Check The Diagonal

MSM Fail.

 
  
  

This picture and others from today can be found at Tehran 24.

I stopped watching cable news as a source of information months ago but if there was ever a day that marked the end of the useful life of the MSM today was it.  CNN, MSNBC and FOX all missed the protests in Iran today during the holy day of Ashura.  Instead it is the blogosphere that has become our main source of real news.  No wonder so many people believe in death panels and fake birth certificates and the ghosts of the -isms.

Enduring America, Revolutionary Road, and Andrew have live blogged today beautifully and anyone interested should click through these links to get up on today’s happenings.

The regime’s responses to these protests are becoming increasingly more violent and more desperate.  We should all pray for the people of Iran as they continue to resist the government sponsored brutality and callous disregard for human life and suffering that I have seen in the videos and pictures from today’s protests.  All of this is driving to a hard point that cannot be sustained much longer.  What I hope and pray is that we are watching the death throes of the Iranian dictatorship. 

Paying Attention?

Ayatollah: U.S., UK not meddling in Iran

"I don't accuse the leaders of the recent incidents of being affiliated with foreign countries, including the United States and Britain, since the issue has not been proven for me," Ayatollah Khamenei

This is a significant change to decades worth of hard-line, "Death to America" rhetoric coming out of Iran and yet another sign that "The Obama Effect" as it relates to the Middle East is very real.  The Green Revolution in Iran is fueled by the same type of youth movement that fueled Obama's candidacy here in America. Khamenei and his regime are desperatly clinging to power and Obama now holds the lifeline.  Repairing the damage the Bush Administration did to America's impact, reputation and ability to play honest peace broker in theMiddle East may be his greatest lasting legacy. 

Just in case....

you were moved by the aforementioned Iranian propoganda.

The Guardian is keeping track.  Iran election: faces of the dead and detained

Since the disputed presidential election on June 12th, the Iranian authorities have detained more than a thousand opposition supporters, journalists and protestors.  There has also been a number of deaths.

And the Iranian government has a hit list on-line (in Persian)

Propaganda from Iran

Fareed Zakaria had a segment this weekend with Dr. Seyed Mohammed Marandi, a pro-Ahmadinejad professor at Tehran University who appeared on the show with the permission of the Iranian government. 

Fareed did a good job in pushing back but it is important to watch the government hard-line and its willingness to deceive in order to realize how improbable reconciliation is between the government of Iran and the people who are resisting it.

MARANDI: I think you also have to keep in mind the fact that some of the measures taken by the security forces have to do with the fact that there has been a lot of interference from outside the country.

Right now you have almost 40 television channels in Persian being broadcast into Iran from the United States and Europe -- basically funded by the American government and European governments, or in some cases owned -- which have played a very negative role over the past few weeks, turning people against one another.

This sort of behavior and this sort of funding coming from the United States and its European allies really does not serve their interests.

ZAKARIA: Professor Marandi, you can't possibly expect us to believe that. Here you have a two-term president of Iran, Rafsanjani, calling for opposition to the regime; a two-term prime minister of Iran, Mr. Mousavi, calling for the creation of an opposition movement; a two-term president, Khatami, calling for a referendum.

You have people under house arrest. You have major clerics in Qom asking that Ahmadinejad's election be boycotted.

Are you telling me all these people are doing this at the bidding of the United States? Surely you must realize that that's kind of a ludicrous claim.

It is worth watching the segment: (can't get CNN to embed this morning to click the link)

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/07/26/gps.interview.inside.iran.cnn

Why did one straw break the camel's back?

The current government in Iran has already lost their power. They just don't know it yet. Abbas Milani explains why at TNR here.

Before coming to power, Khomeini argued that the most important duty, indeed the raison d'etre of an Islamic government, was to implement fully the tenets of sharia. But once in power and faced with the complexities of modern Iranian society, he subtly changed the very foundation of his theory. He introduced the concept of maslaha--interests of the regime--and declared, much to the consternation of nearly every other ayatollah, that these interests, as determined by him or his successor, would supersede even the fundamentals of Islam. In other words, the state was everything--and sharia was nothing but its legitimizing narrative, a narrative that could be suspended at the will of the leader.

Khomeini's entire platform for legitimacy, for the existence of his government and his unquestionable power as Supreme Leader was based on a sham that he didn't believe in. Up until June 12, 2009 the people of Iran didn't take notice and most didn't even care... ..and then the other shoe dropped. This is a must read from an anonymous Iranian at Salon. "And Still Our Vote Mattered"

That the vote was against Ahmadinejad there can be no doubt. Consider this: Over the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, some 30 percent of the population has never voted. These are the true disbelievers, citizens who take pride in having a blank shenasname, or identity booklet. They are the friends and family members who take every opportunity to remind the rest of us, at the dinner table, caught in traffic, sitting in the park, that voting is a mistake, that you ought not participate in a system that is at its core rotten. Except ... Except this time a good half of these nonbelievers came. They came, pulled, pleaded -- coaxed into voting by sons and daughters. They came this year, dramatically reversing what had been a steady decline in participation, lifting turnout to heights not seen since the early days of the Revolution. With the much ballyhooed rural vote already in the bank for the president, the only place left for Ahmadinejad to make up his reported 6 to 8 million new votes was with the apostates. Are we really to believe, as some are now insisting, that these many millions showed up to vote for the incumbent? There's no doubt the vote mattered. Had we not voted, had we not stood in line and suffered this fate together, then we would not have come to the square, we would not be climbing the rooftops every night to sing protests that our votes were so clumsily and needlessly taken away. The fact is that up until four Saturdays ago, Iran's system, with all of its limitations and compromises, was not completely rotten. Our peculiar democracy permitted faith in a residual uncertainty, in the possibility that the guy who can't possibly win, whom they won't let win, still just might. June 12, 2009, ended that uncertainty, brought clarity.

Freedom won't come easy or quick for the Iranian people . Obvious at this point is the Iranian Government's willingness do absolutely anything, including killing women and children to keep their power. What I don't get is the Iranian government seems to be missing the point. The more violence they use, the more martyrs they create, the stronger the resistance becomes. They are force feeding direct power and energy to a non-violent movement growing in the purest spirit of Gandhi and King. The harder the government of Iran thrashes, the more likely the outcome becomes. Insha'Allah.

The Revolution Will NOT Be Televised!

The resistance in Iran continues, and so does the regime's violent and vicious crackdown. But, if you're in the world outside of Iran, judging by the lack of information flowing out of Iran, one could assume the unrest is over and life goes on. This is a system working as designed. Siemans AG and Nokia, in a massive joint venture, sold a Monitoring Center to the Iranian government This Monitoring Center is what allows the Iranian government to control technology within Iran. With it they have completely shut down their cell phone and Internet networks so that twitter and Facebook can no longer be used to share the injustices is going on with the world. And so, it was technology that Iranians used to cry for help to the world and the world's pursuit of profit from technology sales that made it possible for that voice to be silenced. To be clear, I make a very good living selling technology but this is a line that should not be crossed for profit. Thankfully, I am not the only one who feels this way. Obama urged to punish US firms for aiding internet censorship

Leading companies earn hundreds of millions of pounds every year through their relationship with governments in repressive countries. Campaigners are agitating for the US president to put his weight behind the Global Online Freedom Act (Gofa), a law that would see US companies fined if they profit from involvement in online censorship.

Wishes All Eyes Were Focused on Iran

While the MSM plays follow the bouncing ball with the general populace young people in Iran are still being killed and kidnapped in the name of oppression. These deaths matter.

A Modern Civil Rights Movement

Andrew just posted The Survivalist Guide To Protesting from an Iranian blogger over twitter. I can't help but imagine that these preparations might not be too dissimilar from what African Americans went through during the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s. I also think our political and pundit class is having a great deal of trouble thinking about Iran in these terms. To them, Iran = Evil = Need for Regime Change. I'm not so sure the Iranian people were originally looking for regime change. They stand on their roofs and call out to Allah every night, they seem to love the religious aspect of their society. I think they are looking for the same things African Americans were looking for in the 60s, respect and an equal say in how they live their lives. In the meanwhile feeling helpless sucks.

A Poem for Monday

1000 Words.

The new face of the revolution.

Are we really that different?

Six months ago I posted a video from Jordan's Queen Rania called Your Three Words. It was then that I first started to realize that people really are the same everywhere. The people of the Middle East are not very different from us Americans. They love and work and laugh and cry and have families who love them back. This is the exasperating problem with combating racism. Its akin to narcotic drug addiction, at its core is a completely irrational elitism that can only be changed by the individual themselves. Unfortunately, the current state of American media and politics only serves to further feed the addiction. For as long as I can remember Middle Eastern people, Muslims and most specifically Iranians have been demonized by our culture. This didn't begin on 9/11. I was 10 when the Iran Hostage Crisis began. That's my first memory of fearing the dark and mysterious people of Iran. In this way the Iranian people have been caricatures, like Keyser Söze, used to inspire fear and loathing in Americans by our politicians and the media. We are taught at a very young age to fear what is different, and in return, we are controlled by it. Something extraordinary is happening in Iran today and it has a voice and it sounds beautiful.

It's 10:00 PM. Do you know where your children are?

That was a popular television public service announcement when I was growing up in NYC. My mother didn't know half the time. Thank god I do know where my children are tonight; safe and sound in their beds. My heart goes out to this Iranian father who sent a prayer over twitter for news of his daughter:

"please RT urgent does anyone know whats happening near saiee park? my daughter is near"

Andrew Sullivan is keeping an amazing record of the live twitters out of Iran here.

Hope, live from Iran