Iran: Obama, Ibrahim Yazdi, Amazing Footage, LA Iranians, & More

1. Obama: Right-wing commentators are coming down hard on Obama for not outright supporting the demonstrations in Iran, especially now that Iranian authorities are blaming the US anyway. But Obama’s approach is ingenious and if he remains cautious but continues to voice concern over the deaths, which he has been doing, then the regime will be making baseless accusations (notwithstanding the intelligence war that is occurring behind the scenes in Iran), but if he succumbs to right-wing pressure, he will legitimize their accusations and delegitimize the demonstrations as an American plot.

2. Demanding the Release of Detained Protesters: Both Mousavi and Khatami have demanded the release of all the protesters arrested in recent days.

3. Ibrahim Yazdi Arrested: One of the iconic faces and early leaders of the Islamic Revolution, now a reformist who heads the Freedom Movement of Iran, was arrested by the hardine Basij militia at a hospital after arriving for treatment for prostate cancer. Read about it here.

4. LA Iranians: I’m proud of the Iranians in Iran… not so much the ones at this demonstration in LA. See the entire video through to see how these people almost killed each other.

5. Iran election turnouts exceeded 100% in 30 towns, website reports: Excerpt: “In the most specific allegations of rigging yet to emerge, the centrist Ayandeh website – which stayed neutral during the campaign – reported that 26 provinces across the country showed participation figures so high they were either hitherto unheard of in democratic elections or in excess of the number of registered electors. Taft, a town in the central province of Yazd, had a turnout of 141%, the site said, quoting an unnamed ‘political expert’. Kouhrang, in Chahar Mahaal Bakhtiari province, recorded a 132% turnout while Chadegan, in Isfahan province, had 120%.”

6. Footage from Wednesday’s Protest: Observe the silence. The discipline of the demonstrators is breathtaking.

7. Iran Metro Demonstrations: This footage is both exciting and entertaining, especially the humor that some of protesters employ.

8. Thursday: It’s 12:51 Thursday morning in California and 12:21 in the afternoon in Tehran and demonstrations are already underway.  More are planned for Friday.

9. Naming the Movement: What are they calling it?  Someone tell me, NOW!