یک نفر = یک سخنگو
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Iranian updates (keep refreshing page#16)
One person=one broadcaster!
Hi there - Tehran, Esfahan, Iran, Islamic Republic Of...
Khamenei supporters bussed in for his speech.@HuffPo
NUMBER CRUNCHING!
The Serbian Precedent
@DailyDish
What I keep getting reminded of is Paris May 1968!
11:56 AM ET -- Are U.S. officials being too quiet? I wanted to reexamine this question in light of some new comments from today. First, from Spencer Ackerman:
Hadi Ghaemi of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said he has a hard time taking a strong stance one way or the other about the Berman-Pence Iran resolution currently being debated on the House floor. But it's wading awfully close into a "political act" for his taste "The text is not objectionable," Ghaemi told me. "But it will be seen as a political act" by the Iranian regime.
Second, via Andrew, comments by Amir Fakhravar, who has been "jailed and tortured in Iran for advocating democracy and speaking out against the Iranian government" and remains in touch with reformers:
"Right now, (Obama) could say, 'America stands for freedom and democracy, and as a United States president, I want to stand behind all of the freedom fighters in the world that are fighting peacefully to have democracy and freedom,'" Fakhravar said. "That's the American Dream. I don't know why he didn't say that. He said, 'this is none of our business.'"
The contrary argument, of course, is that if Obama or Congress speak out more aggressively, it will endanger the reformists in Iran and give ammunition to Khamenei and his allies.
Khamenei's speech today pushed me to reexamine this line of thinking. He didn't need an incendiary line from Obama to stir up anti-U.S. sentiments -- he just made one up. "It was said on behalf of the U.S. President that he was waiting for a day that people came out to streets," he claimed.
It seems my basic question is: Can Obama afford to be slightly more forward leaning on human rights concerns given that Khamenei's government is willing to fabricate statements to advance his own agenda?
Nico @HuffPo

Iranian updates (keep refreshing page#15)
IRAN CAN NO LONGER SUPPRESS IT'S YOUTH
excellent - but written before Khamenei's speech.
BE REASONABLE - DEMAND THE IMPOSSIBLE
I think we find one clue to why he rigged the vote count so crudely. His argument that a majority of eleven million was too big to allow for any irregularities suggests he believed that a big lie was the only one that would work. But if you utter a big lie, you had better hope it could persuade some. It appears to have persuaded no one but a few fools at the Washington Post and the executive editor of the New York Times.And the endless attempt to blame all this on Britain and the US and the "Zionists." This is a regime that is so hermetically sealed, so rigid in its dogma, so brutal in its ideology it probably believes its own lies. It is, as David Brooks notes today, very, very fragile. When every piece of data requires a reassertion of doctrine in order to banish reality from people's minds, government becomes impossible. All that is possible is brute force and terror.
I fear deeply what is about to happen. But I also sense that the Gandhi-strategy of the majority is a winning one. If they can sustain their numbers and withstand the nightly raids, and if they can overwhelm the capital tomorrow in another peaceful show of strength, then they can win. And the world will change. This is their struggle now, requiring the kind of courage that only God can provide. Their God, my God, the God of the Torah and the Koran and the Gospels.
Something is happening in Iran.
Friday, 19 June 2009
Iranian updates (keep refreshing page#14)
Saturday's march NOT given permit allegedly
I have deep fears that this will be the excuse for a bloodbath!
BBC REPORT
- YesBiscuit RT from Iran: Military will not turn guns on ppl, Khamenei has called in Rev Guard. 5 cmndrs refused & arrested last night #Iranelection less than 10 seconds ago from web
- DJWhiteHype unconfirmed reports - Revolutionary Guard has been mobilised to secure Tehran - #Iranelection PLEASE CONFIRM #Iran9 #gr88 less than 10 seconds ago from web
- QQ71 خسته نباشی مادر جان ....!....! http://bit.ly/11XqMw #Iranelection #gr88 less than 20 seconds ago from web
- CrazySanMan Here we go... RT : unconfirmed reports - Revolutionary Guard has been mobilised to secure Tehran - #Iranelection
GeorgieP The situation in Iran is now CRITICAL - the nation is heartbroken - suppression is iminent - #Iranelection (via @persiankiwi) IT ALWAYS WAS. less than 10 seconds ago from Tweetie
Iranian updates (keep refreshing page#13)

7:40 AM ET -- Via reader Mona, an English transcript of Khamenei's speech.
Scarlet60 rt Mousavi facebook confirms the rallies will continue, saturday Tehran 4pm. This is where we make history, may God help Iran #iranelection
ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF KHAMENEI'S SPEECH:
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sided with hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and offered no concessions to the opposition. He effectively closed any chance for a new vote by calling the June 12 election an "absolute victory."
The speech created a stark choice for candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and his supporters: Drop their demands for a new vote or take to the streets again in blatant defiance of the man endowed with virtually limitless powers under Iran's constitution.
Khamenei accused foreign media and Western countries of trying to create a political rift and stir up chaos in Iran.
"Some of our enemies in different parts of the world intended to depict this absolute victory, this definitive victory, as a doubtful victory," he said, according to an official translation on state TV's English-language channel. "It is your victory. They cannot manipulate it." [...]
Khamenei's address was his first since hundreds of thousands of Mousavi supporters flooded the streets in Tehran and elsewhere in the country in rallies evoking the revolution that ended Iran's U.S.-backed monarchy. On Thursday, supporters dressed in black and green flooded downtown Tehran in a somber, candlelit show of mourning for those who have been killed in clashes since Friday's vote.
Khamenei said the street protests would not have any impact.
"Some may imagine that street action will create political leverage against the system and force the authorities to give in to threats. No, this is wrong," he said.
@HuffPo
PS: Nico you are doing well!

