



Deal ... or No Deal?

[NYer]

A Khamenei - A'Jad Spit? (http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/22/a-khamenei-ahmadinejad-split/)

This weekend, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad created a fury among his rapidly declining set of supporters by appointing his son’s father-in-law, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, as first vice president, a key position within the Iranian government. Today, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei publicly rebuked the man he claims was divinely granted a victory in a rigged presidential election by reversing the appointment:

Iran’s supreme leader handed a humiliation to the president, ordering him to dismiss his choice for top deputy after the appointment drew sharp condemnation from their hard-line base, media reported Wednesday.

The move by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared to show his need to keep hard-liners’ support even at the cost of angering the president, a close ally — at a time when Khamenei is facing unprecedented opposition after the disputed June 12 election.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s appointment for his top vice president sparked a rare split within the hard-line camp to which he belongs. A chorus of ultra-conservative clerics and politicians denounced his choice, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, while Ahmadinejad had strongly defended the appointment.

However, Ahmadinejad has indicated that he may refuse to follow the “exalted leader,” as Khamenei’s press release calls him, and keep Mashai in place...

Are the wheels coming off the bus? If so - Faster, Please.

[NYer]

Khomeini's Grandson leaves Iran to avoid Inauguration. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/21/iran-khomeini-ahmadinejad-inauguration) HT: Rantburg

The grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of Iran's Islamic revolution, is reported to have left the country to avoid attending Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidential inauguration. Hassan Khomeini, a supporter of the defeated reformist candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has travelled to an unnamed "neighbouring country" to escape official pressure to be present at next month's swearing-in ceremony, according to the pro-reformist news website, Salaamnews.

His absence would be a blow to the authorities' hopes of using the hallowed Khomeini family name to confer legitimacy on the event in the face of allegations that Ahmadinejad owes his re-election to fraud.

Hassan -- a member of the pro-reformist Association of Combatant Clerics -- is the most well-known and politically active of Khomeini's surviving descendants.

[NYer]

Murder of An Only Child
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/07/24/tehran-murder-of-an-only-child/

Colleague Thaddeus McCotter, 11th Michigan (R), spoke on the floor of the House this news cycle to bring to history the name and face of a young Iranian woman, 19 year-old Taraneh Mousavi, who was arrested and abducted on July 9th by Basij thugs in Tehran.

There were witnesses to Taraneh Mousavi’s abduction near the Ghoba Mosque. Her crime? Wearing a green scarf for the protest against the illegitimate usurper Ahmadinejad.

The report is that Taraneh Mousavi was later found beaten, raped, tortured.

More at link.

Faster, Please.

[NYer]

Phase 2 Has Begun. (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1912941,00.html?xid=rss-world)

http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2009/0907/iran_wright_0724.jpg

The second phase plays out in a boycott of goods advertised on state-controlled television. Just try buying a certain brand of dairy product, an Iranian human-rights activist told me, and the person behind you in line is likely to whisper, "Don't buy that. It's from an advertiser." It includes calls to switch on every electric appliance in the house just before the evening TV news to trip up Tehran's grid. It features quickie "blitz" street demonstrations, lasting just long enough to chant "Death to the dictator!" several times but short enough to evade security forces. It involves identifying paramilitary Basij vigilantes linked to the crackdown and putting marks in green — the opposition color — or pictures of protest victims in front of their homes. It is scribbled antiregime slogans on money. And it is defiant drivers honking horns, flashing headlights and waving V signs at security forces.

Going Green takes on a whole new meaning ...

[NYer]

It ain't over 'til it's over. (http://tehranbureau.com/updates-8-mordad-30-july/#iranelection)

Protests resumed at Behesht Zahra cemetery - where Neda and other recent victims of the regime are buried.

Update | around 9 pm Tehran time

Although their effort to disperse protesters was ineffective compared to previous episodes, the Guards and Basij forces were unusually savage today — I saw many women beaten without reservation and glass shattering on cars with small children inside.

Yet people were more bold than I’d ever seen them. As I write this at 9:00 pm from a location in Abbas Abad district, the shouts of “Death to Khamenei!” and chaotic honks are drifting in loud and clear from the window. It is dark, night has fallen – and protests are still continuing strong. Never have they lasted this late except on the first few days following the election.

It’s NUTS! I’ve never seen it like this before! It’s still going on, 9 pm now — raging! As I said, its more like a riot, totally out of control.

Earlier: This appeared to be the most successful protests since the crackdown began. It was more akin to a riot… The forces were decidedly not in control of the situation. The protests were too widespread and numerous, up and down Valiasr; and east and west, around the Mosala area entire main roads chock full — even stretching into side streets such as Yousef Abad (central
Tehran).

Guards would storm the crowd but even then the chants would continue amidst the beatings. People held their ground much more boldly than before; they would not be subdued. The guards did not remain in any one spot long, since chaotic protests swarmed in all directions. No sooner would they turn back when the crescendo of “Death to the Dictator!” would peak again and furious honking would resume and Vs would go up triumphantly.

This time, the cars were very actively involved in the protests. Honks blared incessantly in the Thursday rush hour gridlock. Drivers joined in the shouting. The traffic also helped obstruct the flow of pickups carrying Basij troops — stuck, they gazed out at the sea of cars in dismay. Some would weave in between cars and smash windshields; shattered glass lay on the asphalt at regular intervals.

[NYer]

John Batchelor: Tehran's Twilight Show Trials (http://johnbatchelorshow.com/jb/2009/08/twilight-tehran-trials/)


What's Breaking News Tonight
Twilight Tehran Trials
By John Batchelor on August 2, 2009 1:39 PM | 3 Comments


Show of Weakness.

Rod Serling's Twilight Zone's magnificence grows now fifty years later as we can choose stunning dystopian episodes like "The Obsolete Man" (above) and brood anew about the necessity of the state broadcasting its wisdom and power. In this case, the state televises an expression of power by condemning a conniving book reader and antiquarian. Oddly, the state permits the condemned a last request. Perhaps the state is sentimental, perhaps the state is needful of validation by showing it is unafraid of the whimsy of enemies. Burgess Meredeith's last wish is to entrap the state's mouthpiece in order to demonstrate that the mouthpiece (judge, jury and prosecutor, like the Tehran villain prosecuting the show trial) is mortal and fragile. It is a spiteful act of self-destruction as well as sabotage. Looking at the Tehran show trials, there is little need to change any of the lessons of "The Obsolete Man." Colleague Michael Vlahos (author, "The Fighting Identity") remarked Saturday 1 (the new Saturday show) that the show trials are the regime's naked and bold if unaware admission of weakness. Yet, remined Michael, the reviled, facile Shah was also weak, and he ruled with idle brutality for fifteen years, 1963 to 1978, due to the support of Britain, America and Aramco cronies. There is a warning here, too, that the way to bring down a state that insists upon broadcasting its weakness is to destroy yourself with the state. Tehran seems a city of martyrs just now. The one positive I heard last eve was an unconfirmed tale from the resistance that the richest mullahs are sending their money out of Iran for Beirut and other depositories. A truck convoy containing, goes the report (from Tehran via the most perspicacious Banafshe Zand-Bonazi, Planet Iran) filled with gold bars worth $18.6 billion, was intercepted or spied in Turkey bound for Beirut -- goes the report. Michael Vlahos's immediate interpretation was that the significance of the report is not its validity but that, like fairy tales or legends, it reports on the scale of fear, hope, mockery, expectation, dystopian plot twists, now available to folk when they speak of the Tehran regime. "The Obsolete Man" shows what happens when a victim gets power by reporting a bomb threat to the state. The state loses power. Is the usurper Ahmadinejad losing power as the reistance whispers of the truck convoy of gold bars fleeing Iran? Yes. More soon.

Please visit the link to see the original episode of The Obsolete Man.

[NYer]

Tehran Fiction. (http://johnbatchelorshow.com/debrief/2009/08/tehran-fiction.php)

New video from Tehran source (at link) showing a rowdy street scene in Tehran on the night of 6/7 August. The usurper Ahmadinejad has closed the circle and completed the coup d'etat. The Supreme Leader Khamenei, who is dying and reported routinely heavily narcotized, depends upon his son Mojtabi to work with Ahmadinejad and the IRGC cadre that controls the military and security apparatus. The state is paralyzed except in terms of shielding itself from civil challenge. There is no order in Tehran; the economy is adrift; the mullahs at Qom are hostages to the MOIS. The center has collapsed. The turmoil in Tehran is now at a point where civil war in possible and panic is a certainty. The Obama administration has sound intelligence on the rot in Iran; yet it continues to pursue the fiction of demarche with a hollow, ravenous, illegitimate regime with nukes.

[NYer]

Opposition Forces Unite. (http://ace.mu.nu/archives/291051.php)

It's one thing to have an opposition. It's another thing to have an opposition willing to table questions about which of them should displace the existing regime, united fully on the precept that the regime must be replaced.

Faster, please.

[NYer]

The Mahdi Replies. (http://wincoast.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=1488231)

... They are right to blame you. Your letter puts the blame on the satanic foreign infidels, with their tricky lies and their diabolical “velvet revolution.” But they are not the cause of the rage against you. They have not caused the near-epidemics of drug addiction and prostitution, the rage from unpaid workers, the anger of women whose value has been officially reduced to half a man’s. You did that.

You did a lot of that in my name, as a matter of fact, which doesn’t go down well here at the bottom of my well. You want to use an ‘iron hand’ to establish an order favorable to you, but I am all about chaos and confusion, out of which I will bring an order sanctioned by the Almighty, blessings be upon him. You talk about a “Basij philosophy.” What in the world is that?

Do you really believe that I am going to forgive you for the slaughter of my people? Am I supposed to help you slaughter even more? Is that what “Basij philosophy” means?

The End of Days, when I return to lead the glorious jihad against the infidels, will come about when the faithful are inspired to follow me, not beaten into passive submission by brutal self-proclaimed advocates of an undefined doctrine that justifies cruelty to my people. Are you building an army of tortured and broken followers? Are those the warriors you will deliver to my banner? If so, the infidels will have an easy time of it, I fear.

At the moment, dear Hassan, as you have well described it, the faithful seem to be of quite a different spirit. They want to be free to pursue the dictates of their own minds and inner moral instincts. If you want my help, you should do everything possible to help them fulfill this admirable desire.

We can continue this chat if you wish. As you see, I do not wait three decades to share my thoughts.

(Signed)

The Lord of Time

Now about those nukes ...

[NYer]

Aquavelvajad appoints wanted international terrorist (http://www.washtimes.com/news/2009/aug/21/iranian-defense-minister-terrorist/) to the post of Defense Minister.

Now about that unclenched fist ...