Iranian Elections

[tibilicus]

The tweets I posted before have now been confirmed by the BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/8101098.stm

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but where the hell is the leader of the free world? I would of expected an official statement from the US by now.

[Viking]

A bit early...

It's said that a group of Mousavi supporters assaulted a Basji base and that these then got shot at. We'll see.

Sources:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...14340720090615
http://www.afp.com/afpcom/en/taglibr...fp-online-news

[KukriKhan]

The tweets I posted before have now been confirmed by the BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/8101098.stm

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but where the hell is the leader of the free world? I would of expected an official statement from the US by now.

There have been a few:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...ection-results

Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, maintained a cautious approach when questioned by reporters today, refusing to go beyond an expression of concern about the conduct of the election.

Gibbs said: "Obviously, we continue to have concern about what we've seen. Obviously, the Iranians are looking into this, as well. We continue to be heartened by the enthusiasm of young people in Iran.

Obama's presidential opponent last year, John McCain, today expressed disappointment with the apparent outcome of the Iranian election. He told CNN: "We should speak out in opposition to what was clearly a corrupt election."

So far: "Easy does it" seems the current White House strategy.

[Scurvy]

To be fair, its very difficult for the US to do anything other than 'call' for peace.

There has been no conclusive proof of election rigging, certainly not enough for the US to weigh in, and it would probably do more bad than good, as the US is hardly popular within Iran.

[Lemur]

To state the blindingly obvious: If we (the U.S.) throw in behind the reformers, this will give the mullahs and the military a chance to paint the protesters as American stooges. Expressing direct support for them would be a very dicey thing, and would probably backfire.

Sorry to say, the Iranians need to do this themselves. There's precious little we can do to aid and abet.

[tibilicus]

has anyone heard anything "official" about the violence relating to pro government militias? All I have at the moment is "tweets" from Iranians claiming pro government militias are attacking protesters. Obviously i'm taking such news with a grain of salt due to the fact non of it is official/ can be verified.

[TinCow]

To state the blindingly obvious: If we (the U.S.) throw in behind the reformers, this will give the mullahs and the military a chance to paint the protesters as American stooges. Expressing direct support for them would be a very dicey thing, and would probably backfire.

Sorry to say, the Iranians need to do this themselves. There's precious little we can do to aid and abet.

Obama is doing the right thing by staying out of this. Backing the protesters publicly would only hurt their cause. We have to deal with the Iranian leaders regardless of who they are, and backing a potential revolution that fails would serious harm our ability to influence them in the future. This is no different than Hungary in '56, Prague in '68, or China in '89. We may seriously support the protesters and hope they are successful, but there's realistically nothing much we can do except watch and wait.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Obama has always expected he'll be working with "dinner jacket" as the public voice. Khamanei is still the key decision maker -- so little in the way of major change will occur.

Supporting the election-dissenters -- aside from a call for review in the interests of fairness -- is, I agree, counter-productive. Either we dispute the succession and declare war (don't hold your breathe waiting for that one), or leave it up to the Iranians.

[Marshal Murat]

A nice satirical look at the Iranian protests

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid tribute to the "enthusiasm and energy of the Iranian people" today, claiming that the hundreds of thousands of people jamming the streets of Tehran were hoping to audition for "Iran's Got Talent."

In a sign that the Iranian government is cracking down on dissent, the Interior Ministry banned most Facebook applications today, except for the "What Ayatollah Are You Most Like" game.

[CountArach]

To state the blindingly obvious: If we (the U.S.) throw in behind the reformers, this will give the mullahs and the military a chance to paint the protesters as American stooges. Expressing direct support for them would be a very dicey thing, and would probably backfire.

Sorry to say, the Iranians need to do this themselves. There's precious little we can do to aid and abet.

Yep. This isn't the West's fight. A solely Iranian revolution is needed.

[Ice]

Yep. This isn't the West's fight. A solely Iranian revolution is needed.

Yup... I would be rioting too if I were an Iranian. Living under a theocracy is bullcrap.

[Kadagar_AV]

Doesn't it speak a LOT about the US view on the world when there's even a discussion of "do something about it or not".

Why would you meddle in a sovereign states internal affairs?

[KarlXII]

I'll just throw in a saying my father told me,

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely"

[Lemur]

Things we civilians can do to help:

Set up a proxy for Iranians to get around government censorship

Change your Facebook page to green, adding this image as your profile

(I'll admit, the second one is kind of dopey, but it's what some of the Iranian students have been asking for, and twenty-year-olds facing down guns don't have a big sense of irony.)

[Don Corleone]

The current U.S. administration will not challenge the results. The closest they'll get to that has already come and on.... sending Crazy Joe out to the Sunday morning news shows.

I'm very interested in what English Assassin has to say on the matter, as he's got some pretty good insights and first-hand data. What do you say, old boy, you out there lurking on this one?

[Hosakawa Tito]

For now it's probably best to keep a low profile and not actively interfere. Keep the focus of Iranians to their own society. The mullahs need a diversion from this mess and being able to blame external enemies & foreign media for instigating this fight would be divine intervention for them. Don't give them that boogey-man, this is a self-inflicted internal problem. If they fear a loyalist like Moussavi then the mullahs are really losing touch with reality.