Election Crisis in Iran! (ongoing thread)

[Acanthus]

Unconfirmed reports say 10 mins ago Mousavi was arrested by Iranian authorities.
*These reports appear to be false*
Correction, Rafsanjani was arrested by authorities, along with 5 family members. (a former president of Iran who joined the protests).

Yesterday he called on the Iranian people to strike indefinitely if he was held in prison.

 

[Acanthus]

It looks like the protests are just as big today...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...k&feature=channel_page

Those people are amazingly brave.

You can hear them shouting "marg bar dictator!" (down with the dictator!)

More videos from today:
1 2


Irans Rage Against the Machine

 

[Acanthus]

Iranian Protester Shields Injured Basij Militia Soldier

Tension is developing between the Ayatollahs...

Ayatollah Montazeri...

More evidence of tensions among the ayatollahs. Hossein Ali Montazeri, an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership, said: "Resisting people's demand is religiously prohibited." Montazeri, who has been under house arrest for some years, called for three days of national mourning for those killed, in a statement on his website.

 

[ProfJohn]

How long can these protests last?

A general strike might be a good idea now.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
How long can these protests last?

A general strike might be a good idea now.

That is supposed to begin tomorrow.

The protesters are calling for no one to go to work.

"Break the oil backbone of the oppressors."

 

[ProfJohn]

Depriving the government of income would seem to be a good idea.

Stop paying taxes and stop the flow of oil out of the country. With no money to pay the police they will soon abandon their jobs (hopefully) and this will leave only the loyalists in between the people and freedom.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Depriving the government of income would seem to be a good idea.

Stop paying taxes and stop the flow of oil out of the country. With no money to pay the police they will soon abandon their jobs (hopefully) and this will leave only the loyalists in between the people and freedom.

I think we may already have some dissent within the military and even the IRG. IMO, that's what is needed, although workforce strikes are definitely going to be a problem for the government.

Nevertheless, the Iranian gov't has found itself in a tight spot with few options. Their rhetoric and attempts to cut off information look to be complete failures. They really look foolish, even to their own people.

 

[ProfJohn]

Any guessed at how long this continues??

Weeks? Months?? Can the people stick together that long or can the mullahs just wait them out?

 

[FlashG]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Iranian Protester Shields Injured Basij Militia Soldier

Tension is developing between the Ayatollahs...

Ayatollah Montazeri...

More evidence of tensions among the ayatollahs. Hossein Ali Montazeri, an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership, said: "Resisting people's demand is religiously prohibited." Montazeri, who has been under house arrest for some years, called for three days of national mourning for those killed, in a statement on his website.

Very powerful

 

[Lemon law]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Any guessed at how long this continues??

Weeks? Months?? Can the people stick together that long or can the mullahs just wait them out?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe PJ asks a good question, and anyone's guess may be as good as anyone's guess.
But as I said early on, its was a matter of the protests reaching critical mass or petering out.
Now that the protests have reached critical mass, its now a matter if violent repression can be used to make those protests peter out.

But it still misses the point, the Iranian religious authorities have made war against their own people in a desperate bid to retain power. And even if they survive this current crisis, they are now skating on very thin ice, and when the next crisis comes against their rule, as it inevitable will, next time they are far less likely to come out on top.

But on the other hand, if the Mullahs get rid of the current top Ayatollah, and replace him with someone more reasonable, there is a much better chance for the existing Iranian power structure to survive long term.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Iranian Protester Shields Injured Basij Militia Soldier

Tension is developing between the Ayatollahs...

Ayatollah Montazeri...

More evidence of tensions among the ayatollahs. Hossein Ali Montazeri, an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership, said: "Resisting people's demand is religiously prohibited." Montazeri, who has been under house arrest for some years, called for three days of national mourning for those killed, in a statement on his website.

he's a uniformed police officer and those pictures are nearly a week old now. i'm not sure exactly how much sympathy a plainclothes basiji would get



tehran has an oil refinery, but the big one is at abadan. no idea if there is anything going on there. i wonder if western media in il basra can get an idea of what's going on there while staying in iraq? if a general strike hits there, the regime will have very little money in a hurry.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Well it doesn't seem to be affecting the price of oil.........















..........yet.

 

[Jaskalas]

With all bets on the Iranian regime, it would be silly to change the price of oil for this.

 

[Acanthus]

I havent seen much today about protesting, it is supposed to be the 1st day of a nationwide strike.

I did hear that the vigil for the 16 year old girl who was shot was broken up violently by police, they were beating people holding candles

 

[RbSX]

Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, spokesman for the 12-member cleric Guardian Council, was quoted on state TV on Monday as saying a probe into the disputed election results has found that in 50 constituencies there were more votes cast than there were registered voters.

But that "has no effect on the results of the election," which saw Ahmadinejad winning by a 2-to-1 margin, Kadkhodaei said.

Source: CBC

These arabs are on crack.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: RbSX

Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, spokesman for the 12-member cleric Guardian Council, was quoted on state TV on Monday as saying a probe into the disputed election results has found that in 50 constituencies there were more votes cast than there were registered voters.

But that "has no effect on the results of the election," which saw Ahmadinejad winning by a 2-to-1 margin, Kadkhodaei said.

Source: CBC

These arabs are on crack.

They are not Arabs, they are Persians.

 

[eleison]

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: RbSX

Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, spokesman for the 12-member cleric Guardian Council, was quoted on state TV on Monday as saying a probe into the disputed election results has found that in 50 constituencies there were more votes cast than there were registered voters.

But that "has no effect on the results of the election," which saw Ahmadinejad winning by a 2-to-1 margin, Kadkhodaei said.

Source: CBC

These arabs are on crack.

They are not Arabs, they are Persians.

THIS IS MADNESS!!!! THIS IS SPARTA!!

 

[Aimster]

I hope the world doesn't recognize Ahmadinehjad as Iran's President.
Simply walk out of the room when he speaks.

4 more years of garbage coming out of his mouth.
It's the Jews fault , U.S and Britain's too.
That POS

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Aimster
I hope the world doesn't recognize Ahmadinehjad as Iran's President.
Simply walk out of the room when he speaks.

4 more years of garbage coming out of his mouth.
It's the Jews fault , U.S and Britain's too.
That POS

Explain?

 

[MiniDoom]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy

Originally posted by: Aimster
I hope the world doesn't recognize Ahmadinehjad as Iran's President.
Simply walk out of the room when he speaks.

4 more years of garbage coming out of his mouth.
It's the Jews fault , U.S and Britain's too.
That POS

Explain?

he's talking about Ahmadinehwutever, not aimsters view.

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy

Originally posted by: Aimster
I hope the world doesn't recognize Ahmadinehjad as Iran's President.
Simply walk out of the room when he speaks.

4 more years of garbage coming out of his mouth.
It's the Jews fault , U.S and Britain's too.
That POS

Explain?

you couldn't honestly have thought I was saying things like that

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Aimster
I hope the world doesn't recognize Ahmadinehjad as Iran's President.
Simply walk out of the room when he speaks.

4 more years of garbage coming out of his mouth.
It's the Jews fault , U.S and Britain's too.
That POS

And then Ahmed blames it on the interventionist west and drums up more support for his people, as he's done before, as has been done countless times in history to distract from incompetent leadership.

 

[bamacre]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...ns-viole_n_215189.html

It seems the Iranian gov't has escalated their attacks on protesters. HuffPo has done a good job of their continuing coverage. The first video, "Iranian describes horrifying scene on CNN," is sad, you can hear the fear in her voice.

One of the people I was following on twitter hasn't responded in almost 4 days.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Aimster
I hope the world doesn't recognize Ahmadinehjad as Iran's President.
Simply walk out of the room when he speaks.

4 more years of garbage coming out of his mouth.
It's the Jews fault , U.S and Britain's too.
That POS

And then Ahmed blames it on the interventionist west and drums up more support for his people, as he's done before, as has been done countless times in history to distract from incompetent leadership.

Sure, but I don't think what Aimster suggests will make any difference. And it is exactly what Iranians have asked, that we do not recognize the Iranian gov't as legitimate.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Aimster

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy

Originally posted by: Aimster
I hope the world doesn't recognize Ahmadinehjad as Iran's President.
Simply walk out of the room when he speaks.

4 more years of garbage coming out of his mouth.
It's the Jews fault , U.S and Britain's too.
That POS

Explain?

you couldn't honestly have thought I was saying things like that

I hoped not.

Also, I did not read the sentence above as carefully as I could have