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Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Archive | June, 2009

Hiatt Sacks Froomkin

By on 18 June 2009

Calderon over at Politico has the story. Here’s Froomkin’s response:

“I was told that it had been determined that my White House Watch blog wasn’t ‘working’ anymore,” said Froomkin. “Personally, I thought it was still working very well, and based on reader feedback, a lot of readers thought so, too. I also felt White House Watch was a great fit with The Washington Post brand, and what its readers reasonably expect from the Post online. As I’ve written elsewhere, (http://www.niemanlab.org/category/themes/danfroomkin) I think that the future success of our business depends on journalists enthusiastically pursuing accountability and calling it like they see it. That’s what I tried to do every day. Now I guess I’ll have to try to do it someplace else.”

Moral of this story? Doesn’t pay to push too hard on torture at the Washington Post. …and watch out when it comes to wingnuts. Hiatt doesn’t like that either, so tip toe gently around them. One of Froomkin’s latest and greatest. Krauthammer never knew what hit him. With Froomkin gone, now he can just settle back and blow.

Froomkin’s very recent “consolation prize for Gays” proved that among the media, Obama wasn’t all that. “White House Watch” meant something. No sacred cows there.

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Poll: Close Gitmo; 76% for Public Health Care Option

By on 18 June 2009

Doubt about health care? Maybe, but people’s patience is still intact.

As for Gitmo, the Wall Street Journal extrapolates something else: A majority of people also disapprove of his decision to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. What they’re actually referring to is the “worry” quotient, which is shown in the first line below. When you ask an emotional question you’re going to get an answer that fits. The actual truth resides elsewhere, as the full context of the data reveals.

The poll found that 8 in 10 expressed worry that detainees released to other countries might be involved in future attacks here.

Half of the poll respondents said closing the prison would have no effect on protecting the nation from terror threats, but 3 in 10 said they thought it would make the United States less safe. Many of the detainees being held at the prison have not been charged, and nearly 7 in 10 people surveyed said they would support charging them or releasing them back to the country of their capture. Just 24 percent said the detainees should continue to be held without charge for as long as the government deems necessary.

The poll found that a wide majority of those who support closing the prison said their views would not change even if detainees were sent to maximum security prisons in the United States.

“It’s a bad symbol for our country: Preach one thing and do something else,” said Roberta Hall, 73, a Democrat from Barboursville, W.Va. “We can transfer them here. We’re good at keeping prisoners. That’s what we do best.”

Amidst the new polling, the headline writers at US News & World Report are among those talking down Obama’s reality. The article then goes on to quote a bunch of other sites, paying little attention to the foundational data.

Even after weeks of Cheney tag teaming Obama on foreign policy, he remains at a 59% approval on foreign policy, with 59% approving of how he’s handling the threat of terrorism. The New York Times:

But with a job approval rating of 63 percent, Mr. Obama has the backing of Democrats and independents alike, a standing that many presidents would envy and try to use to build support for their policies. His rating has fallen to 23 percent among Republicans, from 44 percent in February, a sign that bridging the partisan divide may remain an unaccomplished goal.

That “deficit” talking point is making a comeback. Someone needs to educate people that in a recession you’re going to run a deficit.

Polling should remind Obama of something else. That bipartisanship is an idea that doesn’t last.

So the President might want to consider doing what’s necessary on health care, because right now 76% of Americans want the public option plan. So, what’s stopping us?

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A Curious Document, and Khamanei’s Friday Prayer

By on 18 June 2009

Mousavi’s speech to supporters as translated (pictures here). Also at that link comes a report that the Basij have… begun to cover their faces, whereas previously they hadn’t. This indicates they are becoming more scared of retaliation from the general public. … It’s interesting to see some in the feared militias themselves becoming afraid of retaliation.

From Robert Fisk we get intrigue and a letter of election results, whether it’s real or fake is anyone’s guess.

The letter may well join the thousands of documents, real and forged, that have shaped Iran’s recent history, the most memorable of which were the Irish passports upon which Messers Robert McFarlane and Oliver North travelled to Iran on behalf of the US government in 1986 to offer missiles for hostages. The passports were real – and stolen – but the identities written onto the document were fake. Mr Ahmadinejad’s loyalists will undoubtedly blame “foreigners” for the “letter” to Ayatollah Khamenei. But its electrifying effect on the Mousavi camp will only help to transform suspicion into the absolute conviction that their leader was quite deliberately deprived of the presidency. Marjane Satrapi, the acclaimed author and the Oscar-winning director of the black and white cartoon Persepolis, was in Brussels brandishing the same document.

…The highly dubious election results, however, are arousing concern far outside Mr Mousavi’s millions of voters. Fifty-two MPs have asked the interior minister why he could not prevent the post-election intimidation and violence. Parliament has asked for a fact-finding investigation into the vandalisation of Tehran University property. Ali-Akbar Mohtashemi, a member of the Combatant Clerics Assembly – an important figure who founded the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and sent them to Lebanon when he was Iran’s ambassador to Damascus – has demanded a committee to investigate the election results, made up of senior clerics, MPs, members of the judiciary, the Council of Guardians and an official of the interior ministry.

But suppression of the free speech which Mr Mousavi’s loyalists demand so insistently continues. Yesterday morning, a 26-year-old student doing his doctorate at Oxford, Mohamed Reza Jaleopour, son of a professor at Tehran University, was arrested without charge at Tehran airport. The pro-Mousavi paper Green Word was again closed down. …

Fisk has the letter, which contains election result numbers that are mystifying, with no one really knowing the truth.

As the video above relates, there is speculation that Khamenei will call for some sort of, to put it in English, reconciliation between the parties, maybe even ask for the marchers to stand down. As Mousavi has said publicly, little is expected. However, much is hoped.

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Cry Freedom

By on 18 June 2009

UPDATE (11:26 a.m.): Mousavi calls for candlelight vigil tonight. Find your best candle graphic and get ready to share them.

POINT OF THE DAY… in response to the bellicosity on the right: The last thing we should do is give Mr. Ahmadinejad an opportunity to evoke the 1953 American-sponsored coup, which ousted Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and returned Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to power. Doing so would only allow him to cast himself as a modern-day Mossadegh, standing up for principle against a Western puppet. [...] Returning to harsh criticism now would only erase this progress, empower hard-liners in Iran who want to see negotiations fail and undercut those who have risen up in support of a better relationship. – Senator John Kerry

UPDATE (10:34 a.m.): Video of the rally today.

UPDATE (10:22 a.m.): Clinton quoted from yesterday: “We are obviously waiting to see the outcome of the internal Iranian processes, but our intent is to pursue whatever opportunities might exist in the future with Iran.”

UPDATE (10:14 a.m.): The caption on twitpic is simply “they killed him.”

UPDATE (9:55 a.m.): Guardian UK has audio of an interview of their reporter; latest entry below (h/t TheLede).

2.40pm: The numbers at today’s rally are hard to gauge, but our correspondent Saeed Kamali Dehghan, reckons there could be as many as one million people there.

I just spoke to him on a fairly good phone line from Tehran, and I managed to record most of the conversation in the audio below (it occasionally breaks up).

He said the demonstration is bigger than Monday’s rally. Many are wearing black and carrying photos of those who died. Some are carry placards calling for a new election not a recount.

Saeed pointed out that the rally has taken in place in South Tehran where Ahmadinejad claimed to have had a lot of support.

UPDATE (9:45 a.m.): According to Reuters, two of Rafsanjani’s children have been barred from leaving Iran.

UPDATE (9:27): Influential Iran clerics schedule pro-Mousavi rally..

A top Reformist body, made up of influential clerics, has asked for authorization to hold a pro-Mousavi rally on Saturday in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

________Original post is below_________

It’s reminiscent of the Iranian revolution thirty years ago.

Commenter “tokacs” at the YouTube channel transcribes something said in the night:

The woman in this video is saying something that really touched me. She? is saying that they can take our phones, our internet, all our communication away, but we are showing that by saying “allaho akbar” we can find each other. She ends it my saying that tonight they are crying out to god for help.

Today is a day of mourning in Iran.

More mass protests are expected in the Iranian capital after presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi urged followers to observe a day of mourning.

Mr Mousavi called on supporters to stage peaceful protests or gather in mosques in memory of eight people killed after a Tehran rally on Monday. …

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PODCAST: Iranian ‘Cyber Revolution’… with Blackout at State Dept. Blog

By on 17 June 2009

–updated below–

“TM-DC” Podcast of Iranian “Cyber Revolution”
… and State Dept. Blog Epic Fail… and more

Day five and still no post from the State Department’s “official” blog, DipNote. Seriously, why have a blog if you’re going to institute a blackout on the biggest international story that happens to be playing out in cyberspace. EPIC. FAIL.

On Twitter, I have been engaged in a couple of back and forth tweets, one with someone associated with State’s Twitter travel feed, who took issue with my critical post. Tough. If you read the post it is accurate in every detail.

In fact, the State Dept. blog hadn’t mentioned Iran at all, not even on Twitter, until someone @dipnote made a reply to YearoftheBlogger who had RT’d (re-tweeted) my post from yesterday. This is DipNote’s response, which automatically was uploaded in the right hand margin Twitter section of the blog. However, no post on Iran followed.

Ready for some irony?

The following was written June 14th as the Iranian “cyber revolution” was unfolding, while State Dept.’s blog was evidently under a gag rule: Hillary Clinton Turns State Department Tech-Friendly.

Meet Hillary Clinton 2.0—the tech-friendly, Web-savvy version of the former candidate and New York senator who’s pushing what insiders call 21st-century statecraft: enhancing diplomacy through technology.

“She pushes us to think big and to take big chances and to try new approaches,” says Alec Ross, an Obama techie Clinton tapped to be senior adviser for innovation at State. “She’s sort of the godmother of all of this,” he adds of Clinton, who’s used her personal BlackBerry since 2006, though not inside the security-sensitive walls of State. The secretary of state especially likes using cellular phones to connect people around the globe. “Particularly in the developing world, people are increasingly getting their information through mobile phones,” explains Ross. “So we at the State Department are thinking about how that can be a distribution channel for good information.”

Who said irony is dead?

Then late yesterday I received a “direct message” via Twitter from someone @dipnote. Now, they could have used @taylormarsh, but they didn’t. That would have been public and linkable. Sending it “direct,” meant I’d have to cut and paste it to share it, without a link. So, here you go:

Thanks for your Tweets Taylor. We hear you and recognize your concerns.
about 22 hours ago

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Excuse me? What sort of rubbish is that to send to me? Idiots.

But since Secretary Clinton answers to President Obama, I’d like to know what the hell the Administration is thinking. You don’t have to appear like you’re “meddling” to simply state the U.S. position on the State Department’s “official” blog. Instead, the official policy of the Obama State Department under Clinton is to IGNORE THE IRANIAN ELECTION, THE DRAMA UNFOLDING and that the United States stands with all people trying to manifest free elections, even as we respect Iran’s sovereignty. Is this so hard? For the Obama-Clinton team, yes, it is. Or, rather, on Iran, NO THEY CAN’T.

So State obviously didn’t “hear” me and have not “recognized” squat.

Five days and counting and we’ve still got blogging silence from State.

UPDATE (9:55 p.m. eastern) What’s this? The State Dept.’s Twitter feed is now using the “I” word. See here and here, posting tweets after this post appeared. But it’s important to note, Twitter feeds disappear. If we could only get State’s “official” blog to actually use the “I” word in a post, the actual voice of any “official” blog. If we could get someone over at State’s blog DipNote to actually post something about Iran IN THE BLOG ITSELF we might actually have a baby blog in bloom. Seriously, who’s editing this crap? Pitiful. They’re linking to statements via Twitter, while their “official” blog remains muzzled? Sheesh, absolutely clueless.

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The Iranian Green Wave Revolution: State Dept. Blog Epic Fail, Iran Inspires the World, Rafsanjani v. Khamenei, New Media & Twitter… and more

By on 17 June 2009


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The ‘Green Wave’ Revolution is Not Ours

By on 17 June 2009

Non-violent and calm represents the “green wave” revolution so far in Iran, the video pictured here circulating everywhere.

How will the neocons reconcile that picture with the crazy Ahmadinejad caricature he’s imprinted as Iran’s image in the world since his rein began? See Robert Kagan.

Segue to Matt Duss who dismantles Robert Kagan’s nakedly obtuse op-ed today:

… But I have to say, Mr. Kagan, your op-ed this morning is really beneath you. You can’t actually believe that President Obama is “siding with the Iranian regime” against the Iranian people, or that Obama’s outreach to Iran depends upon keeping hardliners in power, can you? You’re far too intelligent to buy the brutishly simplistic “realism” that you attempt to hang upon President Obama’s approach. These sorts of claims are better left to your friend and occasional co-author Bill Kristol, who uses his series of valuable journalistic perches (with which he inexplicably continues to be gifted) to launch an endless stream of comically transparent bad faith arguments. You’re better than that. You’re the smart neocon.

Aren’t you? While it’s nice that you recognize that “it’s not that Obama preferred a victory by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad” — though that was the stated preference of a number of your fellow neoconservatives — your claim that President Obama’s “strategy toward Iran places him objectively on the side of” Ahmadinejad is the kind of thing I thought we had left back in 2003, when opponents of the Iraq invasion (that is, the people who turned out to be right) were tarred as being “objectively pro-Saddam.” It doesn’t smell any better six years later.

To add, read this post at NSN to get what the neocons have offered during this historic time.

But Americans and others rooting for the Iranian people should not misconstrue our picture of what Iran should be for what they will actually manifest. It is. after all, the Islamic Republic of Iran, with a very long history of religion and politics intermixed in modern times. Mousavi would be a different face internationally, that is if he prevails, something that remains a long shot, but he will remain beholden to the Supreme Leader, whether Khamenei survives or not. Yes, Iranians want to be able to vote for their SL, but the religious overlord will remain.

Whatever the Iranian people are doing right now, however heartening it is, it is not a revolution in the sense of a democratic republic.

The distinction of what we’d prefer for them, well, that is irrelevant and not for us to decide.

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The Unwinding in Iran

By on 17 June 2009
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UPDATE (1:31 p.m.): Rafsanjani: shark or kingmaker?, posted yesterday (h/t TLede).  Also see my UPDATE (12:34 p.m.) below. Maybe both, after all, politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran isn’t, to use an American saying, bean bag.

The super-rich Rafsanjani, his family, and his supporters in the reformist Kargozaran party make no bones about helping finance and direct Mir Hossein Mousavi’s campaign to topple Ahmadinejad, whom they despise. But with Mousavi ostensibly beaten, the developing post-election struggle now pits Rafsanjani against Khamenei rather than the president – who is widely seen as a mouthpiece for the hardline fundamentalism typified by the Supreme Leader. Although he is supposed to stay above the fray, Khamenei endorsed Ahmadinejad this time, just as in the second round of the 2005 election.

Rafsanjani has made no secret of his belief that foreign and economic policies pursued during the past four years under Khamenei’s guidance have seriously damaged the Islamic Republic….

UPDATE (1:00 p.m.): Quote of the day, so far:

We don’t have Mousavi supporters, it’s now all of Iran… – via anonymous academic, from Juan Cole

UPDATE (12:57): Targeting students, the pictures.

UPDATE (12:34 p.m.): Via twitpic… and a little context. This is a reigniting of the battle between Khamenei and Rafsanjani, with Ahmadinejad and Mousavi the proxies. It goes back years, with the corrupt Rafsanjani pitting himself against the religious Khamenei, who is seen by experts as Bob Baer and others to be a fraud. If Rafsanjani muscles the Assembly of Experts to vote against Khamenei, he will finally have wrestled his enemy to the ground, something that has been a very long battle for Rafsanjani, who likely feels his credentials far exceed SLK.

UPDATE: (11:30 a.m.): Meanwhile, in an alternate universe, yesterday the SCO, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional grouping led by Russia and China, to quote CS Monitor, gave Ahmadinejad a platform. Where his global patrons were only too happy to let him parade his recent “win” as they mocked the importance of free elections, to no one’s surprise.

UPDATE (11:17 a.m.): From ABC’s Robert Fisk in Iran:

It was interesting that the special forces – who normally take the side of Ahmadinejad’s Basij militia – were there with clubs and sticks in their camouflage trousers and their purity white shirts and on this occasion the Iranian military kept them away from Mousavi’s men and women.

In fact at one point, Mousavi’s supporters were shouting ‘thank you, thank you’ to the soldiers.

One woman went up to the special forces men, who normally are very brutal with Mr Mousavi’s supporters, and said ‘can you protect us from the Basij?’ He said ‘with God’s help’.

UPDATE (11:01 a.m.): Joe Cirincione weighs in…

If Ahmadinejad is forced out, prospects also improve. Some analysts have somewhat mechanically assumed that because Mir Hossein Mousavi was involved in the revival of the Shah’s nuclear weapons program by the Islamic Republic in the 1980′s, he would champion the uranium enrichment program now. If he had barely won election, and while the issue remained a nationalist touchstone spanning political camps, there was some truth to this prediction.

But that was before the Uprising. Nationalism now has new, more powerful and more meaningful expressions. Mousavi was always more open to dialogue with the West. As president, his discourse could now include the nuclear program with much less fear of attack.

UPDATE (10:40 a.m.): Bill Keller from Iran.

__________Original post below__________

Ayatollah Montazeri’s letter is stunning. It reveals a serious crack in the religious hierarchy in Iran. Nothing is more significant or could weigh more on what happens going forward.

Bob Baer was on “Hardball” yesterday, filling in the rest of the picture, with more here. Baer also described Iran in a way that most people don’t understand.

In Iran nothing is ever as it seems, including presidential elections. It’s arguable that Friday’s election had less to do with a vote for or against Ahmadinejad than it did with a vote for or against Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. And if the elections were stolen, it was likely in an effort to maintain Khamenei’s hold on power rather than Ahmadinejad’s.

Iran is not a theocracy. It is a military dictatorship headed by Khamenei and advised by a coterie of generals from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Army, as well as hard-liners in the secret police. Ahmadinejad is little more than the spokesman for this group.

Segue to McClatchy:

No one in their right mind can believe” the official results from Friday’s contest, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said of the landslide victory claimed by Ahmadinejad. Montazeri accused the regime of handling Mousavi’s charges of fraud and the massive protests of his backers “in the worst way possible.”“A government not respecting people’s vote has no religious or political legitimacy,” he declared in comments on his official Web site. “I ask the police and army personals (personnel) not to ‘sell their religion,’ and beware that receiving orders will not excuse them before God.”

As Steve Clemons said late last night, this election is over. The sticky part of it is how things move forward. Photoshopping Ahmadinejad’s crowds , as they did with that missile launch (h/t sullivan), is not going to be the answer.

As for John McCain, evidently “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” is still running through his brain. The Republicans seem caught as flatfooted by the happenings in Iran and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and his contingent.

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is rumored through a Twitter feed to have commanded a meeting to unseat Khamenei. Shorter: the corrupt Rafsanjani has done his own meddling and may be at the heart of it all.

Still, if the protests and demonstrations in Tehran cannot be controlled, we should seriously start to wonder about Khamenei’s future. Rafsanjani is rumored to be in the holy city of Qum plotting against Khamenei, seeing if he has enough votes in the 86-member Assembly of Experts to remove Khamenei. A vote recount is unlikely to change the results of the election, but it could lead to more demonstrations, which backed by Rafsanjani and the other mullahs, might just end Khamenei’s 20 year run. – Bob Baer

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Claire McCaskill Takes a Page from Truman

By on 16 June 2009

…in a break from the riveting Iranian developments, a little politics (and, no, I’m not talking about John Ensign going all “Big Love”).

As someone born in Missouri, I always keep an eye on what happens there, especially since my big bro still lives there. Now, it’s no secret that McCaskill has never been one of my favorites, though she beats any Republican on any given day. However, she has distinguished herself as being independent, whether you like her politics or not. She’s telling it like it is again.

“The White House has failed to follow the proper procedure in notifying Congress as to the removal of the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service,” McCaskill said. “The legislation which was passed last year requires that the president give a reason for the removal.”

McCaskill, a key Obama ally, said that the president’s stated reason for the termination, “Loss of confidence’ is not a sufficient reason.”

Maybe the press could take a lesson from Mrs. McCaskill. Or maybe Richard Wolffe and Evan Thomas, et al. are just too far gone.

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State Dept.’s DipNote Blog Remains Silent on Iran

By on 16 June 2009
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If you venture over to the State Department’s DipNote blog, as of a few minutes ago (03:44 p.m. eastern), the lead post is entitled “Coercion in a Time of Crisis.” Before you get your hopes up, it’s not about Iran.

In fact, at DipNote, the Iran election didn’t happen. But more importantly, they evidently have no clue what’s been going on in Iran or what the Iranian people are experiencing. To add more silence on the subject, they didn’t even post Pres. Obama’s statement last night. Nor did they post about the State Department’s plea to keep those tweets coming. That’s how bad the blogging is over at DipNote.

What is the Obama administration thinking? Pres. Obama’s statement last night was cautious, with the timing important. Obviously, the U.S. cannot be seen as, to use his words, “meddling,” which he reitereated today in his press conference today with South Korea’s Lee:

“… it’s not productive… to be seen as meddling in Iranian elections… deep concerns about the election.”

Fair enough.

Surely Obama can figure out how to give the GREEN light to State so that the DipNote blog is at least relevant. They can report facts without “meddling,” can’t they? If not, DipNote should just close down, because it couldn’t have proved more irrelevant during the biggest moment in Iranian history since 1979, which is unfolding online, via the blogs.

But to have the U.S. State Department blog completely oblivious online is ridiculous, unhelpful, even counterproductive in our democratic republic, especially given all the statements we’ve heard coming from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about State’s 21st century technology outreach.

It’s a moment when we really must ask what good is a State Department blog if it’s not going to even mention the “green wave” happening in Iran, which is historic by anyone’s measure.

Why isn’t Secretary Clinton lobbying her boss hard to get State more involved in at least acknowledging what’s going on in Iran at the State Department’s main outreach to the people, DipNote?

This is an epic fail.

So, if you want information, the U.S. State Department’s DipNote blog isn’t the place to go, with this blackout on Iran revealing the editorial ineptitude pervading it.

Go to Nico Pitney @ HuffPost, or go to The Lede, Andrew Sullivan, Twitter, niacINsight, Gary Sick and many others.

To see such silence from State is beyond disappointing. It’s dereliction of duty at a time when they could be offering real information. Not politics. Not meddling. But a voice. Outreach to the Iranian people that is desperately needed, even as I realize the hope of DipNote becoming an information center for everyone on what’s happening in Iran, especially given their worldwide contacts, is too much to ask.

Because the only hope of manifesting a real shift in Iran is if the people keep up the pressure. Without it the “green wave” will die.

To invoke Bill Maher, a little more audacity, please.

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In Historic Shift Guardian Council Agrees to Limited Vote Recount

By on 16 June 2009

UPDATE (7:33 p.m.): NPR reporting…

Security officials posing as clients entered the Tehran offices of one of Iran’s leading human rights lawyers today and arrested him, Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi just told NPR’s Davar Iran Ardalan. … “Once they were inside they immediately confiscated his computer and other documents and they arrested Mr. Soltani,” Ebadi said in today’s interview. “As far as we know, they did not have an arrest warrant.” (audio follows)

UPDATE (3:19 p.m.): Ken Ballen on CNN is on what looks like to me damage control after he got creamed in analysis in the last few days for his poll from TFT.

UPDATE (2:36 p.m.): Conservatives on Iran… Rep. Mike Pence introduces resolution supporting Iranians. Michael Ledeen is a wingnut of steroids. Instapundit goes green. John Bolton on Politico. Michael Goldfarb pushes Iraq model. While Mike Krikorian would rather believe that Iranians must be American, aka Christian, for there to be a revolution.

UPDATE (1:33 p.m.): BBC is now GREEN. umm… not green see The Lede 2:07 pm.

UPDATE (1:08 p.m.): CNN responds to Iran media crackdown… “And because of these new restrictions, what we’re doing now at CNN, is we’re relaxing our usual vetting process a bit when it comes to information that we get via email, tweets or IReports…”

UPDATE (1:00 p.m.): Flickr shots from Iran’s “green wave” today.

UPDATE (12:07 p.m.): Obama with South Korea’s Lee got a question at the end of the presser on Iran. Short snippets (The Lede has more): “… it’s not productive… to be seen as meddling in Iranian elections… deep concerns about the election.” Full statement below:

Q Iran?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: It was only — let’s see — I think seven hours ago or eight hours ago when I — I have said before that I have deep concerns about the election. And I think that the world has deep concerns about the election. You’ve seen in Iran some initial reaction from the Supreme Leader that indicates he understands the Iranian people have deep concerns about the election.

Now, it’s not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling — the U.S. President meddling in Iranian elections. What I will repeat and what I said yesterday is that when I see violence directed at peaceful protestors, when I see peaceful dissent being suppressed, wherever that takes place, it is of concern to me and it’s of concern to the American people. That is not how governments should interact with their people.

And my hope is, is that the Iranian people will make the right steps in order for them to be able to express their voices, to express their aspirations. I do believe that something has happened in Iran where there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures towards the international community that have taken place in the past, and that there are people who want to see greater openness and greater debate and want to see greater democracy. How that plays out over the next several days and several weeks is something ultimately for the Iranian people to decide. But I stand strongly with the universal principle that people’s voices should be heard and not suppressed.

Okay? All right. Thank you, guys.

UPDATE (11:16 a.m.): Patrick J. Buchanan…

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will never recapture that revolutionary purity he once seemed to possess as the man of the people who was elected president in the upset of 2005. Today, he appears, as The New York Times puts it, “as the shrewd and ruthless front man for a clerical military and political elite that is more unified and emboldened than at any time since the 1979 revolution.”

UPDATE (10:51 a.m.): from niacINsight:

10:38 am: Twitter feeds from Tehran are reporting that today’s worker strike went according to plan, with most offices in Tehran deserted.

________________Original post below___________

For the first time, in that crowd, it seemed to me that the forces of change, the deeper Iran of civility and courage that I first encountered several months ago, might prevail. Seldom has silence been more eloquent or potent. – Roger Cohen

One of Iranian’s original bloggers, Saeed Hajjarian, according to Reuters, has been arrested. With the story of Twitter’s importance in such a repressive news environment making news everywhere.

There will be a recount of “some” of the ballots. It’s 2000, Iran style, which makes it even worse. But here it is and it’s historic:

Iran’s influential Guardian Council agreed Tuesday to recount some ballots from last week’s disputed presidential election, as pro- and anti-government demonstrators prepared for a possible face-off in a public square.

The unusual step by the council, several members of which had supported President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s bid for re-election, was quickly rejected as insufficient by the opposition.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and two other challengers have called on the council to nullify all of the election results and order new balloting.

But as small as this may seem, it’s really illustrative of a huge backtrack on the Supreme Leader’s part, historic.

Few suggest yet that Ayatollah Khamenei’s hold on power is at risk. But, analysts say, he has opened a serious fissure in the face of Islamic rule and one that may prove impossible to patch over, particularly given the fierce dispute over the election that has erupted amid the elite veterans of the 1979 revolution.Even his strong links to the powerful Revolutionary Guards — long his insurance policy — may not be decisive as the confrontation in Iran unfolds.

“Khamenei would always come and say, ‘Shut up; what I say goes,’ ” said Azar Nafisi, the author of two memoirs about Iran, including “Reading Lolita in Tehran.” “Everyone would say, ‘O.K., it is the word of the leader.’ Now the myth that there is a leader up there whose power is unquestionable is broken.”

As you can imagine, Mousavi is “not very optimistic about their judgment.” But the fact that the Guardian Council is making this move reveals they get what’s taking place outside the chamber.

Iran has banned all foreign media from covering the rallies, so the effort to control what’s going on is increasing, as is expected. But Khamenei has reversed himself, opening the door for something to happen. What will manifest from it, however, is far less certain.

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Left Holding the Bag on Intel

By on 15 June 2009

Dems are reportedly poised to change the way they’re briefed on major intelligence issues that require utmost secrecy. Greg Sargent is reporting that House Intel chair Silvestre Reyes is also prepared to compel the CIA to provide actual details of what is said and who it’s said to, in detail.

In a move that could spark another fight with the GOP over CIA intelligence and secrecy, House Dems are quietly preparing to make major changes to the ways the CIA briefs Congress on covert actions, by broadening the pool of members of Congress who will have access to such private briefings, a source familiar with deliberations says.

Dems on the House Intelligence Committee have drafted a new bill that would strip the President of his authority to limit such briefings to the so-called “Gang of Eight” — the leaders of the House and Senate from both parties, and the leaders of the Congressional Intelligence committees — and allow a larger group of members of Congress to attend. …

Sounds good as far as it goes. However, one of the other issues is providing an avenue for lawmakers to be able to sound off if something in one of these briefings, shall we say, lights their hair on fire. It’s not enough to expand the base of people getting the sensitive, secret briefings. Understanding classified information is deemed that way for a reason, if you’re told about EIT, aka torture or something similar that is clearly unconstitutional and against all laws, maybe there should be some sort of mechanism or judge you can take it to so you don’t have sit there like some potted plant while all manner of insanity is perpetrated simply because it’s the law that it’s classified secret. We’re talking about an extraordinary situation, but since we’ve just come through one maybe someone should think beyond just being told about something being done that’s illegal. Perhaps having top lawmakers having recourse, in private chambers with a designated judge, wouldn’t be such a bad idea at all.

Or maybe I’m missing something. But when I put myself in this position, I want to have a way to address something that clearly is wrong going beyond the I Couldn’t Tell Anyone Because The Briefing Was Classified excuse. Hey, but that’s just me.

But at least it would get rid of the he said – she said Nancy Pelosi type finger pointing, because there will be more witnesses to the briefings. I guess that will also pull the plug on briefings of shenanigans like torture, etc. Safety in numbers, I guess, is the out. That is, if the Republicans don’t have a hissy.

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Obama to Iran: ‘The World is Watching and Inspired’

By on 15 June 2009

After remaining patient, silently considering what has happened in the last days, but especially what’s played out over this remarkable day, President Obama made his first statement on the “green revolution”, my term not the President’s, that is unfolding.

“…It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran’s leaders will be. We respect Iranians sovereignty. … Having said all that, I am deeply troubled by the violence I’ve been seeing on television. I think the democratic process, free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent, all those are universal values and need to be respected. And whenever I see violence perpetrated on people who are peacefully dissenting and whenever the American people see that, I think they are rightfully troubled. [...] There appears to be a sense on the part of people who were so hopeful and so engaged, committed to democracy, who now feel betrayed… – President Barack Obama

More than anything the Iranians marching need to keep the pressure on. Obama’s timing may have offered just that lift, coming tonight, the day before the nation wide strike Mir Hussein Mousavi called for tomorrow.

From the Asia Times:

It is 1979 in Tehran all over again. From Saturday to Sunday, the deafening sound deep in the night across Tehran’s rooftops was a roaring, ubiquitous “Allah-u Akbar” (God is great). Then, in 1979, to hail the Islamic revolution; now, in 2009, to signify what appears to be the hijacking of the Islamic revolution. Then, the revolution was not televised; it was via (Ruhollah Khomeini) radio. Now, it is being broadcast all across the world.

Let’s cut to the chase: what Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi qualified as “this dangerous charade” and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “the sweetness of the election”, or better yet, a “divine assessment”, has all the non-divine markings of intervention by the Iranian Republican Guards Corps (IRGC). …

No one else is calling it a “green revolution,” but that’s what it is around here. If for no other reason than to give wings to hope through two little words, because the Iranians need encouragement and to believe that what they’re doing is rocking Iran and the world, even if overturning the current reality is not very good. They’ve changed Iran forever in the last days. It may take time, but it’s coming.

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Amidst A Revolution

By on 15 June 2009

–updated–

“DON’T GIVE UP” – Vaclav Havel

______

“I have submitted my request for canceling the elections to the Guardian Council. I am certain recent reactions are not for me, but it is out of concern for the new political order that is being imposed on our country.” – niacInsight

Nice statement, not going to matter. Watch the video. You’ll get the last part of the picture people aren’t considering are discounting, because the drama playing out on the ground in Iran is just too riveting. Revolutionary.

One critically important link to check is ABC’s master poller, who rips TFT Ballen’s polling (via) I was in the house, as they say, and as ABC points out, Ballen predicted a “run-off.” Again, I’ve written posts about the trouble with experts and this seems to be another example.

Mir Mousavi’s Facebook page is now available again, with the new picture that’s been uploaded speaking volumes.

Latest report:

“Reliable news from Iran has arrived that after the death of one person by Basij, the Basij base in Azadi Sq. has been burned down and the commander in that base has been killed.” [The fire is being confirmed by an eye-witness.]

Via Andrew Sullivan:

I have seen the pictures, and they are disturbing. But I also have family there that are telling my family here they’re all ok and not really involved in all of this. I think the LA Riots is a great analogy, within the pockets of disturbance, its probably horrible, but despite the bigger national and cultural issues behind those riots, they were a localized event.

Tehran, as a whole, has not come to a standstill, it really hasn’t. My aunt is running all her normal errands in Tehran in preparation for her vacation. My cousin here spoke to his family in Sanandaj (Kurdish area a couple hours west of Tehran) over the weekend and they think the election was rigged and are hearing a lot of blowback about it, but people are going about their business.

I was in the middle of the LA Riots, so I remember them well. I don’t know how you can compare Iran and LA, even at its worst. As the rioters moved through the city, it got very scary for us as they headed towards our neighborhood. We locked down, looked out for each other in our apartment complex, with the guys being particularly wonderful, seeing if us single gals were okay. But in most places beyond the fury, which was most of the city, life went on.

In the eye of the storm it was deadly dangerous and unpredictable. The eye of the storm seems to be the university, for obvious reasons.

The BASIJ are out of control, as many, many eye witness reports being funneled through all the sites reveal. But in the end it all comes under the Guard, aka the regime. That includes Hizballah. At least that’s my take.

It’s notable to me that amidst a crowd of 100,000, when things got out of hand, so far one person has been reported as shot to death seven people confirmed killed at Azadi Square. That’s one too many, but it could have been far worse.

This isn’t over, so let’s hope it doesn’t get worse. It will be a long ten days.

UPDATE II: The Leveretts double down.

UPDATE: I’m sitting in my office in green, as I said I would last night on Twitter, so I decided to do the quotes in green too. Kudos goes to Sullivan, who’s now gone green and has been covering the Revolution, dare we say “green revolution”?, if only to represent all of our hopes, all weekend.

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Dennis Ross Re-assigned?

By on 15 June 2009

UPDATE: Time has the story. Haaretz and Peretz were both wrong in the way they framed the move. Burton’s quote teased it, but the move gives him more power, through access, not less. But coming as this did as the Iranian election explodes into the streets, well, it certainly is interesting.

Dennis Ross, the Obama Administration’s special adviser on Iran, will be leaving his post at the State Department to become a senior adviser at the National Security Council with an expanded portfolio, Administration officials tell TIME.

The new White House position puts him closer to the center of foreign policy power, placing him in the top ranks of Obama’s in-house aides, said an Administration official. “He is closer to being able to provide advice to the President,” the official said. But Ross’ exact duties remain unclear. …

_____________________

“The president continues to obviously have confidence in him.” – Bill Burton (in interview with Andrea Mitchell)

Frankly, he should never been appointed as Iran envoy. He’s an avowed Israeli hawk who doesn’t believe in any type of Iran engagement that would actually mean something. Via Haaretz:

Dennis Ross, who most recently served as a special State Department envoy to Iran, will abruptly be relieved of his duties, sources in Washington told Haaretz. An official announcement is expected in the coming days.

The Obama administration will announce that Ross has been reassigned to another position in the White House. In his new post, the former Mideast peace envoy under President Bill Clinton will deal primarily with regional issues related to the peace process.

Flynt Everett is always making this subtle point. Seems like the light may have dawned at State.

This Haaretz report was also marked by something very special. The headline of the day compliments of, who else? Marty Peretz: Dennis Ross, Out As Special Envoy To Iran; Was He Ousted Because He’s A Jew Or A Bit Hawkish On Nukes?

Maybe because Ross’s views don’t remotely relate to those of his boss? You know, like the fact that settlements preclude a Palestinian state, something Netanyahu still won’t face, but which has been made clear by Pres. Obama as well as his Secretary of State.

We’ll wait to see if this actually manifests. The Cable believes he’s staying.

To add, after hearing Bill Burton with Mitchell, I agree. Seems like Haaretz, Peretz & Co. are trying to stir up trouble.

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Did Ahmadinejad Actually Win?

By on 15 June 2009

cross-posted at Huffington Post

Update: Write up of the event here.

Allegations of fraud and electoral manipulation will serve to further isolate Iran and are likely to increase its belligerence and intransigence against the outside world. Before other countries, including the United States, jump to the conclusion that the Iranian presidential elections were fraudulent, with the grave consequences such charges could bring, they should consider all independent information. The fact may simply be that the reelection of President Ahmadinejad is what the Iranian people wanted. – Ken Ballen and Patrick Dougherty (TM Note: I was at the event where they released these results)

What to believe? According to many calculations, “two-thirds of Iran’s population is less than 30 years old” (via Slate). There is no evidence that these young people supported Ahmadinejad. So where does that leave us all? We may never know the truth, just what will be our reality, as well as Pres. Obama’s as he and the world continue to try to engage the regime.

In fact, Ken Ballen of Terror Free Tomorrow, and Patrick Douherty of the America Foundation, have written an article stating the election actually reflects what his polling found. As I wrote in my post at the time Ballen unveiled the results, which is here, TFT’s results showed a plurality intending to vote for Ahmadinejad (live Twitter reporting feed here). Ballen’s article mimics what Flynt Leverett said to Spiegel over the weekend (who was also at the event), that indeed, there should be no surprise that Ahmadinejad won; that the only surprise would have been that he didn’t. Iranian incumbent presidents have never lost re-election, though Leverett did say the margin was a surprise. No kidding.

Something has shifted in Tehran, it seems to me, even if it doesn’t mean the election “results” will not be solidified. In the aftermath of the results, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered an investigation into allegations of fraud. After the Supreme Leader said no protests would take place, one clearly took place today, with it even being shown on Iranian tv. Though Mousavi is to call for his supporters to remain calm, but to also not to appear anti regime. Was there a deal struck or has the reaction from the Iranians over the election caught the regime off guard and scared them enough of what could ensue that they are giving the revolutionaries against Ahmadinejad their days to vent?

After CNN took a real hit this weekend over their lack of coverage of the Iranian election blow back, they seem to have gotten the message. Considering their ratings slump you would think they’d have jumped on this historic moment, but that, by all accounts was not the case:

Untold thousands used the label “CNNfail” on Twitter to vent their frustrations. Steve LaBate, an Atlanta resident, said on Twitter, “Why aren’t you covering this with everything you’ve got?” About the same time, CNN was showing a repeat of Larry King’s interview of the stars of the “American Chopper” show. For a time, new criticisms were being added on Twitter at least once a second. …

Via Tehran bureau we get more evidence that the Supreme Leader and Mir Mousavi seem to have come to an agreement to calm things down, not incite.

# there’s a march from Azadi to Enghelab going on in tehran now.
# 3 hrs ago, this came in: “Pls do this so SEPAH [IRGC] has no excuse to hurt us. about 3 hours ago from web
# Please let everyone know in Iran that Mr. Mosavi asked all the supporters whom participating inabout 3 hours ago from web
# in today’s demonstration to carry Imam Khomeini’s picture, these will bring security to people and also won’t allow opposition group toabout 3 hours ago from web
# to label Mosavi’s supporters as an anti regime.about 3 hours ago from web

I remain skeptical of the results for reasons I’ve outlined, so subtle pressure doesn’t hurt, as long as the U.S. doesn’t repeat history’s mistakes by appearing to meddle. Remember Mosaddeq.

Everyone needs to take a deep breath, especially if you’re not in Iran and are sitting safely behind the walls of our democratic republic.

UPDATE: I see I’m not alone.

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The Next Iranian Revolution On Deck

By on 15 June 2009

She was in tears like many women on the streets of Iran’s battered capital. “Throw away your pen and paper and come to our aid,” she said, pointing to my notebook. “There is no freedom here.” [...] Majir Mirpour grabbed me. A purple bruise disfigured his arm. He raised his shirt to show a red wound across his back. “They beat me like a pig,” he said, breathless. “They beat me as I tried to help a woman in tears. I don’t care about the physical pain. It’s the pain in my heart that hurts.” He looked at me and the rage in his eyes made me want to toss away my notebook. – Roger Cohen

It may not be a win today, but the seeds of a new Iranian revolution have been sewn. How long it will take to make what Iran clearly wants to manifest is the unknown.

Germany’s Foreign Minister stated that the Iranian ambassador has been summoned over the election results.

Germany views events in Iran following its presidential election with great concern and has summoned the Iranian ambassador to explain, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday. He also condemned what he called “brutal actions” against demonstrators in Tehran which he said were unacceptable.

Amidst it all, Vice President Joe Biden gave the Administration’s bottom line. When David Gregory stated that Ahmadinejad said the election was “free and fair,” Biden simply responded: Well, you know, I, I have doubts, but I–we’re going to withhold comment until we have a, you know, a thorough review of the whole process and how they react in the aftermath.

The story is the Iranians fighting for freedom and their lives, not whatever Pres. Obama might say that would insert the U.S. in this historic drama we are watching play out. Engagement will remain the rule.

The EU president’s statement nodded towards “notices” Ahmadinejad being “re-elected for the second term,” even as they make mention of the obvious:

The Presidency is concerned about alledged (sic) irregularities during the election process and post-electional (sic) violence that broke out immediately after the release of the official election results on 13 June 2009.

It came about through duplicity and cunning, manipulation through planning and power, but Ahmadinejad and his partner, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are now in the throes of wrestling all dissent to the ground and they will not shirk from snuffing it out by whatever means. Know that. They will bring down the wrath of all that’s unholy to stop what has begun. Nothing will keep them from cementing their authority. To do otherwise would cause a cataclysmic event that would change Iran in a way that would leave no place for them.

Nevertheless, it has begun.

Steve Clemons is the first guide:

He conveyed to me things that were mostly obvious — Iran is now a tinderbox. The right is tenaciously consolidating its control over the state and refuses to yield. There is a split among the mullahs and significant dismay with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. A gaping hole has been ripped open in Iranian society, exposing the contradictions of the regime and everyone now sees that the democracy that they believed that they had in Iranian form is a “charade.”

But the scariest point he made to me that I had not heard anywhere else is that this “coup by the right wing” has created pressures that cannot be solved or patted down by the normal institutional arrangements Iran has constructed. The Guardian Council and other power nodes of government can’t deal with the current crisis and can’t deal with the fact that a civil war has now broken out among Iran’s revolutionaries.

My contact predicted serious violence at the highest levels. He said that Ahmadinejad is now genuinely scared of Iranian society and of Mousavi and Rafsanjani. The level of tension between them has gone beyond civil limits — and my contact said that Ahmadinejad will try to have them imprisoned and killed.

Gary Sick takes it from there

If the reports coming out of Tehran about an electoral coup are sustained, then Iran has entered an entirely new phase of its post-revolution history. One characteristic that has always distinguished Iran from the crude dictators in much of the rest of the Middle East was its respect for the voice of the people, even when that voice was saying things that much of the leadership did not want to hear.

… However this turns out, it is a historic turning point in the 30-year history of Iran’s Islamic revolution. Iranians have never forgotten the external political intervention that thwarted their democratic aspirations in 1953. How will they remember this day?

Juan Cole makes the point that many don’t understand. It’s not that Mousavi is any flaming moderate, as we would judge it. The issue is first about free and fair elections, which were not allowed to go forward.

[...] It was about culture wars, not class. It is simply not true that the typical Iranian voter votes conservative and religious when he or she gets the chance. In fact, Mousavi is substantially more conservative than the typical winning politician in 2000. Given the enormous turnout of some 80 percent, and given the growth of Iran’s urban sector, the spread of literacy, and the obvious yearning for ways around the puritanism of the hard liners, Mousavi should have won in the ongoing culture war.

And just because Ahmadinejad poses as a champion of the little people does not mean that his policies are actually good for workers or farmers or for working class women (they are not, and many people in that social class know that they are not).

I stand apart from the experts, as my longing to visit Iran (among others) has never manifested. But I’d also point out that Iranians want their country to take its proper place where Persian greatness once held sway. Obama’s presence heightens that hunger. They’re sick of being ostracized, with Ahmadinejad’s buffoonish belligerence being their image in the world. They want to reclaim Iran’s historic greatness. That’s why this moment is different and so dangerous for the Iranians fighting for their freedom. The powers holding the country hostage know this and have no intention of allowing it to happen.

Nicolas Kristoff reminds us all of the stakes far away from our own comfort:

But at the end of the day, as I saw at Tiananmen 20 years ago, when Might and Right do battle, it’s often prudent to bet on Might, at least in the short run. It’s interesting that the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has specifically warned of the risk of a “Tehran Tiananmen.”

I’m not sure what to make of Flyntt Leverett’s assessment in Spiegel, with Ben Smith having the translation: I would have been surprised if he had lost. .. I am a little surprised by the margin, too. There is no doubt in my mind that Ahmadinejad could have won the election, but it is not credible to believe he won it by the margins being claimed. That was the mistake made.

That hardly matters now, as the streets of Tehran run red.

Wear green in solidarity with the Iranians. Hope that the Tehran bureau gets back up.

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New Media is Different from Blogging

By on 14 June 2009
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The fundraiser is going great.

But I still haven’t met the goal. We’re stuck on $300 still needed in order for me to break even up to this point in 2009. Thanks to the amazing people who have jumped in, many first time financial supporters.

The last inch is always the hardest. But I need to get over this line, because I’ve still got the reality of my financial nut going forward.

NEW MEDIA is having a tough time this year. The economy has hit traditional media hard, so you can imagine how it’s hit NEW MEDIA.

To make an important point by way of a distinction, there is blogging and then there is NEW MEDIA. What’s the difference? Your sister might have a blog, which is important to you and her world, as well as her readers, all of which matter, no doubt about it. NEW MEDIA does reporting on events that have a wider impact and we devote our life to this purpose, and independent NEW MEDIA outlets like mine don’t have a base of financial support, except through you, the reader, and advertisers. As a way of thanks, I am so grateful for the people at Common Sense Media (and regular advertisers like SEIU, as well as Al Gore’s climate group, to name just two). Because BlogAds isn’t exactly successful when it comes to drumming up any advertising at all. I cannot thank the people at Common Sense Media loudly enough.

Everyone needs to consider sites that offer valuable reporting and other critically important news coverage that only NEW MEDIA provides worthy of financial support. It’s tough because we started out on a free information platform, so getting people to see us as requiring the same financial support that, say, a monthly or weekly subscription supplies isn’t easy. That includes advocacy groups and politicians who want to reach the activist base of the Democratic Party. Don’t just invite us to events to cover, support your issue by reaching our audience through advertising. Don’t tease us with access, then make us pay for the privilege when you’re also asking us to cover your issue through making us foot the bill; when you’re not reaching out to our readers through advertising yourself that helps us pay for expenses, including trips to do the reporting you want done. Make it possible for us to cover important news that the traditional media ignores.

Like any subscription to a newspaper or magazine, like paying for cable, NEW MEDIA sites can’t succeed without financial support.

Other sites have obviously done amazing work too, like Firedoglake’s coverage, to name one.

And just look at the foreign policy live reporting I’ve done, taking the Twitter posts as just one example: covering an important Saudi Arabia forum, the Middle East (covering it like few others), invite only meeting with David Miliband, journalists on Afghanistan-Pakistan, lunch with Mustafa Barghouti, even Cuba, Iran pre election polling, and a CATO event on whether the Pentagon can be fixed. …and that’s just a brief summary of what’s been going on around here since I moved to Washington. Sorry to bore regulars around here, but many don’t know what’s been going on.

Here’s the mailing address people have asked me to post:

Taylor Marsh LLC
P.O. Box 8303
Alexandria, VA

(Also see the “support independent journalism” donate button below the ad box up on the right that is always there.)

So please donate and support NEW MEDIA. We earn it.

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Week Ending 6.12.09: Hot Topics (Bush 41 is 85, 43 blogs, a Kennedy in Rehab…), Iran, Holocaust Museum Shooting and the battle of Rush, right-wingers and blame; Sarah v. Dave

By on 13 June 2009


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Mousavi: ‘It’s a Coup d’Etat’

By on 13 June 2009

All hell has broken out in Iran. Read Juan Cole.

Via Newsweek:

[...] Saeid Shariati, one of the leaders of Mousavi’s campaign, says that 17 million votes may be missing. Another Mousavi campaigner who did not want to be named said that in different cities around Iran, the result of ballot boxes were announced without even opening them. …

We have to wait for the result of Rafsanjani-Mousavi meeting to find out how the reformists are planning to respond to what they call “the fraud of the century.” Judging from their past actions they will most probably reluctantly will accept the result and will not do much. That will leave their supporters angry and suppressed. The events of the past few weeks, especially last night’s result, have polarized Iranians. The political developments may not result in any mass demonstrations such as those that brought down the shah in 1979. But today’s chaos on Vali Asr Avenue shows that a great number of Iranians, at least those millions who voted for Mousavi can at some point in the future ask for a change that may not only reform the Islamic Republic but undermine it as a political system.

The neocons will be happy about this one.

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