Iran Election

[amysaid 9]

I'm a little surprised this hasn't been discussed yet... I have been following the fallout from the election on Twitter (#iranelection) and am so saddened by what is going on there. I accidentally clicked on a link that led to a video of a girl who had been shot by militia dying on the streets with her father crying beside her. I know that this type of thing goes on in countries all over the place on a regular basis, but for some reason, this time, in this way, it has gotten to me. Tonight I am making dua for the people of Iran, that they are safe tonight, that the bloodshed will stop, that no more families will be broken in this revolution.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I don't know what the coverage is like over there but it's all over the news here and I've been watching it daily. The Lebanon election went smoothly but the Iranian elections exploded almost immediately. At first the opposition Mir-Hossein Mousavi was in the lead and then after the polls closed in nearly 24 hours they said 40 million votes had been counted and that the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the winner. Although both parties declared themselves the winners so it was confusing. Mousavi said it was fraud and that there is no way they could count that many votes in that little time. Ahmadinejad went on to have a celebration and rebuttle the accusations along with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's support.

At first there were riots and fires along with peaceful marches. Then it was turning more peaceful and we started to hear that they were blaming the foreign media and politics for the protests. Obama stepped lightly in his response in an attempt to continue on the path of patching diplomatic relations with Iran by saying we don't want to be seen as meddling in the affairs of Iranian politics. That this is not about the Americans that it's about the will of the Iranian people and their Government. However it does concern him that when there are peaceful protests and the government responds with cutting off media, and telephones, and acts of violence that deeply concerns him and the whole world is watching.

The story developed further but from afar because the Iranian government banded foreign coverage of the protests so media outlets had to turn to alternative tools such as citizen journalists who were optimizing twitter and youtube to post videos of the protests they were capture via their cell phone and video cameras. We saw that 8 people in an opposition protest were killed by military gun fire. Many of the images were disturbing.

Then came the story of the behind the scenes divide among the hierarchy of the clerics in Iran. Some respected clerics said it was fraud backing the opposition while the Sumpreme Leader measured his response and the will of the people while backing the president elect. The Guardian Council which is made up of a conservative hierarchy of clerics said they would do a partcial recount of the votes while hundreds of thousands continued to march and protest even still. I was waiting for friday the holy day here to see what the supreme leader said to the people and it wasn't pretty. He told them those who continue to march will be responsible for their actions and that there was no room for error in this election. That the vote count comes from ballots in the box measure electronically and not from people doing fraud and again backed up the President elect.

Now I can't bear to watch the coverage because the protests continue and now they are being killed and shot by the feared guard. It is truely something remarkable going on there and at the same time they are calling it an Iranian Revolution. I am not sure how much longer this can continue and from the debates I have seen on TV there is no solution for either party on this because if they do another election that's an admission of fraud and the Supreme Leader can not be seen in this light and if they don't do another election the people continue to fight saying it's fraud and they will not stop without justice.

[Peace be still 6]

Real possibility of voter fraud and to have the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei say that ''Iranians should celebrate their 80% turnout and their strong vote of confidence to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Friday presidential election'' this is not good at all. Dua is needed for the people of Iran because surly the blood shed and malice does not represent the real Islam at all. I also don't like the fact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his party is blaming America Media for the negative coverage. I think that Mahomoud Ahmadinejad stole his election just like Bush rigged two election and got away with it. So if the media influenced the Iranian people on how not to be silent when an election is stolling more power to them and keep up the fight for your human rights.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

There was mention of the controversy over a rigged election in 2005 when Ahmadinejad won the first time but it was never investigated. Since the violent backlash has started there are reports of suicide bombers at holy shrines and people killed in the protests from gun fire police clashes. Obama is saying stop the violence. There is also reports that the opposition protestors have decreased and are shouting from the rooftops.

Again they covered the emerging division among the clerical elite. They went deeper into explination that this is something new we are seeing among the clerics and that there is a group of 89 scholars who have the power to unseat the Supreme Leader and one of the members is working behind to scenes to gain support among senior leaders in the group before going public in saying that the election is fraud like other clerics have already openly done. They are saying he is positioning himself to become the new Supreme Leader so the power struggle is very fascinating to watch as it unfolds and reveals all the members. The guardian council is still offering to recount 10% of the votes though there is much doubt that will do any good as the opposition calls for peaceful protests and is ready to become a Martyr as well as says they want the results annualed and a new election held. That is not likely to happen as the uprising continues.

Now analysts are speculating this may be a counter revolutions to the revolution that happened 30 years ago in 1979. If that is the case then the revolution is right on time as they usually generate every 20-30 years.

I suspect Egypt is due for something similar when Mubarak's time is up. There is much controversay about his son being groomed as the new president of Egypt.

[Mrs.Bayoumi 0]

I suspect Egypt is due for something similar when Mubarak's time is up. There is much controversay about his son being groomed as the new president of Egypt.

I wish they would revolt against Mubarak, I can't stand the man, IMHOP he is a thief a lair and a lot of other things i wont bother to write here. Elections are joke there, what is not for Mubarak is tossed to the sea

One day inshalla there will be a real election and the people will get a say.

[ridasgirl 1]

There was mention of the controversy over a rigged election in 2005 when Ahmadinejad won the first time but it was never investigated. Since the violent backlash has started there are reports of suicide bombers at holy shrines and people killed in the protests from gun fire police clashes. Obama is saying stop the violence. There is also reports that the opposition protestors have decreased and are shouting from the rooftops.

Again they covered the emerging division among the clerical elite. They went deeper into explination that this is something new we are seeing among the clerics and that there is a group of 89 scholars who have the power to unseat the Supreme Leader and one of the members is working behind to scenes to gain support among senior leaders in the group before going public in saying that the election is fraud like other clerics have already openly done. They are saying he is positioning himself to become the new Supreme Leader so the power struggle is very fascinating to watch as it unfolds and reveals all the members. The guardian council is still offering to recount 10% of the votes though there is much doubt that will do any good as the opposition calls for peaceful protests and is ready to become a Martyr as well as says they want the results annualed and a new election held. That is not likely to happen as the uprising continues.

Now analysts are speculating this may be a counter revolutions to the revolution that happened 30 years ago in 1979. If that is the case then the revolution is right on time as they usually generate every 20-30 years.

I suspect Egypt is due for something similar when Mubarak's time is up. There is much controversay about his son being groomed as the new president of Egypt.

Thanks for the additional updates. I truly appreciate getting actual news. Although the american media has done a fair job of covering this, (from here u would not have hardly known about the israeli agression in december/january) surely u have access to better/more information than we do here. Thanks again Olivia...I am absolutely concerned with the outcome to this situation and pray for justice to be given to the Iranian people.

[jundp 191]

Thank you for the updates, Olivia.

Also, I don't know if anyone else saw this on facebook, but a friend of mine posted this:

If anyone is on Twitter, set your location to Tehran and your time zone to GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut Iranians' access to the internet down.

I don't know how much truth there is to the possibility of making it more difficult to shut down citizen journalists, but I suppose it can't hurt.

[Kenza 1]

I suspect Egypt is due for something similar when Mubarak's time is up. There is much controversay about his son being groomed as the new president of Egypt.

I wish they would revolt against Mubarak, I can't stand the man, IMHOP he is a thief a lair and a lot of other things i wont bother to write here. Elections are joke there, what is not for Mubarak is tossed to the sea

One day inshalla there will be a real election and the people will get a say.

I think a lot fo MENA countries are like that

[Peace be still 6]

I'm a little surprised this hasn't been discussed yet... I have been following the fallout from the election on Twitter (#iranelection) and am so saddened by what is going on there. I accidentally clicked on a link that led to a video of a girl who had been shot by militia dying on the streets with her father crying beside her. I know that this type of thing goes on in countries all over the place on a regular basis, but for some reason, this time, in this way, it has gotten to me. Tonight I am making dua for the people of Iran, that they are safe tonight, that the bloodshed will stop, that no more families will be broken in this revolution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oqGx_aI-Ng

To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. We ask Allah to grant her forgiveness, stability and the highest rewards.

[amysaid 9]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oqGx_aI-Ng

To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. We ask Allah to grant her forgiveness, stability and the highest rewards.

I am guessing that this is the video of the young girl "Neda" dying in the street that I mentioned, but I can't check it because my daughter is in the room now. You might want to be decide if that's something you want to see before you click it, because if that is what it is, it is quite graphic.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

10 people died yesterday in the police clashes. Iranian analysts are saying that it's unconstitutional for the government regiem to attack unarmed protesters and tell them not to peacefully assemble and they don't understand how the Supreme Leader would support and give that warning to them on Friday that there will be consequences for their protests when it is their constitutional right.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

23 journalists and bloggers have been detained. Iranians abroad are holding protests and are concerned about their family back home because they are being told by family the government has shut down the internet for the past two days. The protests are staying away from the city center and they are finding creative ways to capture amature footage and get it to media outlets and stay in touch with family.

The general census of the people is they are not afraid and they feel they can stand for something and have a voice.

Edited June 21, 2009 by ~Flower~

[scandal 951]

The news out of Iran continues to be disturbing. Latest reports are that family members of Rafsanjani have been arrested.

I found this piece of analysis quite interesting. Hopefully Iranians will gain the ability to choose their own leaders and policies democratically.

But we in the West should be under no illusions that their attitudes toward the West will change, regardless of the domestic choices they make.

The calls in the mosques for "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" will unfortunately likely continue, no matter how this gets resolved.

And the nuclear policies will continue unabated.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...0,6816029.story

Iran's nuclear ambitions likely to endure

Analysts: Unrest won't impede what Iranians of all stripes consider a national mark of pride

By Jeffrey Fleishman | Tribune Newspapers

June 21, 2009

CAIRO -- The widespread protests in Iran, even in the improbable event they deliver presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi to power, are unlikely to dramatically change the country's nuclear ambitions or the complications the West faces in countering Iran's political gambits across the Middle East.

Iran's nuclear program, which the United States claims is intent on producing atomic weapons, is ingrained in the national psyche. It began decades ago and is embraced across the Iranian political spectrum. Its future rests more with the wishes of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the ruling clerics than it does with hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or the more moderate Mousavi.

The nuclear endeavor, along with geography, vast oil supplies and resistance to Western pressure, are critical to Iran's stature in the region. The political tumult and bloodshed over this month's elections may force a shift in domestic affairs, such as mending the troubled economy, but not a scientific mission that predates the 1979 Islamic Revolution and whose spinning centrifuges and technological breakthroughs have become a mark of pride.

"The elections are a crisis from within the system itself," said Hassan Nafae, a political scientist at Cairo University. "It might change internal issues, but the nuclear agenda will not be modified. Iranians are united around this.

"The reformers, however, might be more willing to open a dialogue with the U.S., and this could lead to compromise," he added. "The U.S. could give a little on the nuclear question in exchange for Iran's help in resolving the Arab-Israeli and other regional issues."

The battle between Ahmadinejad, who won the June 12 election, and Mousavi, who is claiming fraud, illustrates the schism Iran faces in engaging the West: Ahmadinejad's harsh screeds or Mousavi's more conciliatory tone. Neither would sacrifice the country's nuclear vision, but Mousavi, who has a long history of support for atomic energy, is perceived as more amenable to defusing international tensions that could lead to Iran working with the U.S. in the region.

The Obama administration, which has sought a diplomatic opening with Iran, has voiced support for the protesters while also trying to avoid statements that would make it more difficult in the future to work with Iran's leaders. The fluidity of developments in Iran leaves the U.S. with an unclear picture of how the nuclear standoff might unfold.

The latest report by Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, cited his concern about Iran's interest in a nuclear weapons program.

"It is my gut feeling that Iran would like to have the technology to enable it to have nuclear weapons, if it decides to do so," ElBaradei told the British Broadcasting Corp. last week. "They want to send a message to their neighbors, to the rest of the world -- don't mess with us. But the ultimate aim of Iran, as I understand it, is they want to be recognized as a major power in the Middle East."

Iran says it is enriching uranium only to generate power for civilian use. Its view is that the United States and its allies are manipulating the nuclear issue as a pretext to weaken the Islamic revolution in a nation that stubbornly resists U.S. policy in the region.

The street protests "will only confirm in Khamenei's mind his oft-stated view that the nuclear issue is just an excuse used by the West to advance its plot to overthrow the Islamic Republic," said Patrick Clawson, deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "He will be more convinced than ever that if the nuclear issue were settled, the West would find another excuse with which to advance its true goal. To him, any compromise on the nuclear issue will only feed the West's efforts to overthrow him."

The resolution of the political crisis is the Iranian leadership's consuming concern. How that unwinds could affect the nuclear question, at least in tone, and other regional issues. Would Iran offer more transparency on its uranium enrichment? Would it use its influence with the radical group Hezbollah to calm Lebanon? Would it not interfere in the Arab-Israeli conflict? Or would Khamenei and Ahmadinejad grow more emboldened?

The questions are many, and Iran, as it has done for 30 years, is not showing all the options it holds.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

They are saying that there is no difference between the two parties positions. That Isreal would rather deal with who they've already dealt with in the past to continue putting the pressure on him for the nuclear position. It's the development of the split in the clerical elite that is most interesting. Who is this person behind the scenes pulling the strings and what are his aims if he becomes the new supreme leader?

They did an hour long broadcast on Iran yesterday and basically said the people of Iran aren't in line with the party politics of 30 years ago when the Iranian Revolution happened in 1979. That they are more westernized and want the opposition as the leader because of his platform message of change. Sound familiar?

[doodlebugg 10]

They are saying that there is no difference between the two parties positions. That Isreal would rather deal with who they've already dealt with in the past to continue putting the pressure on him for the nuclear position. It's the development of the split in the clerical elite that is most interesting. Who is this person behind the scenes pulling the strings and what are his aims if he becomes the new supreme leader?

They did an hour long broadcast on Iran yesterday and basically said the people of Iran aren't in line with the party politics of 30 years ago when the Iranian Revolution happened in 1979. That they are more westernized and want the opposition as the leader because of his platform message of change. Sound familiar?

It does but what is strange is that Mousavi doesn't want a more westernized culture. He was a very big part in ousting the Shah and forming the Islamic Council of Islamic Revolution. He is willing to talk with Obama though and that's what makes me think we have a hand in the severity of the demonstrations.