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(My friend John Wight, in his usual eloquent and well-reasoned way, takes a differing view from mine on Iran. – Bob. Update: 5:47pm John sent a revised version) The Iranian Revolution of 1979 dealt a severe setback to the strategic and geopolitical interests of the West, in particular the United States and Israel. Indeed, ever [...] Days of protesting in Iran over allegations of fraud in the presidential election have made headlines around the world. Here in North Alabama, one man is making sure every Iranian citizen has the opportunity to be heard. That would be UJ, who comments and posts here too. These headlines that have made their way [...] Iran’s Guardian Council said it had uncovered some irregularities in the polls, finding the number of votes in 50 districts exceeded the number of voters “Some irregularities”? Sounds like outright fraud to me. Or, more to the point, the government didn’t even bother to count the actual votes and rather just announced the predetermined [...] Steve Clemons One of DC’s best Iran experts Barbara Slavin wrote to me through Facebook and said: Steve, Iran ceased being an Islamic republic a week ago. now it’s just another military dictatorship. Clemons rightly thinks Khamenei has lost his mystique and aura of power. But that doesn’t mean he won’t try to rule [...] Sue wonders why I’m so fascinated by the Iran protests, given that Mousavi is no shining beacon of democracy and that protesters will soon be dragged out of their homes at 2am to be tortured and killed. Could part of it be – no offense to me she says – that the Irish in me [...] Graphic and bloody videos. Protesters shot dead. Student shot dead in front of camera Woman shot, probably killed From NIAC liveblog Mousavi, speaking among the people, has just announced that he has performed the ceremonial washing (ablutions) in preparation for martyrdom. “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” Thomas Jefferson (which is certainly easier to quote [...] Fires set, many shots fired at crowd. Chaos. I wonder, is all of Tehran like this? Andrew Sullivan Nico Pitney at HuffPo And of course, Twitter #iranelection [An Iranian in Tehran] is tidying affairs in preparation for dying Saturday at the hands of the Iranian security forces. Translation via Juan Cole: “I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed… I have to call my [...] Not just any protest, but a big, major protest. Will they be greeted by tanks? Mousavi circumvented regime efforts to block Internet access by announcing the rallies on his Facebook page in Farsi and in English Friday. “CRUCIAL Demonstration on Saturday 16:00 in Tehran and all around the world, please spread this message around.” Messages [...] |  | ||||
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