...a debate has been going on as to how much the United States of America, its president, the Congress, and the American people should speak out in favor and in support of these brave Iranians...and their quest for the fundamentals of freedom and democracy that we have enjoyed for more than a couple of centuries. So, Mr. President today I, and all America pays tribute to a brave young woman who was trying to exercise her fundamental human rights, and was killed on the streets of Tehran. All Americans are with her our thoughts and our prayers for her.
#2
I've referred to him as an attention whore many times. I'm not going to question his motives for mentioning it on the Senate floor. I'm glad he did.
It is a mistake to assume that the ayatollahs, cynical and corrupt as they may be, are acting rationally. They are frequently in the grip of archaic beliefs and fears that would make a stupefied medieval European peasant seem mentally sturdy and resourceful by comparison.
Continued on Page 47
President Bush said liberating Iraq would have a regional domino effect and give people a taste for freedom and democracy. Is this what we're seeing now in Iran?
As Bush said, liberty isn't American, or British, or French. It is human. No, the morality police in Iran are not just "part of Iranian culture" as some critics of Bush have claimed. Nor are public hangings. Nor are arbitrary detentions of doctors, or Holocaust denial conferences.
Peace comes through the spread of liberalism and democracy. Whatever the "foreign policy realists" or "regime apologists" might claim, there is little doubt in my view that should Iran become a free nation the world will be a safer place for all, not just a better place for Iranians.
I have posted some videos of the Iranian uprising on my website and I would strongly urge you to watch them. They show the reality of Iran's dictatorship, a reality that many international TV networks are refusing to show. Some of these videos are disturbing but I feel they need to be watched to understand the true nature of Iran's regime and why it should never be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
I have not included those which are too bloody to watch. To state the obvious, this is not some video game or Hollywood movie. These events really happened, and they happened last week, and the leader of the free world, Barack Obama, has been extraordinarily slow to criticize them.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Mike ||
06/22/2009 16:26 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11133 views]
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#1
Unfortunately, we are playing with someone else's dominos
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/22/2009 17:01 Comments ||
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#2
Not if President Zero has anything to say about it.
#3
Where's that nutjob Pelosie and the rest of the idiots in DC on this? The coward Murtha is out for vengance over waterboarding, but murder in the streets is ok.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/22/2009 17:59 Comments ||
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#4
Iran's younger folk may have learned an object lesson from these "Purple fingers" we helped happen - and made sure they were clean elections as well. That's happened a couple times now in Iraq. Compared to the Saddam days, Iraq is thriving now. Awfully hard to ignore that in Iran, just across the border.
Jim Treacher: "For every minute Bush spent reading to kids after hearing about 9/11, Obama has had 1 full day to deal with the Iranian election." At least he's spent his time constructively let's go and get an ice cream! although recent polls are trending south. And he can always rely on the Blair’s Law support of Ron Paul [R-Kos].
The Wall Street Journal is reporting extensively on the sale of advanced web monitoring equipment to Iran by a joint venture of Germanys Siemens and Finlands Nokia.
Interviews with technology experts in Iran and outside the country say Iranian efforts at monitoring Internet information go well beyond blocking access to Web sites or severing Internet connections.
Instead, in confronting the political turmoil that has consumed the country this past week, the Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection, which enables authorities to not only block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes, according to these experts.
Much of this technology comes from the joint venture, which now has blood on its hands. Siemens has been there and done that (profited from fascism) and should have known better, but it didnt.
In any case, if you can construct advanced equipment of this nature, theres a good chance you know how to jam or override it. The joint venture should provide this information as quickly as possible to people and organizations that can do something about this before it is used for even more nefarious purposes (when Iran gets the bomb). Other high technology companies should immediately desist from dealing with Iran. That includes General Electric, whose record on Iran is checkered at best. Technology companies who do not do this voluntarily should be boycotted. Due to Twitter, etc., this is probably happening already. A significant number of people - myself included - will not be thinking of Nokia for their next cell phone.
Giving advanced equipment to the mullahs is sort of like handing a loaded machine gun to Charles Manson....
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Mike ||
06/22/2009 15:06 ||
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#4
Unfortunately this is just business as usual. Companies have no nationality, no morale and no pride.
The technology in question is actually used in most advanced networks, just that usually these networks are not in the hands of one government.
But companies will not mind: Yahoo will turn over the identy of dissidents to China if sales are menaced, monitoring software will be installed on every computer exported to China.
Good thing is that the internet was designed to survive nuclear war. So new monitoring technologies will sooner or later find their match, just as Apple iPhones will be jailbreaked.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/22/2009 20:41 Comments ||
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#5
Cell phones can be used as a bugging and locating device even when turned "off". The microphone can be remotely activated and conversations overheard even when you think the phone is not active. The only way to be safe is to remove the battery.
...the Autobus Workers Union places itself alongside all those who are offering themselves in the struggle to build a free and independent civic society. The union condemns any kind of suppression and threats.
To recognize labor-union and social rights in Iran, the international labor organizations have declared the Fifth of Tir (June 26) the international day of support for imprisoned Iranian workers as well as for the institution of unions in Iran. I think this means that the are on strike that day but I may be wrong
We want that this day be viewed as more than a day for the demands of labor unions to make it a day for human rights in Iran and to ask all our fellow workers to struggle for the trampled rights of the majority of the people of Iran.
Israeli President Shimon Peres applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters on Sunday, saying the young should "raise their voice for freedom", while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the world was sympathetic to Iranian election protesters but added it was unclear whether the unrest would spur change in Tehran's policies. Peres suggested the protesters could bring down their leaders. "Let the young people raise their voice for freedom, let the Iranian women ... voice their thirst for equality," Peres told a gathering of world Jewish leaders. If the protests continue, Peres said, "hopefully the poor government will disappear". "I have no doubt everybody in the world is sympathetic to the Iranians' desire for freedom," Netanyahu said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' when asked about the street demonstrations that have erupted in Iran since the disputed June 12 election. "I think it's too early to say what will transpire in Iran and on the international stage," said Netanyahu, who spoke from Israel. He reiterated Israel's position that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
If this uprising succeeds, I hope they remember their friends.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/22/2009 12:15 Comments ||
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[Mail and Globe] Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said the Islamic Republic must be purged of what he called lies and dishonesty, sending out a direct challenge to conservative rulers after a week of unrest in Iran.
State television aired interviews on Saturday with critics of the protests sparked by a disputed June 12 presidential election, urging Iranians to unite behind the government and suggesting only the West gained from Iran's troubles.
Helicopters criss-crossed Tehran and ambulance sirens wailed into the night after streets emptied of protesters who had defied Friday's stern warning from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against further demonstrations.
Riot police were deployed in force, firing teargas and using batons and water cannon to disperse groups of several hundred Iranians who had gathered across the city. There were fears of further violence on Sunday.
Government restrictions prevent correspondents working for foreign media attending demonstrations to report, and the scale of any injuries or arrests was unclear.
State television said a "number" of people were injured.
Mousavi, focus of the biggest protests since the Islamic Revolution ousted the US-backed Shah in 1979, said elections that delivered an overwhelming victory to hardline anti-Western President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were fraudulent and must be annulled. He said the fraud was months in the planning.
Mousavi, who claims victory in the poll, told supporters he was "ready for martyrdom", according to an ally. But he said he did not seek confrontation with the authorities.
"We are not against the Islamic system and its laws but against lies and deviations and just want to reform it," he said in a statement on his website at the end of a tumultuous day.
He said if authorities refused to allow peaceful protests they would face the "consequences" -- an apparent rejoinder to Khamenei's warning that opposition leaders would be held responsible for any bloodshed resulting from protests.
"The people expect from their officials honesty and decency as many of our problems are because of lies ... The Islamic revolution should be the way it was and the way it should be," Mousavi said. The authorities reject charges of election fraud.
'Listen to the leader'
State television said rioters smashed windows of banks and burned buses. They also aired interviews with people critical of the demonstrations that have racked major oil and gas producer Iran since the announcement of the election results on June 13.
"We all should listen to our leader [Khamenei] and preserve calm," said one unnamed woman, aged around 40. "Otherwise we will make our enemies [the West] happy."
State television said Iran had arrested members of the exiled, opposition Mujahideen Khalq Organisation (MKO) it accused of "terrorist activities" including setting buses on fire and destroying public property.
Iranian newspapers carried a letter to Mousavi from Iran's police chief Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, in which he warned that officers would "decisively confront" any further unrest.
Mousavi is himself a product of the Islamic establishment that has dominated Iran since 1979 and opposing that establishment may sit uneasily on his shoulders. But the demonstrations of the last week, swelling to hundreds of thousands, appear to have acquired a powerful momentum.
Beyond the violent confrontations with police, it was a day fraught with symbolism for the Islamic Republic.
A suicide bomber blew himself up at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, police and state media said -- an attack likely to stir passions in a country where the father of the Islamic revolution is deeply revered. The identity of the bomber was not known.
Another reminder of 1979 came as darkness fell, when supporters of Mousavi sent cries of Allahu Akbar [God is greatest] echoing across the rooftops.
United States President Barack Obama, in the forefront of diplomatic efforts to halt an Iranian nuclear programme the West fears could yield atomic weapons, urged Tehran to "stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people".
"The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost," Obama said in a statement.
Iran's highest legislative body said it was ready to recount a random 10% of the votes cast in the election to meet the complaints of Mousavi and two other candidates.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
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The Iranian government has suffered a serious blow to its legitimacy, but that blow is not fatal. Barring dramatic and unlikely changes in the ensuing weeks, the regime will remain intact, by force if necessary. As much as we might like it to be otherwise, that is the reality Washington faces. I agree. They'll likely remain in business as an "Islamic Republic." They're not going to be the same regime when it's all over, however. They're going to have to do something, one way or the other: They're either going to have to tighten up, suppressing future dissent, or they're going to have to loosen up, which means purges and resignations, quiet or otherwise.
Critics, including many advocates of engagement with Iran, who argue that Obama's policy of negotiating with Iran has to be delayed or scrapped entirely misread the situation-as do those calling for rhetorical grand gestures from the White House. Agreed. After all this time, I'm still trying to figure why it's okay and understandable for them to snarl and snap and make demands and not okay for us to even raise our voices.
Lost in the clamor is sober reflection on how best to serve American interests, which sometimes conflict with the desire to make emotionally satisfying but ineffective and even counterproductive declarations in favor of anti-regime protesters. I'd say that "American interests" involve anything that enhances individual liberty for the inhabitants of any country, anywhere. That should be our strategy. Anything else, to include long term alliances, diplomacy, war, or peace, is tactics.
The protests were always going to face an enormous uphill battle against the government, and the Obama administration has given them their best chance for success by refusing to act as their cheerleader. It's not a binary situation. B.O. should be careful not to give the impression that the protests are something funded by the U.S., nor the product of actions by U.S. agents. But we should be unequivocally and wholeheartedly in favor of free and fair elections and the security of the populace -- starting with freedom from having knobs thumped on their heads for wanting transparent elections.
The United States will not and should not intervene with direct action. Nobody's said we should. Words are not direct actions. So far the Brits, Frenchies, Germans, and the president of Israel have somehow found the words our president has been lacking.
Consequently, provocative language from the White House would likely only incite a bloodier crackdown. The protesters are already risking their lives-it would be unconscionable for the President to put them in greater danger by making proclamations that lend them no real aid and serve only to appease his domestic critics. It is ironic in the extreme that the same critics who rail against the President for his so-called "narcissism" should demand that Obama insert himself into an internal Iranian drama with potentially disastrous consequences for the people in the streets of Iran. See above. It depends on what the provocative language from the White House involves. Our problem at the moment is that the White House, I don't think, doesn't believe that rights accrue to the individual. They're closer in philosophy to the ayatollahs, who are of the opinion that states have rights and the citizenry has obligations.
Advocates of engagement have become more skeptical of the wisdom of negotiating with Tehran in light of Ahmadinejad's re-election. However, it is precisely the hard-liners in power in Iran who will be best positioned to deliver a deal and who will be most in need of the international credibility that a deal would bring.
[More at the link] - DANIEL LARISON (Ph.D., History) is a contributing editor at The American Conservative. He also writes on the blog Eunomia. Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
People are ignoring the lesson of the Soviet block collapse. The regime stays in power as long as its security apparatus is willing to suppress dissent. If even a small part of the security apparatus falters then there is a rapid cascade as more and more the security people do nothing as fear of what happens after regime change grows.
The reported use of 'Arab' and foreign security to suppress dissent indicates to me we may be already be in the cascade.
Look for reports of Army/Police standing by and doing nothing to stop protests.
#3
Note where this is pubished, The American Conservative, Pitchfork Pat Buchanan's vanity rag, a publication that is sympathetic to the various Middle Eastern tyrranies (the House of Saud and the PA, to name a couple) and opposed deposing Saddam Hussein. I would go so far as to say that The American Conservative is probably in sympathy with Ahmadinejad's plans for Israel!
It may be that the bad guys will survive this round. I would, however, keep in mind a quote from that Will Collier piece I posted last week:
The reign of the ayatollahs in Iran has an expiration date, and the ayatollahs know it. Seventy percent of Iran's population wasn't even alive in 1978, and they've had enough of the mullahs and their Basij bully boys. Whether their yoke is thrown off in 2009 or in 2012 or 2020, it's going to happen, probably within the next decade or so.
I hope any sane person would agree that sooner would be better, but here's a question for all of those who are eaten up with concern over "what will they think of us?" Whenever the turn comes, what exactly will they think of us, if we turn our backs on them today? What will they think if we just hedge our bets against the ludicrous idea that we might be burning (nonexistent) bridges with the mullahs otherwise?
Posted by: Mike ||
06/22/2009 8:21 Comments ||
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#4
...As I see it though, here's our problem: if Dinnerjacket wins, he's going to go all Khomeni on us because we've criticized his stealing an election. If Mousavi wins, he's actually farther out in Mooselimbland than Dinnejacket is (with the exception of wanting to get the lifestyle police off everybody's backs), and he's going to have to do some serious threatening to establish his bonafides. Either way, we don't end up much better than where we're starting. I don't normally have much sympathy for our current POTUS, but when you look at the either/or on this one, we're kinda screwed no matter what we do.
Mike
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/22/2009 9:44 Comments ||
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#5
"Good morning, this is the CENTCOM Revolutionary Guard Targeting Hotline, how can we be of assistance this morning."
"Pardon me a minute while I pull up our Google satellite map to confirm the location you are referring to."
"No sir, we can't guarantee we can get them all, but we can cut them down to your size to deal with."
"Well sir, just like your neighbors in Iraq, every call helps in it own way of separating the predators from the herd."
#6
It took a year of rioting to overthrow the Shah. But at the same time, there is no voice of democracy in Iran, outside of the influence of ideas from Iraq.
Other factors include Iran being something of a colonial power over its large minority regions, the Kurds, Arabs and Baluchs. If there is a major disorganization, these areas could become very unstable.
#7
I am happy this author did not exist when Reagan spoke out over Solidarity and Poland. Rhetoric of this sort ignores the cultural, economic and racial fault lines in Iran.
What happened to the Shining City On A Hill? Is it now a slinking pit of cowardice and blather? Have conservatives such as this given up on supporting freedom in the world? The reasoning this fellow gives could have been used by advocates of "Peace in Our Time" to support accord with Hitler.
Has America truly forgotten all it had learned, is freedom not worth even speaking out for?
#8
Mike, one thing would be different: there'd be a precedent that the people could decide if the mullahs were wrong. You're right, in the short term that doesn't guarantee sane rulers for Iran.
Posted by: James ||
06/22/2009 10:33 Comments ||
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#9
Not so sure the mullahs will win. It is difficult to stop a popular movement that has momentum without creating more momentum.
#10
Several IRGC officers have been arrested for refusing to carry out orders. When you start depending on foreigners (Lebanese and Syrians) to stay in power, you are close to finished.
The important fact is that this battle is between Islamists. They took 400 potential candidates and allowed 4 to stand for elections (i.e. the most loyal 1%). If you have to rig the election on the most loyal 1%, you don't have a following at all.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/22/2009 11:30 Comments ||
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#11
You can bet those old UH-1's drifting around overhead are manned by camera crews loyal to Dinnerjacket filming the "progress" of riot control troops and personnel.
#12
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a popular movement & look how that turned out. I have little hope that yet another revolution there will improve things much for anyone except the winners.
#13
I see "astroturfing" in play here from The Axelrod of Evil. They are covering for BHO already down playing the odds of a successful revolution and creating a skepticism of the "greens" really winning in the long run. This could very easily back-fire especially if Mousavi and his contingent do in fact succeed - it will be Merkel and Sarkozy he will naturally align with first in a toast of success.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/22/2009 14:18 Comments ||
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#15
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.
Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi on Saturday night told his supporters he was ready for martyrdom, and demanded that the entire disputed election be annulled.
He dramatically raised the stakes in the standoff with Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after publishing a letter to the country's highest electoral authority in which he cited examples of electoral fraud to support his "undeniable right" to call for a re-run of the election.
Mr Mousavi made his defiant call during a speech delivered in southwest Tehran, according to an ally, who telephoned a western news agency shortly afterwards to report: "Mousavi said he was ready for martyrdom and that he would continue his path."
A witness told Reuters that Mr Mousavi had called for a national strike if he was arrested.
It was an unprecedented act in defiance of Ayatollah Khamenei, who has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of the June 12 election and on Friday ordered an end to protests by demonstrators who say Mousavi was the winner.
It came as a few thousand protesters defied threats of bloodshed from Iran's rulers and attempted to march through central Tehran - only to be beaten back by riot police. Heavily armed police and militia flooded the streets and used tear gas and batons to attack them.
Only an estimated 3,000 dared to show themselves, far fewer than the hundreds of thousands who filled the streets during the last few weeks. The two main protest leaders, Mr Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who were beaten by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the disputed poll nine days ago, had both called off their official rallies.
Earlier in the day, the pair had been offered a minor concession when the Guardian Council, which supervises elections, promised to recount 10 per cent of the votes to check for election fraud - a suggestion that had previously been dismissed by protesters as a cynical ploy to buy time.
In their first real show of force since massive street rallies erupted in central Tehran last week, the authorities deployed thousands of riot police and plainclothes Basij militiamen in the city centre. Helicopters buzzed menacingly overhead.
As protesters began to gather near the university campus, chanting "death to the dictatorship", the police set upon them with baton charges, water canons and tear gas.
"Lots of guards on motorbikes closed in on us and beat us brutally," one protester said. "As we were running away the basiji (militia) were waiting in side alleys with batons, but people opened their doors to us. Iran has become Palestine."
Another report described gunfire at a rally and at least one casualty. Separately, there were reports that a man had died in a bomb attack at the Ayatollah Khomeini shrine a few miles south of the city - likely to have been launched by one of the ethnic separatist groups that have carried out periodic attacks in Iran.
Yesterday's violence and Mr Mousavi's continued defiance came after a week of the biggest street protests seen in Iran for 30 years - and divisions between hardliners and reformists that mean the country may never be the same again.
Cordons of riot police, dressed in their military green uniforms with white stripes down the trouser legs and wearing heavy black helmets, stood in lines three deep along Enqelab (revolution) and Azadi (freedom) streets.
Together, the two roads form a long east-west highway bisecting the centre of the city and running past the main gates of Tehran University, a scene of turmoil throughout Iran's modern history. It was along this street that millions of people surged to accompany Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini when he returned from exile to usher in Islamic rule in 1979.
According to a regular participant in last week's demonstrations, the protesters yesterday hoped to form large groups in side streets before bursting onto the main highway, thwarting attempts to disperse them. Unconfirmed video footage posted online showed groups of people charging through the streets as teargas and smoke from a burning car swirled around them. Riot police and men with sticks could be seen in the background.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
For this to work the military or the police must refuse to attack peacefull protests and stand up to defend them against the Basij.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/22/2009 13:36 Comments ||
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#2
Sad to say but I think the mullahs have won. Violence, as the world saw in Tiananmen Square, is the ultimate trump card these days.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Guardian Council has admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of those eligible to cast ballot in those areas.
The council's Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 on Sunday, made the remarks in response to complaints filed by Mohsen Rezaei -- a defeated candidate in the June 12 Presidential election.
"Statistics provided by Mohsen Rezaei in which he claims more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities," Kadkhodaei said.
The spokesman, however, said that although the vote tally affected by such an irregularity is over 3 million, "it has yet to be determined whether the amount is decisive in the election results," reported Khabaronline.
The spokesman, however, said that although the vote tally affected by such an irregularity is over 3 million, "it has yet to be determined whether the amount is decisive in the election results," reported Khabaronline.
Three of the four candidates contesting in last Friday's presidential election cried foul, once the Interior Ministry announced the results - according to which incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner with almost two-thirds of the vote.
Rezaei, along with Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, reported more than 646 'irregularities' in the electoral process and submitted their complaints to the body responsible for overseeing the election -- the Guardian Council.
Mousavi and Karroubi have called on the council to nullify Friday's vote and hold the election anew. This is while President Ahmadinejad and his Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli have rejected any possibility of fraud, saying that the election was free and fair.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
setting the bar for ACORN
Posted by: abu do you love ||
06/22/2009 1:07 Comments ||
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#3
Statistics provided by Mohsen Rezaei in which he claims more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities," Kadkhodaei said>
#5
this shows another reason why Obama has to be cautious
the Mullahs are only doing big time what the Dems are doing small time
- dead voters
- felons
- illegal aliens
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/22/2009 8:11 Comments ||
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#6
An interesting factoid someone mentioned, is that it took over a year of rioting for the Shah to be overthrown.
And comparatively speaking, SAVAK, the Shah's secret police, was as incorporated into society as much as the STASI were in East Germany. Almost 1/3rd of all Iranian men had some connection to SAVAK. Compared to that, the Mullah's enforcers are tiny in number.
#7
The mullahs got the religious control thingee on their side. They don't need as many enforcers. That may change. It seems the people in Iran are really, really p*ssed that their votes don't count.
#8
the mullahs are able to steal charitable donations because of the religion
they have also been able to get many businesses to be partially owned by the IRGC
two big advantages
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/22/2009 10:41 Comments ||
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#9
Anonymoose, I think it took so long for the Shah to fall because he tolerated the demonstrations early on and didn't crack down really hard because he didn't want to be seen as a brutal dictator. Jimmuh Catah and the US Gubmint had something to do with that. I think if he had really knocked a lot of heads things would be different. This time the Mullahs will not be so loathe to get really nasty. I look for the Mullahs to win. Hope I'm wrong.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/22/2009 12:10 Comments ||
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#10
I doubt there was even a vote count--the fix was in; why bother actually counting the votes when you can "just say" you counted the votes? The outcome was known before the election.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Expediency Council head Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani's daughter, Faezeh, has been released after being briefly arrested for participating in an illegal rally in Tehran.
Faezeh Hashemi along with four other members of the former president's family had been reportedly arrested for having participated in an illegal rally "in [Tehran's] Azadi Avenue and inciting and encouraging rioters" on Saturday.
Rafsanjani's daughter was the last of those detained to be released on Sunday evening.
The other four, which included Faezeh's daughter, Hossein Mar'ashi's wife, daughter, and sister-in-law -- Mar'ashi is a cousin to Hashemi-Rafsanjani's wife -- were released earlier on Sunday.
Moreover, Hashemi-Rafsanjani's children are reportedly barred form leaving the country.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009 00:00 ||
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[11135 views]
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[Jakarta Post] An eerie calm settled over the streets of Tehran Sunday as state media reported at least 10 more deaths in post-election unrest and said authorities arrested the daughter and four other relatives of ex-President Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of Iran's most powerful men.
The reports brought the official death toll for a week of boisterous confrontations to at least 19. State television inside Iran said 10 were killed and 100 injured in clashes Saturday between demonstrators contesting the result of the June 12 election and black-clad police wielding truncheons, tear gas and water cannons.
Iran's regime continued to impose a blackout on the country's most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
But fresh images and allegations of brutality emerged as Iranians at home and abroad sought to shed light on a week of astonishing resistance to hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The New-York based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said scores of injured demonstrators who had sought medical treatment after Saturday's clashes were arrested by security forces at hospitals in the capital.
It said doctors had been ordered to report protest-related injuries to the authorities, and that some seriously injured protesters had sought refuge at foreign embassies in a bid to evade arrest.
"The arrest of citizens seeking care for wounds suffered at the hands of security forces when they attempted to exercise rights guaranteed under their own constitution and international law is deplorable," said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesman for the campaign, denouncing the alleged arrests as "a sign of profound disrespect by the state for the well-being of its own people."
"The government of Iran should be ashamed of itself. Right now, in front of the whole world, it is showing its violent actions," he said.
State-run Press TV reported that Rafsanjani's eldest daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, and four other family members were arrested late Saturday. It did not identify the other four.
Last week, state television showed images of Hashemi, 46, speaking to hundreds of supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. After her appearance, hard-line students gathered outside the Tehran prosecutor's office and accused her of treason, state radio reported.
Rafsanjani, 75, has made no secret of his distaste for Ahmadinejad, whose re-election victory in a June 12 vote was disputed by Mousavi. Ahmadinejad has accused Rafsanjani and his family of corruption.
The influential Rafsanjani now 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.
His daughter's arrest came as something of a surprise: Just Friday, Khamenei had praised Rafsanjani as one of the architects of the revolution and an effective political figure for many years. Khamenei acknowledged, however, that the two have "many differences of opinion."
Thousands of supporters of Mousavi, who claims he won the election, squared off Saturday against security forces in a dramatic show of defiance of Khamenei.
Underscoring how the protesters have become emboldened despite the regime's repeated and ominous warnings, witnesses said some shouted "Death to Khamenei!" at Saturday's demonstrations -- another sign of once unthinkable challenges to the virtually limitless authority of the country's most powerful figure.
Sunday's state media reports also said rioters set two gas stations on fire and attacked a military post in clashes Saturday. They quoted the deputy police chief claiming officers did not use live ammunition to dispel the crowds.
Iran has also acknowledged the deaths of seven protesters in clashes on Monday.
State media also reported a suicide bombing at the shrine of the Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on Saturday killed the attacker and injured five other people.
There was some confusion about the death toll. English-language Press TV, which is broadcast only outside the country, put the toll at 13 and labeled those who died "terrorists." There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
Amnesty International cautioned that it was "perilously hard" to verify the casualty tolls.
"The climate of fear has cast a shadow over the whole situation," Amnesty's chief Iran researcher, Drewery Dyke, told The Associated Press. "In the 10 years I've been following this country, I've never felt more at sea than I do now. It's just cut off."
Iran has imposed strict controls on foreign media covering the unrest, saying correspondents cannot go out into the streets to report.
Reporters Without Borders said 20 journalists were arrested over the past week. The British Broadcasting Corp. said Sunday that its Tehran-based correspondent, Jon Leyne, had been asked to leave the country. The BBC said its office remained open.
Also Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki held a news conference where he rebuked Britain, France and Germany for raising questions about reports of voting irregularities in hardline Ahmadinejad's re-election -- a proclaimed victory which has touched off Iran's most serious internal conflict since the revolution.
Mottaki accused France of taking "treacherous and unjust approaches." But he saved his most pointed criticism for Britain, raising a litany of historical grievances and accusing the country of flying intelligence agents into Iran before the election to interfere with the vote. The election, he insisted, was a "very transparent competition."
That drew an indignant response from British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who "categorically" denied his country was meddling. "This can only damage Iran's standing in the eyes of the world," Miliband said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, urged Iran anew to conduct a complete and transparent recount, and Italy called on the regime to find a peaceful end to the dispute.
In Washington on Saturday, President Barack Obama urged Iranian authorities to halt "all violent and unjust actions against its own people." He said the United States "stands by all who seek to exercise" the universal rights to assembly and free speech.
Obama has offered to open talks with Iran to ease a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze, but the upheaval could complicate any attempts at outreach.
Israeli President Shimon Peres applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters Sunday, saying the young should "raise their voice for freedom" -- an explicit message of support from a country that sees itself as most endangered by the hard-line government in Tehran.
Saturday's unrest came a day after Khamenei sternly warned Mousavi and his backers to all off demonstrations or risk being held responsible for "bloodshed, violence and rioting." Delivering a sermon at Friday prayers attended by tens of thousands, Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad, calling the result "an absolute victory" that reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end their street protests.
Mousavi did not directly reply to the ultimatum.
A police commander sharpened the message Saturday. Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said more than a week of unrest and marches had become "exhausting, bothersome and intolerable." He threatened a more "serious confrontation" if protesters return.
On Sunday, former reformist president Mohammad Khatami called for the formation of a board to decide the outcome of the disputed election, and urged the release of detained activists and an end to the violence in the streets.
The government has blocked Web sites such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites used by Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence. Text messaging has not been working in Iran since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down.
But that won't stifle the opposition networks, said Sami Al Faraj, president of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies. "They can resort to whispering ... they can do it the old-fashioned way," he said.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11135 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#3
We (Allied forces) airdropped millions of cheap pistols to the underground in WW2, why not do it again, over Tehran, with small Green parachutes to show who's to get them?
Yeah, Yeah, we'e guided by a communist/socialist COWARD this time.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/22/2009 14:17 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
As Bush said, liberty isn't American, or British, or French. It is human. No, the morality police in Iran are not just "part of Iranian culture" as some critics of Bush have claimed. Nor are public hangings. Nor are arbitrary detentions of doctors, or Holocaust denial conferences.
Israeli President Shimon Peres applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters on Sunday, saying the young should "raise their voice for freedom", while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the world was sympathetic to Iranian election protesters but added it was unclear whether the unrest would spur change in Tehran's policies. Peres suggested the protesters could bring down their leaders. "Let the young people raise their voice for freedom, let the Iranian women ... voice their thirst for equality," Peres told a gathering of world Jewish leaders. If the protests continue, Peres said, "hopefully the poor government will disappear". "I have no doubt everybody in the world is sympathetic to the Iranians' desire for freedom," Netanyahu said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' when asked about the street demonstrations that have erupted in Iran since the disputed June 12 election. "I think it's too early to say what will transpire in Iran and on the international stage," said Netanyahu, who spoke from Israel. He reiterated Israel's position that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
The Iranian government has suffered a serious blow to its legitimacy, but that blow is not fatal. Barring dramatic and unlikely changes in the ensuing weeks, the regime will remain intact, by force if necessary. As much as we might like it to be otherwise, that is the reality Washington faces. 
Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi on Saturday night told his supporters he was ready for martyrdom, and demanded that the entire disputed election be annulled.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Guardian Council has admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of those eligible to cast ballot in those areas. 
