Iranian state television's Channel Two is playing a Lord of the Rings marathon in an attempt to keep people inside watching hobbits and not protesting in the streets. Normally people in Tehran are treated to one or two Hollywood movies a week, but with recent events the government hopes that sitting through a nine hour trilogy will take the fight out of most. Perhaps this was not the best choice in films if you want your people not to believe that "even the smallest person can change the course of the future."
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/25/2009 16:42 Comments ||
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#2
All that is gold does not glitter
Not all those who wander are lost
The old who are strong do not whither
Deep roots are not reached by the frost
From the ashes a fire shall be woken
A light from the shadow will spring
Renewed be the blade that was broken
The crownless again shall be king.
#3
Considering the heroic role of the Persian women in all this, the scene Jacket ought to worry about is:
Witch King: [taking Eowyn by the throat] You fool. No man can kill me. Die now.
[Eowyn rises and pulls off her helm, her hair falls down over her shoulder]
Eowyn: I am no man.
[she thrusts her sword into the Witch King's helm and twists; he shrieks and implodes]
Posted by: Matt ||
06/25/2009 17:00 Comments ||
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#4
yes
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/25/2009 17:09 Comments ||
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#5
One of the best parts Matt. But you forgot that Merry stabbed him behind the knee.
Might get them thinking about stabbing others behind the knee.
On Wednesday, Mousavi met with 70 university professors, said the Web site, Kalemeh. The professors, among a group pushing for a more liberal form of government, were detained after the meeting, the site said. It was not clear where the professors were taken, the report said. most of article is on other stuff in Iran Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/25/2009 08:30 ||
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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran said the gunman who killed Neda Agha-Soltan may have mistaken her for the sister of an Iranian "terrorist," the Islamic Republic News Agency reported Wednesday. They may have. And they may not have.
Iran blamed the death of the woman known to the world simply as Neda squarely on "those groups who want to create division in the nation," saying they planned the woman's killing "to accuse the Islamic republic of ruthlessly dealing with the opposition," according to IRNA, Iran's state-run news agency. Must be terrorist groups of some kind if they want to take down the Iranian government. Only terrorists would use these kinds of evil tactics. Right?
The report said the investigation into her death is ongoing, "but according to the evidence so far, it could be said that she was killed by mistake. The marksmen had mistaken her for the sister of one of the Monafeghin who had been executed in the province of Mazandaran some time ago." It could be said. And it could be a trial balloon. Or it might not if it sticks.
Monafeghin refers to the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran, or PMOI, which promotes a secular, Marxist government for Iran, and has waged a violent campaign against the fundamentalist Islamic regime, including bombings that killed politicians, judges and Cabinet members.
Also known as Mujahedin-e-Khalq, the group initially was formed to oppose the Shah of Iran but fell out of favor with the Islamic Revolution of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after 1979.
The European Union removed the group from its list of terrorist organizations this year, prompting outrage from Tehran. The Iranian Foreign Ministry accused the European Union of "making friends and cooperating with terrorists" by removing the group from its list.
Neda, 26, rose to prominence within hours after a crudely shot video documenting her final moments was uploaded to the Web. Shortly after she died Saturday from a single gunshot wound to the chest, she emerged as a powerful symbol of opposition to the Iranian government. One of many, I'm afraid. I guess guys don't count.
"It's heartbreaking," President Obama said Tuesday, referring to the video of Neda, which means "divine calling" in Farsi. Thanks for not voting present, Limpbama. Good to see you have an opinion, even if you did find it on a teleprompter.
"And I think anyone who sees it knows there's something fundamentally unjust about it." Something you just can't quite put your finger on. Or affix your opinion to.
The Iranian government has sought to minimize the impact of her death. By sending Basij and police to oust her family from their homes and go after anyone who mourns her death, of course. What could better befit someone who was killed by, err, "terrorists". That's why her family is reported to be under arrest, evicted from their home, and no funeral allowed, right?
IRNA reported Wednesday that the killer, or killers, may have "thought that they were targeting one of the government opposition people and that is why they immediately distributed the video of the aftermath of the killing through the official and unofficial media in order to reach their murderous objectives against the Iranian government and revolution." They may have. And they may not have . . . . Continued on Page 47
#6
my understanding is that the Basij asshole was captured by the crowd, had his ID grabbed, and released. Expect him to show up "killed by terrorists" to cut the "who gave you the orders?" inquiry
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2009 21:01 Comments ||
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#7
"the Basij asshole was captured by the crowd"
Too bad the crowd didn't just beat him to death and leave him for the buzzards.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/25/2009 21:42 Comments ||
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#8
that'll happen, and more horrific for him
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2009 22:40 Comments ||
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ALLEGATIONS that Iran's presidential election on 12 June was rigged are being followed up by statisticians in the US and elsewhere who are studying published voting figures for signs of irregularities. They say they have found "moderately strong" evidence that the figures are not genuine, though all are careful to emphasise that maths alone can't prove fraud.
Opponents of the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was declared to have won by a landslide, have pointed to his wide margin of victory, the speed of the announcement and some unexpected results, such as Mehdi Karroubi's poor showing in his home state of Lorestan.
One suggested anomaly - that Ahmadinejad's proportion of the vote remained almost constant as the results were announced in six stages - was soon debunked by New York-based statistician and political pundit Nate Silver. He says this is not surprising when votes are reported in large slabs, and that the same effect would have occurred during last year's US presidential election if the results had been reported this way.
To dig deeper, Boudewijn Roukema of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland, used a mathematical tool called Benford's law. In many random sets of data, numbers are more likely to begin with 1 than any other digit. The next most frequent starting digit is 2, then 3 and so on, in a precise relationship. The law applies to any set of numbers scattered randomly on a logarithmic scale.
Any deviation from this pattern could suggest that figures have been manipulated. This has been used to uncover tax fraud and false expenses claims, and Roukema now says it points to fraud in the Iranian election. He analysed the vote counts reported for the four candidates in 366 districts. Votes for three of the candidates fit expected patterns, but Karroubi has an unexpectedly large number of counts beginning with the digit 7. The chance of such a large deviation from Benford's law happening without foul play is only 0.7 per cent, Roukema says. "The simplest interpretation would be that someone interfered in the overall counts per district."
Political scientist Walter Mebane of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has found another anomaly. Based on figures from Iran's presidential election in 2005, when Karroubi was also among Ahmadinejad's rivals, he built a statistical model to predict how each would be expected to do in various districts in 2009.
The model assumes that the 2005 votes were based on regional differences in policy preferences, ethnicities and demographics that should still show up in 2009. Yet in around 200 of the 366 districts voting numbers were inconsistent with the model - and in two-thirds of these, Ahmadinejad's vote was higher than predicted. "It is moderately strong evidence in favour of the idea that there was fraud," says Mebane.
This is far from proof, however. "It is also compatible with the idea that the model is no good," Mebane admits. "I've never said that statistics alone can prove fraud." What it can do is identify places where there may be fraud, so that other investigations - such as studying the ballot papers themselves - can follow.
Continued on Page 47
#3
it is good to have professional statisticians weigh in here
back when I was in my 20s and 30s, people thought statisticians would be prominent players in policy analysis because it was important to have accuracy and precision before committing to policy
however, it didn't work out that way; it turned out politicians (both Rs and Ds) and the suck up types that depend on the favor of the politicians resent actual scientific analysis. (I got in trouble a few times for showing policy makers flaws in the p.c. analysis of the times).
I particularly like Silver's analysis because a lot of bloggers (mostly followers of Andrew Sullivan) were touting the constant proportion effect as mathematical certainty of fraud.
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/25/2009 10:13 Comments ||
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#4
maths alone can't prove fraud.
But statistics are the superior technique for taking a census to determine representation, right?
Prove, no. But very strongly indicate, absolutely. Just like Einstein's theories were only hypotheses until the astronomers saw starlight curved around the solar eclipse. Thank you for the perspective, Lord garth.
The current uprising in Iran is not merely about a fraudulent election. The simmering masses of Iran are restless for the freedom and prosperity they once enjoyed, before being straitened for decades by the strictures of religious fanaticism. The people have seized upon this election fraud to push for greater openness and such forgotten notions as womens rights. Nothing better illustrates the awful injustices Iranian women face than a soon-to-be released film, The Stoning of Soraya M.
The film tells the grisly true story of an innocent woman who was stoned to death in Iran on charges of adultery. The events which are described in flashback by the title characters aunt, Zahra take place in 1986, in the rural village of Kupayeh. Zahra recounts how years earlier her niece Soraya entered a marriage that had been arranged by her parents. She was 14 and her husband, Ali, was 20. Together they had four children, two boys and two girls. Ali was emotionally and physically abusive to his obedient wife, physically beating Soraya and openly cavorting with prostitutes.
Continued on Page 47
I commented that he was an apologist, and comment response was that he performed adequate penance in risking getting his coconut cracked. Note that hasn't happened. Here's a comparison of this MSM lib getting his credibility lanced while doing the "Duranty-Twist" suckup to a Islamic Thugocracy Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
You ever notice that when it comes to 180's or flip-flops that the liberals are more professional in that aspect than anyone.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/25/2009 13:16 Comments ||
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The wife of Iranian opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi called for the immediate release of detained protesters as her husband was to appear at a mass protest outside the country's parliament.
In her statement, which appeared on Mousavi's Web site, Zahra Rahnavard said it was her "duty" to continue "legal" protests and condemned the presence of armed guards in the streets, Reuters reported. "I regret the arrest of many politicians and people and want their immediate release," Rahnavard said in the Web site statement, according to Reuters.
Rahnavard has raised eyebrows in Tehran for campaigning alongside her husband in the conservative state, and emerged as an important asset in her husband's campaign.
Mousavi claims that hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the June 12 presidential election through massive fraud. He has called for annulling the results and holding a new vote.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[11134 views]
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#1
"Let my people go!"
I read a tale that started that way, once upon a time. I seem to recall ten plagues and a drowned army ended it.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama plans to return an ambassador to Syria, filling a post that has been vacant for four years and marking an acceleration of Washington's engagement with the Arab world, the White House said on Wednesday.
Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama's decision was aimed at fulfilling his promise to show more U.S. engagement in the Arab world and not a response to any explicit policy change on Syria's part. He cited a series of meetings between Syrian and U.S. officials since Obama took office.
"This strongly reflects the administration's recognition of the role Syria plays, and the hope of the role that the Syrian government can play constructively, to promote peace and stability in the region," Gibbs said.
One of the more clueless things he's said. Syria? Constructive? As in, how many more Lebanese politicians and police will the Syrians and Hezbollah murder in the coming year?
The move reinforces Obama's determination, outlined in his Cairo speech earlier this month, to deepen America's role in the Middle East as he seeks to broker peace among Israel and its Arab neighbors and improve U.S. relations in the region.
A senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity before the announcement was made said: "The president believes that diplomatic engagement helps serve our interests, and that the current policy didn't make sense."
So let's reward the bullies and thugs and see what happens ...
Jeffrey D. Feltman, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, informed Syrian ambassador to Washington, Imad Moustapha, of the plan on Tuesday night.
Moustapha, said that U.S.-Syrian relations "were headed in the right direction" and away from the freeze during the Bush administration. Nevertheless, Moustapha said, "It is still difficult to talk about radical change in the relationship but we can talk about advancing in small, but consecutive and positive steps."
Feltman and White House official Daniel Shapiro have both visited Damascus, the Syrian capital, at least twice this year as part of talks about bettering relations with a country shunned by former President George W. Bush.
Syria remains a key to prevent establishing peace with Israel, which still occupies the strategic Golan Heights, captured from Damascus in the 1967 war.
Who started that war?
Had the Juices not been there, there'd have been no war, silly, so of course it was the Juices' fault. The logic is unanswerable.
Syria held indirect talks with Israel last year, mediated by Turkey. But the discussions were halted during the Israeli offensive on Gaza in December and January. Syria has since said it was ready to resume indirect talks with Israel's new hard-line government as long as they focus on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan.
In return for what? What does Syria have to give, other than Hezbollah, Hamas and the PLFP? Anyone think the Syrians will do that?
Why should they, when it belongs to the Ummah by right.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the move was a matter for the United States and Syria. "We have never interfered in decisions by the Americans or anyone else. What is important is to see some kind of change in Syrian policy, and unfortunately we have not seen any change," he said. "Syria is not prepared to hold direct talks with Israel without preconditions. What should disturb us is this Syrian policy, which is not encouraging, and I don't see any signs there of a desire to see any progress or any real peace."
The U.S. withdrew its ambassador to Syria in 2005 to protest Syrian actions in neighboring Lebanon. Washington has criticized Syria and Iran for supporting Islamic militant groups such as the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah. The U.S. also has accused Syria of not doing enough to stop the infiltration of militants to fight U.S. and allied forces in neighboring Iraq.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[11132 views]
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#1
word I have heard is this is a serious attempt to take advantage of the events in Iran to turn Syria - Assad must be getting very nervous these days.
Hamas and Hezbollah are exactly what you get (well at least Hamas - seriously, I think Abbas is more like to make peace with Israel than to give up his grip on Lebanon)
That of course is huge.
Would Assad? I dunno. If he thinks hes about to face a govt in Iran that is not so friendly, that is willing to cut a deal with the US that dumps HIM, he just might.
And failing that, even if Assad isnt about to bite, it get folks in Teheran thinking he might. Not that that will effect Dinnerjacket, or perhaps not even Khameni. But it might get some fencesitters among the mullahs and in the security forces wondering just how dangerous it is sticking with Khameni, as he gets them isolated even from Syria.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/25/2009 16:47 Comments ||
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#2
Assad will want immunity in the Harriri case, plus some cash, plus our cooperation from Israel plus lots more .
in return he will agree to ...
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/25/2009 19:16 Comments ||
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[Maghrebia] Maghreb analysts reacting to the ongoing tensions between Iranian protesters and their government over the results of the June 12th presidential elections suggest that the political crisis may have implications beyond Iran's borders. Some see the violent clashes as a struggle between theocracy and democratisation in a new age of open and global media; others contrast the situation in Iran to that seen in Arab countries.
"We can understand from what's taking place in Iran right now that the laws of the Khomeini revolution of the 1970s are no longer suitable for governing the liberal generation of today's 'global village'," said Talib, a Mauritanian journalist. "This will inevitably lead to violence, destruction and loss of trust unless the opinions of these generations are taken into account by returning to democratic methods".
Kader Abderrahim, a researcher for the Institute of International and Strategic Relations in Morocco, said a battle has begun between religious rule and democracy. The theocracy established in 1979 now finds itself in the same situation as the Shah's feudal regime before it was overthrown. "This system is running out of puff," he said, "and if it doesn't want to come to the same end, then the only solution is dialogue."
Iranian leaders believed their society was truly closed, suggested Taj Eddine El Housseini, a Moroccan lecturer in international relations. Nevertheless, citizens used mobile telephones and the internet to reveal what is truly happening in Iran to the rest of the world. "There were many people hoping that the protests would end with the speech from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but they have just increased all the more," he said.
Omar Belhouchet, director of Algeria's El Watan newspaper, noted that something is changing in the Islamic republic: "Despite being considered a hermetically-sealed regime, the Iranian authorities have discovered, in the light of the presidential election... a new form of political challenge advanced this time by people from their entourage who until now declined to challenge them so openly."
Another Algerian newspaper, Le Temps, discussed the use of amateur video to break a local media blackout. The violence of the clashes was depicted, one journalist wrote, "in a video published online on Saturday, and seen by hundreds of thousands of Internet users, showing the bloodied face of a young woman, Neda, presented as a demonstrator shot dead".
Moez Zayoud, professor of media at the Tunisian University, said the recent election uncovered and exposed totalitarian regimes in the entire region. "Media coverage of the events in Iran showed that [these] regimes... are still unaware that tightened censorship on the modern technologies of information and communication will only lead to adverse results," he suggested.
"In the past, it was possible to besiege the few journalists who were moving against the prevailing current," Zayoud continued. "Today, it has become easy for ordinary people to take part in the production of media content."
In fact, he said, there are so many ways to disseminate information now that "it has become impossible for the eyes of censorship to reach everyone".
Zayoud concluded with a critique of the Iranian regime's response to the emerging crisis. "[T]he Iranian authorities became confused over the shaking of their image in the world, and their portrayal as election riggers and oppressors of freedom. The Iranian regime confronted that confusion with high tension... and its heightened measures of censorship on different media -- especially electronic media -- led to the circulation of a darker picture of conditions in Iran."
The professor said that Iran's premeditated closure of social networks and sites such as YouTube, Twitter, DailyMotion and Facebook was unacceptable to young people, "including those who didn't originally take part in the demonstrations... these websites have become an important part of their social lives, and it seems that the Iranian regime is still refusing to recognise these changes."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
the first boss is the last. The US screwes it up or the moslems do. Everlasting peril?
I think not.
I requested Darius. You have any better suggestions?
#2
"[T]he Iranian authorities became confused over the shaking of their image in the world, and their portrayal as election riggers and oppressors of freedom."
I doubt that. I think they were surprised by the reaction of the populace, period. Elections have always been rigged by controlling who can run, and suppressing freedom is a key part of their religious responsibility. The U.S. is the Great Satan because of the freedom to do and to promote speech and actions that the Koran forbids.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Riot police blocked protesters from gathering in Tehran on Wednesday, witnesses said, as Iran's supreme leader warned he will not back down in the face of unrest following the disputed presidential vote. "In the recent incidents concerning the election, I have been insisting on the implementation of the law and I will be (insisting). Neither the system, nor the people will back down under force," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
It was the latest indication that the clerical regime will not tolerate dissent over the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad despite a wave of public demonstrations and complaints that the June 12 election was rigged.
Iran has refused to overturn the results of the poll but Khamenei -- who has ruled over the Islamic republic for 20 years -- has extended by five days a Wednesday deadline to examine vote complaints
" In the recent incidents concerning the election, I have been insisting on the implementation of the law and I will be insisting. Neither the system, nor the people will back down under force "
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
And in a sign security forces are wasting no time to put down protests, a large presence of riot police and Basij militiamen stopped a crowd of several hundred people trying to assemble outside the Iranian parliament building, according to a witness. Another witness near parliament reported seeing police charge at passers by, who dispersed into nearby streets. Later in the evening a big squad of riot police remained deployed in the area, a source said.
Diplomatic backlash
" Iran's decision to try to turn what are clearly internal matters for Iran into a conflict with the U.K. and others is deeply regrettable and without foundation "
UK govt
In the latest diplomatic backlash over what Iran has branded Western meddling, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran may downgrade ties with Britain.
His comments came after the two governments expelled diplomats in a tit-for-tat move, with Tehran increasingly pointing the finger at London over the street violence that erupted in the aftermath of the election. "We are monitoring the situation. We have noted these reports. We have always been clear that we seek a constructive bilateral relationship with Iran based on mutual respect," a spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said.
"Iran's decision to try to turn what are clearly internal matters for Iran into a conflict with the U.K. and others is deeply regrettable and without foundation."
Tehran has accused Britain -- described by Khameini as the "most evil" of Iran's enemies -- of plotting against the election and seeking to stabilize the country. It has expelled the BBC correspondent in Tehran and arrested a British-Greek journalist working for a U.S. newspaper, one of at least two foreign reporters detained by the authorities.
Iran's interior minister also took aim at the United States, saying rioters were being funded by the CIA and the exiled opposition group the People's Mujahedeen. "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 news agency Fars.
Rezaei withdraws
" Iran's political, social and security situation has entered a sensitive and decisive phase, which is more important than the election "
Mohsen Rezaei
Another defeated candidate, former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaei, has withdrawn his protest about election irregularities, in a blow to the opposition. "(Iran's) political, social and security situation has entered a sensitive and decisive phase, which is more important than the election," Rezaei said in a letter to the Guardians Council, the top election body.
Mousavi, who was premier in the post-revolution era, has urged supporters to keep demonstrating but to use "self-restraint" to avoid further bloodshed while another defeated candidate Mehdi Karroubi has called for a mourning ceremony on Thursday for slain protesters.
The Revolutionary Guards, the elite force set up to protect the Islamic republic, has warned of a "decisive and revolutionary" riposte to any further protests.
The last opposition rally on Monday was crushed by hundreds of riot police armed with steel clubs and firing tear gas.
The foreign media is banned from reporting from the streets under tight restrictions imposed since the unrest was unleashed, but images of police brutality have spread worldwide via amateur video over the Internet.
Mousavi's wife
Meanwhile the wife of Mousavi called on the establishment to immediately release Iranians detained at election protests and said she would continue to protest but was sure to add "legally," according to Mousavi's website. "I regret the arrest of many politicians and people and want their immediate release ... It is my duty to continue legal protests to preserve Iranian rights," Zahra Rahnavard was quoted by the website as saying. She also criticized the presence of armed forces in the streets.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Where are the voices of outrage from other Islamic countries over the violence committed by the regime in the name of allah?
#2
They are facing conflicting pressures. The authoritarian sunni states Egypt, SA, etc are happy to see Khameni have troubles. OTOH they can hardly like the example of street protests. And ultimately a democratic Iran, friendly to the west (or at the very least less unfriendly) would make the US less dependent on Saudi (and Egyptian) good will.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/25/2009 16:40 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's supervisory body the Guardian Council says there have been no major irregularities in the country's presidential election.
The council's Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei told Press TV on Wednesday that the body had reviewed all complaints lodged by the presidential candidates.
The remarks came as the Guardian Council extended a deadline to endorse the results of the elections. The Iranian official said the extension of the deadline to endorse the poll was a confidence-building move and there had been no major irregularities in the vote. He concluded that the final decision of the council is expected to be declared at the end of the five-day extra time.
The influential body, which oversees the election, had a 10-day deadline to approve the June 12 election results, after looking into the complaints lodged by the presidential candidates.
The deadline was to expire on Wednesday but Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Council asked the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to extend the deadline by five days. Ayatollah Khamenei in a letter to Jannati on Tuesday agreed with the request.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[11144 views]
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#1
Hey! If they can decide who reuns, why can't they decide who wins?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/25/2009 6:29 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Tehran mayor says there are some 'problems' in Iran's election law which have caused difficulties during both the election process and the counting of votes.
"The fact is that there have long been problems in our country's electoral law, which has never been reformed," Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf said in a Tuesday interview with IRIB channel two.
He added that the execution of the law in the June 12 presidential election was also flawed.
Qalibaf also criticized what he called 'the absence of a proper system to informing the public' about the election results, saying this created doubts mong the people.
Presidential contenders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have called for the nullification of June 12 presidential election result, which declared incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner with almost two-thirds of votes.
Both Mousavi and Karroubi have filed complaints about 'widespread vote rigging' -- an allegation denied by electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council, and the Interior Ministry.
Tehran's mayor also criticized the live TV debates between presidential candidates before the election, saying the debates were used by the candidates for 'defaming each other and making accusation against people who were not present'.
Qalibaf, however, said that the TV debates contributed to the massive turnout in the election, adding that it would have been much better if the debates had continued after the election.
According the Guardian Council, 85 percent of the 46 million eligible voters participated in the election.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[11137 views]
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#2
so the q is, is this someone distancing himself from the regime, or a sign the regime is stepping backward? I say the latter, if only because it was carried on firmly controlled PressTV. Take that with Khameni offering 5 more days for the 'recount'.
My gut judgement, for what its worth. Rafsanjani is making headway with the Mullahs in Qom (who may not a country run by the IRGC instead of the mullahs, and who may fear the long run deislamization of a good part of the population (much as church collaboration with fascism contributed to the dechristianization of much of Europe)
To head that off, Khameni may offer a rerun of the election.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/25/2009 16:37 Comments ||
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#3
Pardon.
To head off a vote in Qom to remove him as supreme leader, or gut the office of supreme leader.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/25/2009 16:38 Comments ||
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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.
Parents of young woman shot dead near protests are banned from mourning and funeral is cancelled, neighbours say
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. 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 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, 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."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: ed & Frozen Al ||
06/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Is Zero meeting with Dinner Jacket to exchange campaign tips?
Relatives of several detained protesters have confirmed that the interrogation of prisoners is now being headed by Saaed Mortazavi, a figure known in Iran as "the butcher of the press". He gained notoriety for his role in the death of a Canadian-Iranian photographer who was tortured, beaten and raped during her detention in 2003.
This man needs killin'. If we had a CIA that could keep its mouth shut, I would have a job for it.
The leading role of Saeed Mortazavi in the crackdown in Tehran should set off alarm bells for anyone familiar with his record, said Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch.
As prosecutor-general of Tehran since 2003 and as a judge before that, he ordered the closure of more than 100 newspapers, journals and websites deemed hostile to the Establishment. In 2004 he was behind the detention of more than 20 bloggers and journalists, who were held for long periods of solitary confinement in secret prisons, where they were allegedly coerced into signing false confessions.
Mr Mortazavi has also led a crackdown in Tehran that has seen women arrested for wearing supposedly immodest clothing.
Earlier this year he oversaw the arrest and trial of Roxana Saberi, the American-Iranian journalist sentenced to eight years for spying, and his name has appeared on the arrest warrants of prominent reformists rounded up since the unrest started, such as Saeed Hajarian, a close aide of Mohammad Khatami, the reformist former President. With more than 600 people now having been arrested, including dozens of journalists, many fear the worst.
Mr Mortazavi became notorious for his role in the death of Zahra Kazemi while in Iranian custody on July 11, 2003. Kazemi, a freelance photojournalist with dual Iranian-Canadian nationality, was arrested while taking photographs outside Evin prison, Tehran, during an earlier period of reformist unrest in the city, also ruthlessly repressed.
Continued on Page 47
#1
Gee, remember when there was a time that the USA was the lead in pressing such brutality? But now it's "meddling" until which time the polls show you're wrong.
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
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
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.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama plans to return an ambassador to Syria, filling a post that has been vacant for four years and marking an acceleration of Washington's engagement with the Arab world, the White House said on Wednesday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Riot police blocked protesters from gathering in Tehran on Wednesday, witnesses said, as Iran's supreme leader warned he will not back down in the face of unrest following the disputed presidential vote. "In the recent incidents concerning the election, I have been insisting on the implementation of the law and I will be (insisting). Neither the system, nor the people will back down under force," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Tehran mayor says there are some 'problems' in Iran's election law which have caused difficulties during both the election process and the counting of votes. 
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.
Relatives of several detained protesters have confirmed that the interrogation of prisoners is now being headed by Saaed Mortazavi, a figure known in Iran as "the butcher of the press". He gained notoriety for his role in the death of a Canadian-Iranian photographer who was tortured, beaten and raped during her detention in 2003. 
