News from Iran? Good? Bad? Who knows?

[jimmy olsen]

I thought this snippet on Huffpo was interesting. If true I think it's significant.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

 

The Basij have now begun to cover their faces, whereas previously they hadn't. This indicates they are becoming more scared of retaliation from the general public. Also, we have heard that cell phone service is cut off at night. There have been efforts to identify members of the Basij who have used violence against demonstrators, through facebook and other social networking websites.

[Sheilbh]

One of Mousavi's campaign adds.

It's a Mehdi Keroubi ad, he's the other liberal candidate.  A clerical veteran of 1979 he's started wearing suits because he feels the current situation and the stealing of an election sullies his clerical robes.

I'm really surprised that the regime hasn't cracked down hard on this yet. How much longer can they allow protests this big to occur before things start to spiral out of control?

The regime and the opposition are both led by veterans of 1979.  The opposition is using tricks from then: use Islamic slogans because it's a common denominator that the government and their servants won't want to attack, mourning protests keep the momentum going, make sure they never forget you're there.  Similarly the regime which may still try to wipe these protesters out by force are aware that it was Black Friday that provided a catalyst for the whole Islamic revolution:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(1978)
they want to avoid that.

[KRonn]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,631233,00.html

an open letter to Khamenei.
I wonder if he got it and if others in Iran read it.
Pretty damning for the regime

Quite a powerful letter.

[grumbler]

The problem is that what the people of Iran want is war with Israel and instability in the Middle East.  The West should turn all its support to the Iranian government, and allow them to resolve the matter by any means necessary.

Given that the people of Israel want war and instability as much as the people of Iran do, why not let the people have their say, and then pick up the pieces afterwards?

[grumbler]

Some ex-pat who lost a bunch of his family's fortune during the revolution thinks that the regime is bad?

Well, that is daming indeed!  I am shocked that he would be against the hardline powers in Iran.

I am sure that many ex-pats feel this way, and am no more surprised than you.  What this has to do with the letter CI posted is beyond me, though.  This guy fought for the Revolution, and only left when the crackdown on fellow-revolutionaries started.

It is pretty easy to see, reading between the lines, that he is talking about being a member of the revolutionary left, who were annihilated by the religious right after the revolution ended.  Indeed, that should be the basis for your ardent support of the current regime: that they killed commies by the hundreds of thousands.  Your love of them just for their willingness to spill blood is Timmayesque.

[jimmy olsen]

Another post from Huffpo, that if true, is another sign of government weakness.

Battle in Parliament over dorm attacks by the Basij. Reader YS shared this news story (in Farsi) with us. According to a member of Iran's parliament quoted in the piece, a verbal scuffle -- and then a physical altercation -- broke out yesterday when several MPs questioned why more wasn't being done to stop the attacks by the plainclothes paramilitary Basiji.

YS gives the play-by-play:

    Yesterday a couple of the members of the Iranian parliament started asking question regarding the plainclothes security forces who have been beating the protesters in Iran.


    Apparently, Abutorabi (Parliament secretary) questioned the connections of the plainclothes security forces who had earlier storm Tehran University's dorms and killed and injured students. Abutorabi claims that those individuals have been identified and says: "Why do plainclothes individuals without permission from the government get to storm the dorms?"

    Then Ansari, a member of the parliament took the floor and talked about the "fact finding" committee and the fact that everyone in that comity is an Ahmadinejad supporter and therefore questioned the legitimacy of the committee.

    After Ansari, Abutorabi took the floor again and continued questioning the plainclothes security forces once again. At this point Hosseinian, Koochakzadeh, and resaee, the three biggest supporters of Ahmadinejad in the parliament, started a verbal argument which ended with a number of physical fights. As a result a number of pro and anti Ahmadinejad members of the parliament join the fight and start slapping and pushing each other.

    In the end, the anti Ahmadinejad block claims that they will expose the identities of those behind the plainclothes security forces.

    Keep in mind that the pro and anti Ahmadinejad blocks belong to the same political party! I think the government is starting to crack up from the inside.

[Neil]

Indeed, that should be the basis for your ardent support of the current regime: that they killed commies by the hundreds of thousands.

Actually, my ardent support for the current regime comes from the fact that Spellus opposes it.

[Ed Anger]

Indeed, that should be the basis for your ardent support of the current regime: that they killed commies by the hundreds of thousands.

Actually, my ardent support for the current regime comes from the fact that Spellus opposes it.

[Hansmeister]

The problem is that what the people of Iran want is war with Israel and instability in the Middle East.  The West should turn all its support to the Iranian government, and allow them to resolve the matter by any means necessary.

Nah, the Iranians are actually historically pro-jewish.  The Ayatollahs are responsible for the anti-semitism.  Iranians much rather would be killing arabs, something we all can support.

[Hansmeister]

This is a sex-free zone.

Just like Jaron's pants.

[Queequeg]

The problem is that what the people of Iran want is war with Israel and instability in the Middle East.  The West should turn all its support to the Iranian government, and allow them to resolve the matter by any means necessary.

Nah, the Iranians are actually historically pro-jewish.  The Ayatollahs are responsible for the anti-semitism.  Iranians much rather would be killing arabs, something we all can support.

When Hans and I agree, there really is something going on.  Iran, Israel, Turkey and the United States are natural allies.  We all want the Arabs to shut up and forget their pretensions to global importance. 

[Neil]

The problem is that what the people of Iran want is war with Israel and instability in the Middle East.  The West should turn all its support to the Iranian government, and allow them to resolve the matter by any means necessary.

Nah, the Iranians are actually historically pro-jewish.  The Ayatollahs are responsible for the anti-semitism.  Iranians much rather would be killing arabs, something we all can support.

The ayatollahs will still be running the country.  Iranians are religious automatons.

[Queequeg]

The ayatollahs will still be running the country.  Iranians are religious automatons.

Thirty years of tyrannical theocracy are enough to knock the God, let alone the fundementalism, out of almost anybody.  Mosque attendance has gone way down since the Revolution. 

[Queequeg]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[Jos Theelen]

Well, Khamenei's speech was clear. Ahmedinejad is a clear winner, fuck off Mousavi.