There are fresh reports that Iranian police are cracking down on protesters in Tehran. I’m thinking of Prague Spring, 1968; Tiananmen Square 1989; Saffron Revolution, Burma, 2007. I hope we won’t be adding Tehran, 2009, to that sad list, and the result this time will be more democracy in Iran, not more brutality.
Juan Cole’s backgrounder on what’s been going on the past couple of days is a recommended read. Also, h/t Talking Dog, keep up with the latest at Al’s Place.
I just read Time‘s “Who’s Who in Iranian Politics,” which was semi-helpful. Currently the link can be found over on CNN’s home page. Good general background on Iran’s complex, post-revolutionary demo-theocracy. The piece did leave me wondering if there’s a difference between an “Ayatollah” (e.g. the original Khomeini) and an “Ayatullah” (e.g. the present Khamenei), or if that’s just Time being sloppy. After all, in English, a single vowel sound means the difference between one mouse or many.
HuffPo’s photo slideshow is disturbing, and suggests that reformist blood is being spilled even as I type this. Left me with sorrow, anger, frustration. Sincere wishes for a worthy outcome. It would be horrible if the bloodshed comes to nothing, as with the past stillborn revolutions you mention.
Look in on Robert Fisk’s reports from Iran at The Independent for on the scene reporting http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/ the reports are fresh and firsthand from a world-class ME reporter, but then, frankly I’m biased in favor of the author of “The Great War for Civilization”.
Did anyone note just how close the reporters were to Iran, let alone Tehran on the cited link?
“”This article was written by Robert F. Worth in Beirut, Sharon Otterman in New York and Alan Cowell in Paris based on first-hand accounts from Tehran.””
Beirut must be a thousand or more miles from Tehran, double plus that for Paris, and NY,NY is about the opposite side of the world (8.5 time zones) and the NYT is selling that as reporting to people who will buy anything including that bill of goods. Not a wonder the country is screwed all ways from Sunday.
Did anyone note just how close the reporters were to Iran, let alone Tehran on the cited link?
The Iranian government kicked all foreign correspondents out of Iran a few days ago, and imposed an official news blackout that remains in place as of today (June 21st). Even the really hardy ones, like NPR’s Mike Shuster, are reporting from places like Dubai because they have no choice. Before they were ejected, a lot of American and European correspondents were on the streets in Tehran.
This morning’s s updates on the AP wire combined information from Iranians who were reporting for the service, along with non-Iranian AP writers who were elsewhere: “Kole reported from Cairo. Associated Press Writers Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Brian Murphy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Sebastian Abbot in Cairo contributed to this report.â€
[Deleted because of unnecessary rudeness. — maha]
I find you a sorry, sorry, sorry thing.
Wow, that was uncalled for. My response to you was polite and factually correct. Your comment mentioned distance, and complained about that distance. It also mentioned second- and third-hand reports, which news agencies from all over the world are using because their reporters are banned from the streets in Iran. It doesn’t take an “expert” to have heard and read this information repeatedly over the past several days, and understand that in this instance, we’re seeing cause and effect, not some intrinsic political failing. Most of us are getting our info from a variety of sources, regardless of whether you approve of some of those sources or not.
I’ve never had a problem with you, expat, but this time you’ve let slip a real lack of maturity.
Chris Floyd at Empire Burlesque has posted a critique of Obama’s speech that was quoted in the NYT here http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/3/1784-astringent-corrective-abukhalil-on-irans-turmoil.html
The post states better than I the hypocrisy at play in the link’s reporting. I offered another source that is reporting directly from Tehran and was called to account by the other, not good enough apparently for their level of discernment. Fine
Please inform me on how to disable and clear whatever cookies this site has in my computer. I too have options.
Maha, please delete this after you read. I see the offending line still was not deleted.
Since there no longer exists a trust in your application of free speech, this is my final comment and bookmark to your site follows the fate of my remarks there. I hope you consider what has transpired again. This is not the first time the other person has responded inappropriately to my remarks. Maybe the condescension to their response was too strong, but if you had analyzed the deleted remark, neither the subject nor predicate involved anything other than reference to that person’s comment. For such, leave comity for congress if in fact no personal attack actually exists; how else are people to get a feedback to their opinions, for better or worse. Go read Robt. Burns’ opus of the value “of seeing ourselves as others see usâ€. The deletion does show how shallowly the right to free speech is held by the mistress of the site, free speech is allowed as long as it conforms to the herd’s yammering; so it appears. Nowhere is it written that once offense is given that a second chance is in order, any more than a second chance to make a first impression is attainable. As you are reading this, the site’s bookmark is being deleted, I’ll find out about deleting the cookies elsewhere. And if you are of any doubt as to what a personal attack does look like, try this: There will be many cycles before the enlightenment you are looking for will be obtained; best of fortune on your journey.
Maybe the condescension to their response was too strong, but if you had analyzed the deleted remark, neither the subject nor predicate involved anything other than reference to that person’s comment.
I did analyze the deleted remark, and your insults of joan were so utterly off the wall it makes me wonder about your sanity.
Good-bye.
Deleting cookies? Reminds me of religious wars in medieval Europe where the bones of the deceased( heretics) were dug up and burned to get one more shot in as the final word on who is going to be cursed for eternity. An action in frustration that hints of some type of instability.
Swami — expat was obsessed with the idea that people would recognize his location from the Live Traffic Feed in the right sidebar and know where he was. He wrote to me a couple of times asking me to delete the Live Traffic Feed. I leave it up because I enjoy it; it cheers me up to know that real people drop by here and read stuff. But I think that’s where he’s going with the cookies.
For the life of me I can’t figure out how anyone would know which “live feed” is any one particular commenter, but if someone can explain it to me I’m willing to listen. I don’t want to risk anyone’s security, including mine.