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Post-Bush Iran - Page 6

post #251 of 265
6/25/09 at 11:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by reggie-wanker View Post
If McCain were President we'd have totally kicked Spain's ass in the first days of Operation Iranian Freedom.
they are asking for it!
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post #252 of 265
6/25/09 at 2:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pervis42 View Post
Excellent essay highlighting the marginal role of the US

I've been shocked at the intellectual bankruptcy of the neocon pundits (big guns too, like Krauthammer) on this. For all their pointed criticisms, their arguments are all about what Obama should be doing to appear strong to the American public, completely ignorant that this is NOT our issue, but one exclusively of the Iranian people. I fear to think what would have happened had McCain/Palin been in office -- we would likely have seen attempts at early (perhaps forcible) intervention that would have resulted in vastly more deaths, an even more brutal putting down of the protesters, and a PR sandbox for the corrupt Iranian government. Not to mention an entire generation of Iranians would grow up blaming the US for ruining their chances at democracy.

Then there's Fred Barnes. He's just come across as an ignorant cunt.
"Krauthammer" sounds too much like a secret Nazi Germany weapon in a truly bad B-Movie. But I digress.....

I think the rightwing pundits and mouthbreathers cant really deal with a world that is not about them, or by extension, America. Everything has to be related, everything has to revolve around them, because thats how they feel relevant. The moment something becomes a matter entirely of someone else, there is no need for aggressively following some obscure pro-America policy, view or argument anymore. Thus they become obsolete, which we obviously cant have.

Turning everything into a matter of "we think", "we should" "Obama sucks because" is their way to get leverage out of someone elses actions entirely.
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post #253 of 265
6/25/09 at 2:12pm
Well, what you have with the pundits is the ultimate in "armchair analysis".
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post #254 of 265
6/25/09 at 4:41pm




A few more pictures @ : http://www.squarejawcity.com/oncomingtraffic/?p=108
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post #255 of 265
6/26/09 at 1:08am
My favorite political cartoon of the year so far. So many ways to interpret it ...

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post #256 of 265
7/3/09 at 9:57am
Holy hell. Iran is apparently hell bent to put more fuel into the fire by putting the staffers of the UK ambassy on trial.

Apart from a flagant violation of all international conventions, this could even be interpreted as an act of war. This does not bode well.
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post #257 of 265
7/3/09 at 11:37am
Geez Jan, haven't you heard? Michael Jackson died! Get your priorities in order mate.
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post #258 of 265
7/3/09 at 11:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
Geez Jan, haven't you heard? Michael Jackson died! Get your priorities in order mate.
Shit. My bad. Those Goebbels media over here are truly insidious. Always opium for the masses, I tell ya!

I am curious though as what the Ayatollah will have to say about Michaels death during the friday prayer. I guess Billy Jean was not his lover.
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post #259 of 265
7/3/09 at 2:11pm
The media are fucking disgusting. A continuing global economic crisis raising the unemployment rate to double digits, Iran in turmoil, Iraq slipping back into violence, Afghanistan heating up, the Taliban still in control of big parts of Pakistan, the first military coup in Latin America since the end of the Cold war and even over here it's Michael Jackson this, Michael Jackson that. I've been reduced to getting my news from the internet, from blogs and message boards. Fucking pathetic.
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post #260 of 265
7/3/09 at 11:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jan View Post
Holy hell. Iran is apparently hell bent to put more fuel into the fire by putting the staffers of the UK ambassy on trial.

Apart from a flagant violation of all international conventions, this could even be interpreted as an act of war. This does not bode well.
Looks as if the ayatollah's are pulling one from their 1980 play book.
They are making it impossible for Obama or anybody else to negotitate with them over nukes now.
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post #261 of 265
7/5/09 at 12:44pm
Not much good news coming out of Iran since the crackdown. But now there are signs that the clerical order is cracking. I've heard some people say that this is essentially a takeover of the government by elements in and around the Revolutionary Guard. Ahmedinejad was an officer there, and much of his cabinet is made up of former officers also. I wonder how long that can go on....

Some choice quotes from the article.

Quote:
CAIRO — The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, 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.

A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult — if not impossible.

“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.”
....

The announcement came on a day when Mr. Moussavi released documents detailing a campaign of fraud by the current president’s supporters, and as a close associate of the supreme leader called Mr. Moussavi and former President Mohammad Khatami “foreign agents,” saying they should be treated as criminals.

The documents, published on Mr. Moussavi’s Web site, accused supporters of the president of printing more than 20 million extra ballots before the vote and handing out cash bonuses to voters.
....

The clerics’ statement chastised the leadership for failing to adequately study complaints of vote rigging and lashed out at the use of force in crushing huge public protests.

It even directly criticized the Guardian Council, the powerful group of clerics charged with certifying elections.

“Is it possible to consider the results of the election as legitimate by merely the validation of the Guardian Council?” the association said.

Perhaps more threatening to the supreme leader, the committee called on other clerics to join the fight against the government’s refusal to adequately reconsider the charges of voter fraud. The committee invoked powerful imagery, comparing the 20 protesters killed during demonstrations with the martyrs who died in the early days of the revolution and the war with Iraq, asking other clerics to save what it called “the dignity that was earned with the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs.”

The statement was posted on the association’s Web site late Saturday and carried on many other sites, including the Persian BBC, but it was impossible to reach senior clerics in the group to independently confirm its veracity.
....

“I don’t ever remember in the 20 years of Khamenei’s rule where he was clearly and categorically on one side and so many clergy were on the other side,” Mr. Milani said. “This might embolden other clergy to come forward.”

The committee of clergy was formed in the 1960s. Mr. Milani said that for years, Ayatollah Khamenei also belonged to the group, and that it had developed some political clout by backing successful candidates for national office.

Many of the accusations of fraud posted on Mr. Moussavi’s Web site Saturday had been published before, but the report did give some more specific charges.

For instance, although the government had announced that two of the losing presidential contenders had received relatively few votes in their hometowns, the documents stated that some ballot boxes in those towns contained no votes for the two men.
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post #262 of 265
7/16/09 at 1:02pm
Sometimes I hate to be right. This is such a case. I already predicted that this whole thing would run out of steam if the powers-that-be just crack down hard and dont budge. And as far as I can find out, it looks like exactly that happened. Damn
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post #263 of 265
7/16/09 at 2:37pm
Khaunshar - I think it's a bit early to make that assessment. The original Iranian Revolution unfolded over the course of a year that saw both abatements and escalations in the conflict.

I'm not saying it looks good right now, but my understanding is most of the protest movement has gone 'underground,' as taking to the streets is simply counterproductive at this point. The issue is far from settled.
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post #264 of 265
7/16/09 at 3:20pm
Wait -- a major religious group comes out and calls the election illegitimate, and the whole thing is running out of steam?
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post #265 of 265
7/16/09 at 3:30pm
Conventional wisdom is that this is the beginning of something, not the end. Because the authorities have been so draconian in the crackdown, the resistance has to resort to guerrilla protesting while they form some long term plan, which should be easier as the opposition leaders get released from prison. Those that we're "disappeared" that is.
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