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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Details

(AP) Rafsanjani's daughter and four other family members were arrested related to the demonstrations. (A clear message to Rafsanjani.)

(NBC) 13 deaths yesterday. 100 injured, reported by government officials.

There was a politically significant suicide bombing at the symbolic Khomenei mausoleum, that the government blames on protesters and the protesters blame on the government (to justfy crackdown.)

(Reuters) Moussavi makes his strongest statements yet,
Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said the Islamic Republic must be purged of what he called lies and dishonesty, sending out a direct challenge to conservative rulers after a week of unrest in Iran....

"We are not against the Islamic system and its laws but against lies and deviations and just want to reform it," he said in a statement on his website at the end of a tumultuous day.

He said if authorities refused to allow peaceful protests they would face the "consequences" -- an apparent rejoinder to Khamenei's warning that opposition leaders would be held responsible for any bloodshed resulting from protests.


(CNN) Parliamentary Speaker Larjani declares a side, "Although the Guardian Council is made up of religious individuals, I wish certain members would not side with a certain presidential candidate..."

The WaPo features an anonymous oped from an Iranian student with an eyewitness account of the violence on the street yesterday.

And, A good BBC analysis piece notes the irony of it all, "the supreme leader now finds himself faced with a "green revolution" just as Washington stopped calling for regime change in Iran."

It was the offers of engagement that fractured Iran, not blind threats of regime change which were propping up the hardliners.

(Much better than this garbagy piece in the NYTimes outlining the Washington argument over credit which seems very detached from the real Iran.)

3 Comments:

  • I'd be more inclined to give the credit to Gucci, Hollywood and of course Twitter.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:19 AM  

  • No, I think there's something to be said for stopping being the enemy. All those threats (nearly monthly) to bomb Iran from the Bush folks must have had some effect of unifying the country around the existent government.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 11:14 AM  

  • It will surely be harder to bomb now that Americans know Iran isn't all evil. But has the threat been lifted? Or does it depend on who comes out on top.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:40 AM  

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