Iranian Elections

[Lemur]

saying that Neda girl was killed by protesters,

Didn't you hear? The CIA killed Neda. It's true, I heard it on the teevee.

BLITZER: Are you seriously accusing the CIA of killing Nada?

GHADIRI (through translator): We say that the bullet that was found in her head was not a bullet that you could find in Iran. These are the bullets that the CIA and terrorist groups use. Of course they warned that there would be a bloodshed in these demonstrations and then they could attribute that to the Islamic republic. This is part of a common act of CIA in various countries.

BLITZER: Do you really believe that, Mr. Ambassador? You're a distinguished diplomat representing Iran. This is a very serious accusation that you're making, that the CIA was responsible for killing this beautiful, young woman.

GHADIRI (through translator): I'm not saying that the CIA had done this. There are different groups. Could be intelligence services, could be CIA, could be the terrorists. However, these are the people who do these things. You could ask Mr. Andreotti, who was an Italian diplomat whether Gladitators were a secret group related to CIA or not. Now they of course they use better methods. Of course, you're not going to say that CIA is a sacred organization that hasn't done anything to other worlds.

BLITZER: Mr. Ambassador, why won't your government allow people to go mourn at a memorial service for Nada, as her family has requested?

GHADIRI (through translator): We have no problem with mournings. Naturally we don't want to provide an opportunity for the rioters to come in and make the situation worse.

[CountArach]

These are the bullets that the CIA and terrorist groups use.

It gets worse! The US is funding Terrorists as well!

[Sheogorath]

It gets worse! The US is funding Terrorists as well!

I am shocked, sir, shocked, that the United States of America would fund a morally questionable operation.

[CountArach]

I am shocked, sir, shocked, that the United States of America would fund a morally questionable operation.

Yeah they have always been morally upright members of the International community.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Didn't you hear? The CIA killed Neda. It's true, I heard it on the teevee

Will anyone believe that?*

CR
*Well, outside 5% of crazies

[Hax]

What is Rafsanjani doing?

Reliable sources in Iran are suggesting that a possible compromise to put an end to the violent uprising that has rocked Iran for the past two weeks may be in the works. I have previously reported that the second most powerful man in Iran, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Assembly of Experts (the body with the power to choose and dismiss the Supreme Leader) is in the city of Qom—the country’s religious center—trying to rally enough votes from his fellow Assembly members to remove the current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from power. News out of Iran suggests that he may be succeeding. At the very least, it seems he may have gained enough support from the clerical establishment to force a compromise from Khamenei, one that would entail a run-off election between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main reformist rival Mir Hossein Mousavi.

source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-a...-to-save-iran/

[HopAlongBunny]

Didn't you hear? The CIA killed Neda. It's true, I heard it on the teevee.

BLITZER: Are you seriously accusing the CIA of killing Nada?.

Classic use of disinformation; the truth value of the statement is not as important as getting the statement out. Interesting to learn that the CIA and terrorists have standard issue ammunition that can be readily identified.

Compromise engineered by Rafsanjani? I wonder if the politics that lead to Khamenei's call for a crackdown can be so easily reversed.

[Fragony]

[Prodigal]

Don't think I've ever said this to a total stranger...But I love you man! Please tell me that's not photoshopped

[Fragony]

Don't think I've ever said this to a total stranger...But I love you man! Please tell me that's not photoshopped

I hope not or my dreamgirl doesn't exist. These Iranians, something about them.

[Viking]

What's your source?

[Cute Wolf]

Pretty well photoshopped... just looks for ahmedinejad's dashboard... the girl's shadow or reflection couldn't be seen... but the sideway men hands and shadows are actually well seen...

[naut]

Well it seems Ayatollah Khatami has been speaking, and saying some wise and calming things.

A hardline cleric close to the Iranian regime demanded the execution of leading demonstrators yesterday as the opposition ended the week in disarray.

In a televised sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami called on the judiciary to “punish leading rioters firmly and without showing any mercy to teach everyone a lesson”. He said that those leaders were backed by the United States and Israel. They should be treated as mohareb — people who wage war against God — and deserved execution.

In a clear warning to all other dissenters, he declared: “Anybody who fights against the Islamic system or the leader of Islamic society, fight him until complete destruction.”

The Ayatollah claimed that Neda Soltan, the woman shot during a demonstration last Saturday, had been killed by fellow protesters because “government forces do not shoot at a lady standing in a side street”.

[Husar]

That's very reassuring.

[Lemur]

Fareed Zakaria, probably the smartest commentator on the region, weighs in:

While the regime's legitimacy has cracked -- a fatal wound in the long run -- for now it will probably be able to use its guns and money to consolidate power. And it has plenty of both. [...] The United States has always underestimated the raw power of nationalism across the world, assuming that people will not be taken in by cheap and transparent appeals against foreign domination. But look at what is happening in Iraq, where Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki boasts that U.S. troop withdrawals are a "a heroic repulsion of the foreign occupiers." Of course Maliki would not be in office but for those occupying forces, who protect his government to this day. A canny politician, though, he knows what will appeal to the Iraqi people.

Ahmadinejad is also a politician with considerable mass appeal. He knows that accusing the United States and Britain of interference works in some quarters. Our effort should be to make sure that those accusations seem as loony and baseless as possible.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Didn't you hear? The CIA killed Neda. It's true, I heard it on the teevee.

BLITZER: Are you seriously accusing the CIA of killing Nada?

GHADIRI (through translator): We say that the bullet that was found in her head was not a bullet that you could find in Iran. These are the bullets that the CIA and terrorist groups use.

For one thing, the current events in Iran serve to make the Iranian government appear as scared, lying, ridiculous despots.

On another note, I've been rather amused at the Tehran rethoric. They consistently brand their opponents 'terrorists', they clamp down on freedom in the name of fighting terrorism, they conjure up alarmist imagery of 'alien' and 'terrorist' infringement of Iranian homeland security, all with an agressive 'with us or against us' attitude. One wonders where they got the inspiration for their rethoric from.

The upside is that this shows again the extent to which nations not on top look at the one's that are. Many are obsessed by them, frustrated by them. At once, they will clamour for their destruction, challenging them at every opportunity, while simultanously imitating them -usually in a poor, crooked, despotic attempt. The less they succeed in catching up or surpassing them, the more despotic they become, making them less succesful in turn. A dramatic vicious circle.

The Islamism of Iran is not a return to Mediaeval ways as it is sometimes thought, nor a (return to) pure Islam as they portray themselves. It is a modern response to modern challenges.

[Vladimir]

One also wonders how one can think of the Iranian government as anything but. And don't fall for the political game, especially when played by this particular actor.

I do love the classic CIA and terrorist bullet association. It's a classic!

[Aemilius Paulus]

On another note, I've been rather amused at the Tehran rethoric. They consistently brand their opponents 'terrorists', they clamp down on freedom in the name of fighting terrorism, they conjure up alarmist imagery of 'alien' and 'terrorist' infringement of Iranian homeland security, all with an agressive 'with us or against us' attitude. One wonders where they got the inspiration for their rethoric from.

I assume that was a snipe at US. But why?

[CountArach]

I assume that was a snipe at US. But why?

I would say it is because Louis is making a point about the use of language and rhetoric in modern political discourse. That was a comment on the origins of this... plus Louis is always quite snarky in his own hilarious way.

[Aemilius Paulus]

I would say it is because Louis is making a point about the use of language and rhetoric in modern political discourse. That was a comment on the origins of this... plus Louis is always quite snarky in his own hilarious way.

We all love Louis. His comments are always witty and humorous . Amazing how intelligent a person has to be to almost always make things so amusing. As my English teacher said, good humour is the sign of high intelligence, and usually the comedians are quite sharp themselves. (unless they have ghost writers )

[Vladimir]

We all love Louis. His comments are always witty and humorous . Amazing how intelligent a person has to be to almost always make things so amusing. As my English teacher said, good humour is the sign of high intelligence, and usually the comedians are quite sharp themselves. (unless they have ghost writers )

Cross post.

[Strike For The South]

I tuaght the forg all he knows!

[Aemilius Paulus]

Cross post.

Sorry, do not get it. Nor feel like thinking about it to see the connection. I have had enough thinking by now, after a day of classes. School ( or more correctly, learning in classes) is year-round for me now.

[Louis VI the Fat]

We all love Louis. His comments are always witty and humorous . Amazing how intelligent a person has to be to almost always make things so amusing.

(unless they have ghost writers )

Ghost writers? Nah. We don't employ ghost writers.

'We' are a team of some 27 odd reknowned experts posting under the single account of 'Louis' for ease of reference. Our expertises include, but are not limited to, art, history, architecture, international relations, Americanology, biology, European studies, gender studies, human geography, legal history, bluffology and linguistics.

Depending on the topic at hand, the appropriate expert responds. These responses are then edited for readability by our team of novelists and humourists. Or by crazy uncle Pierre Lefou - whom we try to keep away from using this account as much as possible.

Very well said. You're frighteningly articulate...Are you sure you're French?

My nickname is François Desouche.

And well..what can I say? I just speak my mind, which is trained in the world's best schools, and refined by a thousand years of cultural superiority.

Besides, the Taco tuaght me all I kown.

[Fragony]

See? He's French alright.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I assume that was a snipe at US. But why?

It was a snipe at Bush.

Why? Because Bush made a mess. Where a clear head and soberness were called for, with his emotional and inflammotory rethoric he manouevred himself in a position of Commander in Chief presiding over a war that led to a torture and rape camp manned by US forces. A disgrace for which he deserves more than a little snide commentary at a games forum.

More important in the current thread, is that I thought there is some irony in the Iranian hardliners taking their cue from Bush, rethorically. The protesters were deemed terrorists, and rights infringed upon to fight these terorists. It is obvious that ten years ago the protesters wouldn't have been labelled terrorists by Tehran.

The protesters would still have been shot and nothing would've been different, but that's not the revealing bit. Revealing is how much the Iranian junta takes its cue not only from the koran, but also from such worldy sources as (opposition to) the US/the UK/the West. It reveals their simultaneous admiration and revulsion of America, the combination of these two which leads to so much frustration. It shows that they do not resent America for what it is, but for the position it has. That of top dog. A position which they themselves covet so much. Etcetera.

It is the tragedy of all fascist ideologies. Which is the ideology of nations that are second rank, but feel they ought to have been top dog. Whether defeated Germany, lagging Russia, or the underdeveloped Islamic world.

[Aemilius Paulus]

It is the tragedy of all fascist ideologies. Which is the ideology of nations that are second rank, but feel they ought to have been top dog. Whether defeated Germany, lagging Russia, or the underdeveloped Islamic world.

I agree

[Fragony]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

I always thought he was kinda evil

[Prodigal]

It was a snipe at Bush.

Why? Because Bush made a mess. Where a clear head and soberness were called for, with his emotional and inflammotory rethoric he manouevred himself in a position of Commander in Chief presiding over a war that led to a torture and rape camp manned by US forces. A disgrace for which he deserves more than a little snide commentary at a games forum.

More important in the current thread, is that I thought there is some irony in the Iranian hardliners taking their cue from Bush, rethorically. The protesters were deemed terrorists, and rights infringed upon to fight these terorists. It is obvious that ten years ago the protesters wouldn't have been labelled terrorists by Tehran.

The protesters would still have been shot and nothing would've been different, but that's not the revealing bit. Revealing is how much the Iranian junta takes its cue not only from the koran, but also from such worldy sources as (opposition to) the US/the UK/the West. It reveals their simultaneous admiration and revulsion of America, the combination of these two which leads to so much frustration. It shows that they do not resent America for what it is, but for the position it has. That of top dog. A position which they themselves covet so much. Etcetera.

It is the tragedy of all fascist ideologies. Which is the ideology of nations that are second rank, but feel they ought to have been top dog. Whether defeated Germany, lagging Russia, or the underdeveloped Islamic world.

Very well said. You're frighteningly articulate...Are you sure you're French?

[Aemilius Paulus]

You're frighteningly articulate...Are you sure you're French?

He is Louis. That is all you need to know.