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!
i really applaud the younger iranian-americans students who are attempting to stand in solidarity with iranian students. i dont know why shah supporters–supporters of a regime that does not believe in the vote–feel they can usurp protests about the right to vote for their own delusional purposes.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Interior Ministry ordered a probe into an attack late Sunday night on Tehran University students in a dormitory reported to have left several students dead and many more injured or arrested. Students say it was carried out by Islamic militia and police. Iran’s English-language Press TV said the ministry urged Tehran’s governor’s office to identify those involved. Iran’s influential speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani, condemned the attack.
Students’ Web sites reported mass resignations by Tehran University professors outraged over the incident. One medical student said he and his roommate blocked their door with furniture and hid in the closet when they heard the militia’s motorcycles approaching. He heard the militia breaking down doors, and then screams of anguish as students were dragged from their beds and beaten violently.
When he came out after the militia had left, friends and classmates lay unconscious in dorm rooms and hallways, many with chest wounds from being stabbed or bloody faces from blows to their heads, he said. The staff of the hospital where the wounded students were taken, Hazrat Rasoul Hospital, was so shocked that they went on strike for two hours, standing silently outside the gate in their white medical uniforms.
I agree that Obama has taken a very good stance to the situation and should keep the status quo on his position. But the rest of the administration has not followed suit. Some of the comments by VP Biden and right-wing senators are cause for concern. Statements by Biden that the U.S. government needs more facts and time to analyze the legitimacy of the election results signal that their involvement is only a matter of time. Unlike the revolution of ’79, this powerful protest does not need to be commingled or fueled by anti-American sentiments. I.E. STAY OUT OF IT!
Iran’s elections in certain towns always exceed more than 100% because many people vote in provinces they do not live in. This happened last election and every other election before, especially Khatami’s election, so its curious this is being brought up now. These opposition groups are manipulating facts to the ignorant. This is why the interior ministry always prints extra ballots as well at each province to prepare for this. Many people are simply living, visiting, etc. outside their province during election time. This is also why they had 14,000 “sandoghe sayir” (portable booths). None of these things were objected to by any of the candidates because this was normative.
I think Jay and Parisa K are the two most intelligent commenters on the subject ive heard as of yet.
🙂 Thanks for your comment.
Jay,
Your point is true depending on the town/province the exceeding number of voter turnout is reported from. For example, it is very “normative†to see a turnout that exceeds 100% in cities like Mashhad that attract a high number of tourists and visitors. However, it is dubious to see that voter turnout exceeds 100% in small towns/villages that usually have a low number of visitors. Another questionable aspect is that according to Mohtashamipour, in all the places where voter turnout has exceeded the number of eligible voters, Ahmadinejad has won. Therefore, I believe that in this case, it’s premature to say that “opposition groups are manipulating facts to the ignorantâ€. In my opinion, their concern seems to be worthy of consideration.
Parisa explain to me then how Mousavi which won Yazd, his votes exceeded 100%? So now Mousavi was rigging the election too? You can rig an election by 1 million votes, 2 million, but 13 million? Why is it a surprise that Ahmadinejad got that many votes given his economic populism in past 4 years? (you think rural areas care about the holocaust and israel rants he made?)
I don’t know what you are talking about because Ahmadinejad is the one that won the Province of Yazd, not Moussavi. In fact, I find this to be questionable considering Khatami’s popularity in his hometown of Yazd. Moreover, according to the above article, it is the city of Taft in Yazd with the 141% voter turnout and Ahmadinejad is the candidate who won Taft.
Yazd Province
Ahmadinejad: 337,178
Moussavi: 255,799
Taft Ahmadinejad:26,664 Moussavi: 18,736
Yes, I am saying that the election was rigged by 13 million votes. WHY NOT??? I have already mentioned a few of the reasons that I have for showing that fraud has taken place.
I am tired of some people constantly speaking of Ahmadinejad’s huge support base in rural areas; as if Moussavi and Ahmadinejad are viewed as two opposite ends of spectrum in such areas. I certainly believe that Ahmadinejad has way more support than Moussavi in rural areas but I also think that it is often exaggerated. In the past few months, Ahmadinejad has helped many people who live in socioeconomically disadvantaged parts of the country, in an effort to buy votes. I am sure he has been successful to an extent. However, let’s not forget that Ahmadinejad is also detested among many of the people who come from such areas, since he has failed to deliver many of his 2005 campaign promises. The following 4 factors should be considered when evaluating Ahmadinejad’s support in rural areas:
1. Only 35% of Iran’s population live in rural areas.
2. Reformists are also well liked among the poor and in fact compromised a huge percentage of Khatami’s votes.
3. If the economy hasn’t gotten worse during Ahmadinejad’s presidency, it certainly has not improved. The inflation and unemployment rate are both higher than what they were during Khatami’s presidency. Therefore, it is not unlikely to see a significant number of people in rural areas who are dissatisfied with Ahmadinejad’s handling of the economy.
4. Moussavi is always praised for his handling of Iran’s economy during the Iran-Iraq War.