Article

2005-06-20 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Fred 2005-06-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Lol! Only symps or fools could possibly:

a) think this election means anything - other than a position from which to loot, pillage, and exercise power...

b) call Rafsanjani a "moderate", lol!

AP. Apology Peddler / Agent Provocateur / Axiomatic Pinko / Anarchy Propagandist

Posted by .com 2005-06-20 04:43|| 2005-06-20 04:43|| Front Page Top

#2 It is hilarious, in the usual dark way, to behold the full panoply of stories being unrolled WRT the Iranian electoral farce. First there were the "horse-race" stories, complete with color pieces about youth involvement, use of pop-culture approaches to attract them, etc. Now we have disputes over "vote-rigging".

On January 30 I heard a major western news agency bureau chief in Baghdad solemnly (and absurdly) state that a turnout of less than 50% in that day's elections would impair the legitimacy of the enterprise. And now we witness extensive, sometimes lavish, coverage of the Iranian events by the MSM, all of it explicitly or implicitly respectful of the emperor's wonderful new wardrobe, hardly a hint that perhaps the whole thing is a hollow exercise. Astounding -- if it weren't commonplace by now.

As if to challenge me to unslacken my jaw and stop shaking my head, the other night CNN International had a typically self-serious and tsk-tsking piece on Microsoft's bowing to PRC pressure WRT web-search, etc. Imagine, a western corporation bowing to local censorship pressures -- even if the company's core mission wasn't about democracy or free expression. This, on CNN!

Hello! Can you say "Gaza"? How about "West Bank"? How about "Iraq, pre-Iraqi Freedom"? I've long since concluded that this level of unintentional self-parody and factual/moral inversion can only be explained by IQ levels, not merely extravagant bias, politicization, and lack of professionalism. Though all those are certainly on display, as well ......

Posted by Verlaine in Iraq 2005-06-20 06:46|| 2005-06-20 06:46|| Front Page Top

#3 a couple of good places to go for news on Iran are:

http://www.regimechangeiran.com/

and

http://www.activistchat.com/

Posted by mhw 2005-06-20 09:28|| 2005-06-20 09:28|| Front Page Top

#4 Does anyone else look at this picture and suspect that the Ayatollah digs showtunes?

Posted by BH 2005-06-20 10:32|| 2005-06-20 10:32|| Front Page Top

Harvey Fierstein and Ayatollah Rafsanjani...separated at birth.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2005-06-20 10:47|| 2005-06-20 10:47|| Front Page Top

00:03 anon1
23:55 Sobiesky
23:30 trailing wife
23:25 Old Patriot
23:05 Barbara Skolaut
23:04 xbalanke
23:04 Barbara Skolaut
22:43 Sheans Shock6632
22:42 Captain America
22:41 DMFD
22:37 Hammurabi
22:16 Captain America
22:15 Captain America
22:08 Rafael
21:55 Iblis
21:53 badanov
21:26 rkb
21:26 True German Ally
21:22 OldSpook
21:22 RWV
21:16 Mike Kozlowski
21:15 OldSpook
21:13 True German Ally
21:12 True German Ally