Iranian Elections

[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.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Yeah, I'm sure Dinnerjacket is having the BBC workers "confessions" of aiding the Brit spies amongst us beaten out of them as we speak. There are plenty who will believe it, unfortunately.

[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!

[drone]

I wonder where Dâriûsh is in all of this mess.

[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]

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.

[Prodigal]

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

Couldn't we poll & make him an honourary world leader or something?

[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.

[Prodigal]

yeah, there can be no doubt, thousand years of cultural superiority is a clincher

[Crazed Rabbit]

yeah, there can be no doubt, thousand years of cultural superiority is a clincher

Well who can argue with that? We all know how French culture is beginning to dominate the US, and how frightened nationalist politicians are demanding desperate measures like secretaries of culture to ensure that US culture is not wiped from its own country.

CR

[Lemur]

This may or may not be big, but it certainly shows that the Greens ain't going away, no matter how many students they torture and put on TV to "confess."

The most important group of religious leaders in Iran has called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment. [...]

“This crack in the clerical establishment and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”

[Fragony]

There is freaky and there is freaky. Not just a power-politician he might just actually believe all that crap.

http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1063353.html

The hammer of god

[Meneldil]

Well who can argue with that? We all know how French culture is beginning to dominate the US, and how frightened nationalist politicians are demanding desperate measures like secretaries of culture to ensure that US culture is not wiped from its own country.

CR

Since we're OOT, I don't see anything wrong with trying to keep american mainstream 'culture' (if by culture, you mean movies made for braindead idiots) out of France. Fast and Furious is crap. Movies with Nicolas Cage are crap. SWAT is crap. Thing is, given the amount of money found in Hollywood, US producers can keep on producing crap and flood the world with it. The ministry support french productions (sometimes good, often crap - Luc Besson produces mostly crap, Taken was crap), and that's about it.
Then again, the ministry of culture has many aims, and 99% of those could hardly be labelled as nationalist. Cultural globalization is happening, it has good and bad effects. Trying to prevent the worst ones is by my standards a good idea.

Back to Iran.

[aimlesswanderer]

This may or may not be big, but it certainly shows that the Greens ain't going away, no matter how many students they torture and put on TV to "confess."

The most important group of religious leaders in Iran has called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment. [...]

“This crack in the clerical establishment and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”

Interesting, but I haven't seen any indications that there is any split between the hardliners and the guys with the guns. If that happens then the 'moderates' may have chance.

I suspect that there must be frantic behind the scenes activity between all the centres of power, but we don't hear about it unless they go public like in this case. Perhaps this will sway others, we will wait and see.

[a completely inoffensive name]

To help jump start this conversation again, here is a recent article I found on reddit.com that might add a little more information to discuss about.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/wo...wt&twt=nytimes