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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
Iran cracks down
Today's Headlines
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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
South Park for Muslims
Posted by: Hupoper Spogum2725 || 06/18/2009 17:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Climate Change Reconsidered
On June 2, as Congress debated global warming legislation that would raise energy costs to consumers by hundreds of billions of dollars, the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) released an 880-page book challenging the scientific basis of concerns that global warming is either man-made or would have harmful effects.

In “Climate Change Reconsidered: The 2009 Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC),” coauthors Dr. S. Fred Singer and Dr. Craig Idso and 35 contributors and reviewers present an authoritative and detailed rebuttal of the findings of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on which the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress rely for their regulatory proposals.

The scholarship in this book demonstrates overwhelming scientific support for the position that the warming of the twentieth century was moderate and not unprecedented, that its impact on human health and wildlife was positive, and that carbon dioxide probably is not the driving factor behind climate change.

The authors cite thousands of peer-reviewed research papers and books that were ignored by the IPCC, plus additional scientific research that became available after the IPCC’s self-imposed deadline of May 2006.

The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) is an international panel of nongovernment scientists and scholars who have come together to understand the causes and consequences of climate change. Because it is not a government agency, and because its members are not predisposed to believe climate change is caused by human greenhouse gas emissions, NIPCC is able to offer an independent “second opinion” of the evidence reviewed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). NIPCC traces its roots to a meeting in Milan in 2003 organized by the Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP), a nonprofit research and education organization based in Arlington, Virginia. SEPP, in turn, was founded in 1990 by Dr. S. Fred Singer, an atmospheric physicist, and incorporated in 1992 following Dr. Singer’s retirement from the University of Virginia.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/18/2009 16:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The scholarship in this book demonstrates overwhelming scientific support...

My god, Galileo, don't you understand, the serfs aren't ready for real science. We must have a couple years decades centuries to prepare them for the truth. /sarc off
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/18/2009 18:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Along the lines, was out golfing last night. Weather report said no rain till maybe this weekend, yet any local knew that the afternoon heat would fire up storms. Only the hard core delusional showed up and got 1 hole in before skampering to safety from the lightning.

Now, I know there is a difference between micro and macro forecasting, but I was part of the few who said damn the obvious I'm sticking to the forecast model and hoping for golf. Wow was I wrong.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/18/2009 19:24 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Resettle the North Korean Refugees
By Paul Wolfowitz

North Korea's highest court recently sentenced two American journalists to 12 years hard labor for attempting to report on the plight of North Korean refugees in China. Those refugees are fleeing a humanitarian catastrophe caused by a regime that has allowed more than one million people to die of starvation and killed 400,000 more over 30 years in its gulag-style prison camps. An uncertain number of North Korean refugees -- probably between 100,000 and 400,000 -- live a precarious existence in China, facing the constant threat of forced repatriation.

One of those refugees, a woman named Bang Mi Sun who managed to flee a second time after being repatriated and sent to a North Korean labor camp, recently said, "If I had a chance to meet with President Obama, I would first like to tell him how North Korean women are being sold like livestock in China and, second, to know that North Korean labor camps are hell on earth."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 06/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "If I had a chance to meet with President Obama, I would first like to tell him how North Korean women are being sold like livestock in China and, second, to know that North Korean labor camps are hell on earth."

1. You ain't got a snowball's chance in hell of that meeting.

2. He doesn't care.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/18/2009 15:38 Comments || Top||


Europe
Europe's Shifting Immigration Dynamic
Posted by: tipper || 06/18/2009 13:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge: William Pesek
It's a plot better suited for a John Le Carre novel.

Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear. Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea's cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit?

The implications of the securities being legitimate would be bigger than investors may realize. At a minimum, it would suggest that the U.S. risks losing control over its monetary supply on a massive scale. The trillions of dollars of debt the U.S. will issue in the next couple of years needs buyers. Attracting them will require making sure that existing ones aren't losing faith in the U.S.'s ability to control the dollar.

The dollar is, for better or worse, the core of our world economy and it's best to keep it stable. News that's more fitting for international spy novels than the financial pages won't help that effort. It is incumbent upon the U.S. Treasury to get to the bottom of this tale and keep markets informed.

Think about it: These two guys were carrying the gross domestic product of New Zealand or enough for three Beijing Olympics. If economies were for sale, the men could buy Slovakia and Croatia and have plenty left over for Mongolia or Cambodia. Yes, they could have built vacation homes amidst Genghis Khan's Gobi Desert or the famed Temples of Angkor. Bernard Madoff who?

These men carrying bonds concealed in the bottom of their luggage also would be the fourth-largest U.S. creditors. It makes you wonder if some of the time Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner spends keeping the Chinese and Japanese invested in dollars should be devoted to well-financed men crossing the Italian-Swiss border.

This tale has gotten little attention in markets, perhaps because of the absurdity of our times. The last year has been a decidedly disorienting one for capitalists who once knew up from down, red from black and risk from reward. It almost fits with the surreal nature of today that a couple of travelers have more U.S. debt than Brazil in a suitcase and, well, that's life.

Let's assume for a moment that these U.S. bonds are real. That would make a mockery of Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano's "absolutely unshakable" confidence in the credibility of the U.S. dollar. Yosano would have some explaining to do about Japan's $686 billion of U.S. debt if more of these suitcase capers come to light. Counterfeit $100 bills are one thing; two guys with undeclared bonds including 249 certificates worth $500 million and 10 "Kennedy bonds" of $1 billion each is quite another.

The bust could be a boon for Italy. If the securities are found to be genuine, the smugglers could be fined 40 percent of the total value for attempting to take them out of the country. Not a bad payday for a government grappling with a widening budget deficit and rebuilding the town of L'Aquila, which was destroyed by an earthquake in April.

It would be terrible news for the White House. Other than the U.S., China or Japan, no other nation could theoretically move those amounts. In the absence of clear explanations coming from the Treasury, conspiracy theories are filling the void.

On his blog, the Market Ticker, Karl Denninger wonders if the Treasury "has been surreptitiously issuing bonds to, say, Japan, as a means of financing deficits that someone didn't want reported over the last, oh, say 10 or 20 years." Adds Denninger: "Let's hope we get those answers, and this isn't one of those 'funny things' that just disappears into the night."

This is still a story with far more questions than answers. It's odd, though, that it's not garnering more media attention. Interest is likely to grow. The last thing Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke need right now is tens of billions more of U.S. bonds -- or even high-quality fake ones -- suddenly popping up around the globe.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/18/2009 09:43 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Think about it: These two guys were carrying the gross domestic product of New Zealand or enough for three Beijing Olympics. If economies were for sale, the men could buy Slovakia and Croatia and have plenty left over for Mongolia or Cambodia.

If?...
Posted by: mojo || 06/18/2009 11:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Wow! That's almost as much money as General Motors burned through in the last six months!
Posted by: Mike || 06/18/2009 11:57 Comments || Top||

#3  We'd more likely learn who shot Kennedy than the real story behind these bonds.
Posted by: Iblis || 06/18/2009 12:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Any one seen Blofeld Soros lately?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/18/2009 13:10 Comments || Top||

#5  It's just an Asian scam with fake bonds that bear issue dates of the 1930s.

Has happened before. Any assumptions that these papers could be real are simply ridiculous.
Posted by: European Conservative || 06/18/2009 14:53 Comments || Top||

#6  "Blest paper credit! Last and best supply!
That lends corruption lighter wings to fly!
Gold imp'd by thee, can compass hardest things,
Can pocket States, can fetch and carry Kings,
A single leaf shall waft an Army o'er,
Or ship off Senates to a distant Shore,
A leaf, like Sibyl's, scatter to and fro
Our fates and fortunes, as the wind shall blow:
Pregnant with thousands flits the scrap unseen,
And silent sells a King or buys a Queen.

Alexander Pope
Posted by: Grunter || 06/18/2009 17:24 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Media's Mask Is Slipping As Deficits Surge
A calm Sunday breakfast might have been ruined after a glance at the Washington Post's front page on June 14.

A chart below the fold explained that under Obama's federal spending proposals, the U.S. would be required to borrow $9 trillion during the next decade.

That's $9,000,000,000. The Post compared that, in today's dollars, to the financial burden of World War II: $3.6 trillion. That's not all of Obama's spending plan. That's only the part that's in the red.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/18/2009 11:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Three zeros are missing from the number in para graph 3. $9,000,000,000 is 9 billion, not trillion.
Posted by: Grunter || 06/18/2009 12:22 Comments || Top||

#2  IIRC, this morning's radio said 44% were for BO's Plan, 34% of the scummy Trunks were against it, and 22% needed to see more details.

If the 22% would wake up, it'd be 66% against...
Posted by: Bobby || 06/18/2009 12:49 Comments || Top||

#3  they wont wake up. that is why the Trotskyites took over the public education 50 years ago... to make sure they wouldn't understand nor be interested...

Bread! Circuses!
Posted by: abu do you love || 06/18/2009 14:43 Comments || Top||

#4  What mask?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/18/2009 15:34 Comments || Top||

#5  IMHO the goal is to get as many people directly or immediately indirectly relient on government money as soon as possible so that when 2010 comes around nobody will be willing to vote themselves out of a job.

Should have just put it in obamariffic notation 9E+12.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/18/2009 15:38 Comments || Top||

#6  Regarding their combativeness against British Colonial Rule and their subsiquent imprisonment by the British, Mrs Onyango said that the combative spirit shown by her husband and her son, Obama's Grandfather and father, during Kenya's bloody independence struggle had passed down through the generations to the future president. "This family lineage has all along been made up of fighters," she said. "Senator Barack Obama is fighting using his brain, like his father, while his grandfather fought physically with the white man." The President of the United States, born acording her in Mombasa, Kenya.
Posted by: Angoluting Jones2958 || 06/18/2009 16:51 Comments || Top||

#7  The masque of the red death?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/18/2009 19:26 Comments || Top||


Obama's healthcare 'Public Option': Son of Medicaid
In his speech on health care to the American Medical Association, President Obama explained why the U.S. has "failed" (yet again) to provide comprehensive reform that "covers everyone." He had a list of the failing people, who "simply couldn't agree" on reform: doctors, insurance companies, businesses, workers, others. And "if we're honest," he said (ergo, disagreeing with this is dishonest) we must add to the list "some interest groups and lobbyists" who have used "fear tactics."

It seems to me, if we're honest, that one other contributor to the health-care morass should have been on the president's list: Congress. Indeed a close reading of Mr. Obama's speech suggests he holds the political class innocent insofar as he blames everyone else but them. Can this be true?

Back before recorded history, in 1965, Congress erected the nation's first two monuments to health-care "reform," Medicaid and Medicare. Medicaid was described at the time as a modest solution to the problem of health care for the poor. It would be run by the states and "monitored" by the federal government.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/18/2009 11:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Love or lust, Obama and the fawning press need to get a room
When Barack Obama decided that questions from the German press about his trip agenda in that country were too pesky, he told the reporters, "So, stop it all of you!" He just wanted them to ask things he wanted to talk about. Well, what politico wouldn't want that?

OK, dad. We'll behave.

And according to a new Pew Research Center poll, we are behaving...like fans. On domestic press, it showed that "President Barack Obama has enjoyed substantially more positive media coverage than either Bill Clinton or George W. Bush during their first months in the White House" with "roughly twice as much" Obama coverage about his "personal or leadership qualities" than was the case for either previous president.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Beavis || 06/18/2009 08:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Obama, Siding With the Regime
Posted by: Shart Ulinetle1438 || 06/18/2009 16:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iowahawk: Obama - Hail To the victors!
A Special Message to the People of Iran

By Barack Obama
President of the United States

Greetings. As president of United States -- or, if you prefer, the Great Satan -- I have have been following with keen interest the vigorous post-election debate and vibrant political dialogue which has been taking place in your great and noble Islamic Republic of Iran over recent days. It has been both educational and fascinating, and as a sports fan I have thrilled to the pageantry, the suspense, and the fast-paced, hard-hitting action. I have to say It's been as exciting as a double overtime game seven NBA final between the Lakers and Celtics! Like millions of others around the world, I can't wait for the exciting conclusion of your distracting nail-biter so I can finally focus on my big health care project at the office. (Now that's what I call a real crisis!) But no matter who prevails in your hard-fought contest, you can rest assured that I will be out there in the stands watching, and ready to congratulate the team who brings home Tehran's coveted Golden Centrifuge Cup.

Now, I know that our two nations have had our differences in the past, and so it would be totally understandable if some of you were possibly upset my previous statements expressing "troubled concern" and "measured consternation" over your current situation. Please, do not interpret those statements as somehow taking one side or the other. I was not trying to be provocative or inflammatory, and far be it from me to interfere or play favorites. As we say over here in the Great Satan, "I don't have a dog in this fight," and so I was merely "calling 'em like I see 'em." Frankly, if America is going to regain respect as a geopolitical superpower, we need to make the tough call to sit quietly on the sidelines. That's why I have instructed my diplomatic team remain strictly neutral and to "let 'em play." With time and patience, I hope you will come to think of us as a bigger, flatter version of Switzerland. With less yodeling.

To clarify, my only real concern is over sportsmanship. In democracies like ours elections can sometimes be difficult and messy. "Politics ain't beanbag," as we also say over here. As I learned on the basketball courts and ward precincts of Chicago, the birthplace of modern Democracy, a hard fought game sometimes involves a little trash talk, an occasional sharp elbow, or a mysteriously malfunctioning scoreboard. But this doesn't mean we always have to resort to flagrant fouls, or angrily shooting our opponent in the parking lot, just because he showboated after a layup. Let's all remember the lesson of Ron Artest -- charging into the stands and savagely beating a heckler might feel good at first, but in the end it just might mean losing that big shoe contract with Nike.

And so I encourage both sides in this exciting contest to "keep it cool," and "play within yourself." Whether you are a "shirt" or a "skin," let's all respect the game. Are you a member of the Revolutionary Guards who just laid out a student demonstrator with a vicious, bone-jarring hit? Instead of taunting him, offer your hand to help him back to his feet. This will be a polite sign of mutual competitive respect before your next vicious, bone-jarring hit. Are you the student demonstrator? After collecting your teeth, congratulate the Guard on his his awesome hit. This will let the Guard know that you are a good sport, and committed to continue your dialogue without preconditions. At the end of the day, we need to leave our differences on the court and start focusing on the dangerous enemy who threatens all of us: Dick Cheney.

Let's also remember a good sport is gracious in victory and defeat. If you find yourself way ahead, don't run up the body count just to impress the UN poll voters. Act like you've been there before! If you're on the losing side, don't try to prolong the inevitable with ticky-tack fouls and time-outs and Hail-Allah trick protest formations. You gave it your best shot, but the fat lady is beginning to sing. So let's cue up Queen on the stadium PA, pass out the commemorative t-shirts, and get ready to douse the winning mullahs with Gatorade. After the victory parades, I'd love to host the winners at the White House for some sort of ceremonial diplomatic photo-op.

In the final tally, the only thing that matters in the diplomatic arena is sportsmanship. As we say here, "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." I am certain that the best team will prevail, because as we also say, "winners never cheat and cheaters never win." And in the words of Raiders legend Al Davis, "just win, baby." The most important thing is that you get this distracting sudden death shootout over with, because it's really screwing with my legislative agenda. Not to mention my sleep schedule.

Until then, I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to the eventual winners, and best wishes in your upcoming playoff series with the Tel Aviv Fightin' Zionists. I've already programmed it on my TiVo!
Posted by: Frank G || 06/18/2009 19:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  see also: Widow of Murdered Fly Seeks White House Apology, Shit
Posted by: Frank G || 06/18/2009 19:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Gee... everyone wants a visit from The One nowdays - even widowed flies....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/18/2009 20:36 Comments || Top||


Meddling? I'll show you meddling...
Jonah Goldberg, National Review

The Iranians are accusing Obama of meddling even though Obama says he doesn't want to meddle. It seems this offers a great opportunity for Obama to meddle! How about giving a serious speech or statement in which he says something like:

The government of Iran has accused the United States of America of interfering in their domestic affairs. I wish to forthrightly deny this accusation. America has not intervened on the part of the heroic forces of reform and democracy as they daily risk their lives in their noble struggle. The United States of America is sincere in its desire to open a new era of franknes and cooperation between our two great nations. Therefore we will work with the unelected government currently in power which is brutalizing its own people as the whole world can see. And we will gladly work with the heroic people of Iran as they struggle against daunting odds for a better life for themselves and their children should they succeed in their peaceful Jihad for justice.

I'm only partly joking. It seems to me that Obama is a master of passive aggressive rhetoric. We certainly saw that skill on ample display during the primaries and general election. Why not use it on the international stage as well.
Only problem is that Obama would probably leave off the last sentence.
Posted by: Mike || 06/18/2009 11:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The mullahs have to be nervous that Obama may yet come out strongly for the opposition in Iran. He is very good at doing 180 degree turns on important issues. I'm impressed that we have both conservations and SF loonies coming together in support of the Iranian people. It's a rare kum-bi-you moment(I really have no idea how to spell it). Wouldn't it frost a bunch of people if Sarah Palin and the dopey SF mayor would hold a rally together for the Iranian people.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 06/18/2009 14:22 Comments || Top||

#2  A suggestion, more in character, if I may.

The government of Iran has accused the United States of America of interfering in their domestic affairs. I wish to forthrightly apologize for this interence. deny this accusation
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/18/2009 16:25 Comments || Top||


Welcome back, Carter??
National Review's Rich Lowry has a different take on the Obama-Carter parallel than Will Collier did yesterday.

Say this for him: Barack Obama is not making Jimmy Carter's mistakes in Iran. Carter arguably didn't do enough to support an Iranian government faced with a popular revolt; Obama isn't doing enough to support a popular revolt against an Iranian government. Carter's foreign policy was achingly idealistic; Obama's foreign policy is cold-bloodedly "realist." Ultimately, though, both presidents share a deep naïveté, even if it has slightly different iterations. For all the talk of Obama's realism, he is pursuing a policy driven by a fantasy about international affairs — that all disputes can be resolved through negotiations and governments can be talked out of their interests. He is giving the Iranian demonstrators the cold shoulder partly because he believes he can deal with Khamenei and persuade him to give up Iran's nuclear-weapons program. The chances of this happening are quite remote. Fundamentally, then, Obama isn't turning his back on the protestors out of hard-headedness but on account of a gauzy illusion, although one with a realpolitik veneer.
Posted by: Mike || 06/18/2009 10:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iran's Hidden Revolution
Excellent op-ed piece in the NYT that explains how Short Round and Khamenei started laying the groundwork for their own revolution after the previous election four years ago.
By DANIELLE PLETKA and ALI ALFONEH

JUST after Iran's rigged elections last week, with hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, it looked as if a new revolution was in the offing. Five days later, the uprising is little more than a symbolic protest, crushed by the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Meanwhile, the real revolution has gone unnoticed: the guard has effected a silent coup d'état.

The seeds of this coup were planted four years ago with the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And while he has since disappointed his public, failing to deliver on promised economic and political reforms, his allies now control the country. In the most dramatic turnabout since the 1979 revolution, Iran has evolved from theocratic state to military dictatorship.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 06/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Steve's right: this is a good article.
Posted by: Secret Master || 06/18/2009 1:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Disenchantment with clerical rule has been growing for years. To the rural poor, they epitomize the corruption that has meant unbuilt schools, unpaved roads and unfulfilled promises of development.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The typical blindered Westerner's view. Rural Iranians don't care about development as long as they can live their lives the way their grandparents did. They don't care if their sons can get jobs in computer companies and buy them bigscreen TVs.
Posted by: gromky || 06/18/2009 2:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Um no, grom, the rural Iranians do care and have made it clear they care. Yes, they like their simple country ways, but they also like paved roads, village medical clinics, and clean water.

As do most people.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/18/2009 9:11 Comments || Top||

#4  "Five days later, the uprising is little more than a symbolic protest, crushed by the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps"

One doesnt have to get all creepy Sullivanish to find the above statement, well, premature at best. Michael Ledeen finds it "silly" (I would love to see Sully quote Ledeen against Pletka - I guess its enough Sully is acknowledging Totten as a "good neocon" he probably doesnt have the stomach to note that he and Ledeen agree)
Posted by: liberal hawk || 06/18/2009 12:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Where is the state department in this?

They've been crying about an Iranian revolution for years, how much involvement have they had thus far? Is propping up twitter all the revolutionary feeling they can muster now?

and...did Hillary break her elbow in some losing arm wrestling match to decide Iran's future with the empty suit?

I figured she would've taken him.
Posted by: za1706 || 06/18/2009 14:00 Comments || Top||


More Bloodshed To Come In Iran
Every dictator is determined to make his own mistakes
by Ramin Ahmadi

Monday June 15 was a turning point in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was the first time that demonstrations against the government reached nearly 3 million in Tehran. Five other cities, Tabriz, Urumeyeh, Shiraz, Rasht and Isfahan, joined the action with several hundred thousand people taking to the streets.

By all accounts Monday was also the bloodiest day of the new democracy movement. Plainclothes men belonging to Iran's notorious paramilitary force, the Basij, opened fire on the protesters, killing more than a dozen and injuring many more. In a Tehran University dormitory, five students were shot to death and many more were injured. Another city, Shiraz, witnessed multiple bloodbaths.

Tabriz, Shiraz and Tehran are now officially under martial law. The death toll is still not clear but the outcome of this violence is. On Wednesday people came out wearing black, mourning in solidarity with families who lost their loved ones. Evening hours are spent on the rooftops, voicing protest with slogans like "God is great," "Ahmadinejad is Pinochet but Iran will not become Chile," "Bye Bye Ahmadinejad," and "He can see the halo but can't see millions of people."

I have watched with horror the new footage of violence committed against the youth almost every hour. In at least one film clip, Arabic-speaking men treat a young protester like a piece of meat getting ready to be cut in the local butcher shop. The activists report seeing many of these Arabic-speaking men among the anti-riot police force in the streets of Tehran. This poses a special problem for students committed to nonviolent protest. The cornerstone of nonviolence strategy is to talk to your oppressor, to remind him of your humanity and to show him his family members in the crowd. How do you do all that when your oppressor has been imported from abroad, selected from oppressed, poor Palestinian or Lebanese communities?

The Iranian regime is also rounding up foreign reporters. A few European correspondents were forced to pack their bags and leave. Others have been confined to their hotel rooms. They were told that the Iranian government can no longer insure their safety. CNN's Christiane Amanpour went on the record as having bought the government story and told CNN's Larry King that the Iranian government probably didn't want to have reporters' blood on its hands. But the truth is likely elsewhere.

The expulsion of foreign journalists is another ominous sign indicating that more bloodshed is planned. The government has made a calculated decision to confront demonstrations with pure force. It believes that the excitement of the people over the election results will be short lived. That the movement can be contained and the majority's will can be subdued using massive force and unimaginable brutality. In preparation for that scenario, it plans to isolate the country from the rest of the world as much as possible.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Christiane Amanpour ... told CNN's Larry King that the Iranian government probably didn't want to have reporters' blood on its hands.

A liberal - a person who lies as much to themselves as they do to others.
Posted by: Phil_B || 06/18/2009 4:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Christiane Amanpour ... told CNN's Larry King that the Iranian government probably didn't want to have reporters' blood on its hands.

Makes sense to me, at least with respect to CNN. Why would they shoot their supporters?
Posted by: Mike || 06/18/2009 11:43 Comments || Top||


Iran-oriented protest blogs -- a call
Clicking the title will take you to an English language blog run by an Iranian ex-pat with good sources. If you have other such sources -- run by Iranians, in English, on the side of the protesters, use the 'Link' function in the comments box and post in comments here. It would be much appreciated!
Posted by: Steve White || 06/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I recommend Tehran24

Another is Persian Kiwi
Posted by: Frozen Al || 06/18/2009 15:18 Comments || Top||


Supreme leader under pressure
Iranians have taken to the streets in the wake of the country's disputed elections, but behind the public face of the election protests lies a deeper power struggle.

In the corridors of power, analysts see a battle between Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the reformist former president.

Khamenei had publicly endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadeinejad, the incumbent president, whose resounding election victory over Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main rival, prompted a wave of protests and allegations of voter fraud. Rafsanjani, on the other hand, has been a vocal critic of the president.

One of Iran's richest men, Rafsanjani, like Mousavi, is also one of the old guard of the 1979 Iranian revolution. "It [the election dispute] represents the conflict between two schools of thought in Iran," Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor in Middle East politics at the University of Jordan, told Al Jazeera.

"The first one, which is represented by the supreme leader, says Iran should stay a revolutionary state, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani wants the state to move on - to become a modern state, a pragmatic state. This is actually the root of the conflict we are seeing in the streets of Tehran.

"I think the support which Mousavi has been seeing from Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is because Mousavi agrees with Rafsanjani on that principle."

Pre-election dispute
Iran's shadowy political machinations spilled out of the corridors of power and into view in a television debate ahead of the elections.

Ahmadinejad said that Mir Hossein Mousavi, his opponent, was backed by politicians who he said were corrupt, and named Rafsanjani.

Infuriated, Rafsanjani wrote a public letter to Khamenei, accusing the Supreme Leader of remaining silent in the face of such accusations. "If the system cannot or does not want to confront such ugly and sin-infected phenomena as insults, lies and false allegations made in that debate, how can we consider ourselves followers of the sacred Islamic system," he charged in his letter. It was a rare and unusual public rebuke of Khamenei.

Power struggle
The supreme leader's decision-making powers are said to be absolute, but Iran's Assembly of Experts also wield considerable political clout. Rafsanjani is chairman of the 86-member body, which appoints the supreme leader and monitors his performance.

It seems unlikely that Rafsanjani would move to oust Khamenei, but the assembly could - in theory, at least - remove the supreme leader from office, if his actions are deemed un-Islamic or if he is unable to carry out his sworn duties.

With the street protests putting pressure on Iran's political leaders, it was rumoured that Rafsanjani and Hassan Rohani, Iran's former chief nuclear negotiator, were in the city of Qom, seeking a meeting of the assembly. Khamenei's surprise decision to ask the 12-member Guardian Council to investigate the alleged election improprieties has suggested to many he is feeling the pressure.
Posted by: || 06/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2009-06-18
  Iran cracks down
Wed 2009-06-17
  Mousavi calls day of mourning for Iran dead
Tue 2009-06-16
  Hundreds of thousands of Iranians ask: 'Where is my vote?'
Mon 2009-06-15
  Tehran Election Protest Turns Deadly: Unofficial results show Ahmedinejad came in 3rd
Sun 2009-06-14
  Ahmadinejad's victory 'real feast': Khamenei
Sat 2009-06-13
  Mousavi arrested
Fri 2009-06-12
  Iran votes: Not a pretty sight
Thu 2009-06-11
  Gitmo Uighurs in Bermuda
Wed 2009-06-10
  Foopy becomes first Gitmo boy to stand trial in US
Tue 2009-06-09
  Truck bomb and gunnies attack 5-star Peshawar hotel
Mon 2009-06-08
  March 14 Maintains Parliamentary Majority in Record Turnout
Sun 2009-06-07
  30 MILF banged, camp seized
Sat 2009-06-06
  32 dead in mosque Pakaboom
Fri 2009-06-05
  Sufi Muhammad arrested
Thu 2009-06-04
  Three killed in renewed Hamas-PA clashes in Qalqiliya

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