Protesting Ahmadinejad on Qods Day: “Iran’s opposition Green movement put on a powerful show of strength today against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the hardline president repeated his notorious claim that the Nazi Holocaust was a “lie” designed to justify the existence of Israel. Tens of thousands of people gathered in central Tehran to shout “death to the dictator” despite a heavy security presence and official warnings to the opposition not to hijack the Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally, the regime’s annual display of solidarity with the Palestinians… Strikingly, one of the strongest calls for opposition participation in the Quds Day protests came from Hojatolleslam Sayyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution. In a thinly disguised rebuke to the hardliners, Khomeini called Quds Day ‘a day for the oppressed to resist against the oppressors’, implying that it is also a day of protest against repression and oppression in Iran. People in the crowd were more explicit, chanting: ‘Not Gaza, Not Lebanon. We are ready to die for Iran.'”
Demonstrations Spark Clashes: “Supporters of the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi fought running battles with riot police and hardliners on the streets of Tehran today as tens of thousands joined the first protests against President Ahmadinejad for two months. The demonstrators defied warnings of a “decisive” crackdown from the elite Revolutionary Guard to mount the protest during the annual al-Quds rally, a mass display of solidarity with the Palestinians that is one of the set pieces of the Islamic regime. Mr Mousavi himself was forced to abandon his own plans to join in the rally after an angry mob shouting ‘Death to the hypocrite Mousavi’ attacked his car. Another leading reformist, the former president Mohammad Khatami, was also roughed up on the streets of Tehran and had to leave after his robe was ripped and his turban fell to the ground.”
Two Irans, one protests Ahmadinejad, the other protests in support of him and Palestine: Press TV alleges: “Millions of Iranians have taken to the streets across the country to mark the annual Quds Day march in solidarity with Palestinians. The late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in August 1979 declared the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as al-Quds Day, calling for international rallies in support of Palestinians and against Israel. Iranians marched nationwide, namely in Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad, in opposition to the continued occupation of the holy lands by the Zionist regime.”
Protest Footage: Protesters give their last warning to Ahmadinejad.
More Protest Footage: This video includes English captions for the chants in Persian.
Ahmadinejad’s First Interview with a Western Reporter Since the Elections: See the video here. He pretty much refused to answer anything.
Ahmadinejad Not Welcome: “A luxury Manhattan hotel is calling off a banquet for next week after it learned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was planning to attend and give a speech, according to a published report.”
You might want to link the Entire 1 Hour Interview
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32909953#32909953
Done, thanx.
http://www.goftamgoft.com/
The joy I got when I saw Iranians in Tehran tearing down an anti-Israel billboard… it’s not explainable in words… pure bliss!
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/sep09/IranUS_Sep09_quaire.pdf
This is a response to the above comment.
Since I am restricted by time to discuss in detail all the problems that I find with the methodology of this poll, I’ll just mention a few.
The main problem with the results of this poll is that according to its full report, 52% of those called have refused to interview. It is obvious that this will lead to a non-response bias, meaning that it is very likely that the sample was not an unbiased representation of the population. In other words, the beliefs of those who refused to interview might be very different than that of those who participated. Furthermore, even if there was not a problem with the interview refusal rate, there is still a major problem with the likelihood of the participants to reveal their actual opinion to a stranger on the phone.
Any type of public opinion poll, especially a telephone poll, where the respondent knows that she could be tracked down by her phone is never reliable in a non-democratic country like Iran. In light of the harsh crackdown on the opposition and in a situation where many fear retaliation to the extent that they are changing their email names/addresses to avoid identification, it is extremely naïve to believe they would be honest in responding to a controversial political question on the phone to a complete stranger. A strong indication of this point is the refusal of one fourth of the respondents to disclose who they voted for, which is high by itself, and significantly higher compared to the percentage of those who refused to respond to the question related to other matters.
Anyone else think IRI and Ahmadinejad seem unusually confident these days? As a concerned Iranian I’m very worried now more than ever. I will be in Tehran in December.. I sure hope the shit doesn’t hit the fan (gas imbargo, war, more protests, etc. etc.) This is all turning into a nightmarish scenario..
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brmiddleeastnafricara/640.php?nid=&id=&pnt=640&lb=
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/
http://mideastreality.blogspot.com/2009/09/quick-comment-about-mahmoud-ahmadinejad.html
elections were fair
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brmiddleeastnafricara/639.php?nid=&id=&pnt=639&lb=
Really, there just has never been a reasonable argument that the elections were fraudulent. If there had been the entire episode would have gone much differently – including possibly the removal of Khamenei by the Assembly of Experts.
I’ve talked about the lack of evidence of fraud before, and these results are completely expected in that light.
What is important now, is that the US community of Iran scholars seems nearly unanimous in its insistence that Iran’s elections are fraudulent. It is funny at this point reading articles by Juan Cole, Roger Cohen or others that cannot discuss the election without the prefix “fraudulent”.
You really get the feeling that they believe if they insist hard enough, their insistence itself can take the place of evidence.
The problem isn’t that they are all convincing each other of how fraudulent the election must have been, since of course most Iranians share their contempt for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The problem is that this widespread and false impression the permeates their community can result in poorly informed US policy.
This poll might have helped bring the US community of Iran scholars back into reality, but unfortunately we see these scholars grasping at ways to maintain their beliefs despite any contrary evidence.
Juan Cole in his Salon article claims Ahmadinejad has around 60% support. I guess that is the most unfavorable reading possible of the poll. 80% of Iranians consider him the legitimate ruler of Iran. But 60% support is enough that Cole’s early claims that the results themselves were proof of fraud are now conclusively false. If Ahmadinejad has 60% support then the presumptive conclusion in light of a 63% victory in an election would have to be that the election was honest. At least until proof otherwise becomes available.
Funnily, Cole actually tried to support his claim that the election was fraudulent recently by claiming that the votes were counted in 10 hours. 10 hours is not a fast amount of time for local polling locations to count fewer than 2000 votes each. Cole’s assertion that it was a sign of fraud relies on the early rumors that people wearing black and riding bikes stole the ballots from the polling locations. Those rumors were not repeated in Mousavi’s or any of the other candidate’s contentions of election irregularity. The only plausible explanation is that the rumors were false. These rumors were spread so quickly, and were so well designed that they do point to outside pre-planning.
Gary Sick also provides humor in discussing a result that if the election was held today, 49% of voters would choose Ahmadinejad. He claims that this 49% number is what he expected and would have forced a run-off. Basic arithmetic would show that if 49% of people polled would choose Ahmadinejad, and a substantial number of people do not vote, then that 49% in this case translates to over 60% of actual voters and both reaffirms the results and argues against fraud just as all of the poll’s other findings.
The problem is that this society of Ahmadinejad-haters – in convincing themselves that regardless of the vote count and more recently the polls, most Iranians must feel the disgust for Ahmadinejad that they do – are able to misguide US policy.
Iran is fairly well unified behind Ahmadinejad and the reformers, who never had been either pro-US or willing to make the changes the US would want in Iranian policy, are now as weak as they have ever been. They are nearly impotent as a factor in Iranian politics and I hope they are able to avoid hanging or prison.
The US Iran policy community seems to be awaiting the imminent and triumphant return of the reformist after which they will lead Iran in a popular capitulation to US Middle East desires. Just a crazy idea. I’ve read that any leader who gets better relations with the US will be a national hero. Crazy. The Shah is the opposite of a national hero.
I hope we are not headed towards disaster when the fantasies of the US’ Iran policy community – which are fueled by a heavily distorted view of Ahmadinejad that is held by Israelis but not Iranians – meet reality.
If Obama’s advisers are not able to accept that their views on Ahmadinejad – and therefore their views on the country that gives Ahmadinejad 80% legitimacy – are not universal truths but results from biases in their own analyises, it is very predictable that Obama’s policies will end up harming the US.
Posted by Arnold Evans at 10:06 AM
Whoever posted that article must have been high; whoever wrote that article must have been on crack. Seriously, these people have no idea what the hell is going on in Iran. They are driven by ideology or financial gain and nothing more. Facts has no value for these people. Let me guess, the next step will be: “yes there were no torture in Iran, Neda was killed by a CIA agent, and these protests were actually pro-government protests.”
Get a grip people.
Iran’s president has criticized the US President Barack Obama and blasted his British and French counterparts for their recent comments on Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Brown’s statements lack any real credibility. From our viewpoint, what they say is not of much value… If they have the guts they sould solve the problems they face in France and Britain,” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told CNN host Larry King on September 25.
“Who exactly are they to decide about others around the world? In which part of the IAEA regulations does it allow France and Britain to make such statement on their own? We are a member state. We are not a subcategory of Britain or France.
“Their mind frame is still in the colonial age. That era has past… It does not matter to us (what they say), but what Mr. Obama says does matter… We did not expect Mr. Obama to violate the commitment that he spoke of at the UN in less than 48 hours.”
//http:www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=107161§ionid=351020104
Slaves and their slavemasters:
“Tensions are mounting between Israel and the Palestinian Authority following Ramallah’s call on the International Court at The Hague to examine claims of “war crimes†that the IDF allegedly committed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. The issue is already weighing in on the relations between the leadership of Israel’s defense and security establishment with their counterparts in the West Bank, and is part of a growing list of Israeli complaints about the behavior of PA officials.
Meanwhile, Israel has warned the Palestinian Authority that it would condition permission for a second cellular telephone provider to operate in the West Bank – an economic issue of critical importance to the PA leadership – on the Palestinians withdrawing their request at the International Court.”
Thank goodness Israel isnt going to stop building settlements and is ensuring its own destruction, otherwise id have to see this disgusting state squat on stolen land for even LONGER