Thursday, June 18, 2009

Iranian Election Fraud Riots (Day Six)

Update (6/19/2009):Berman Post: Iranian Election Fraud Riots (Day Seven). End of Update:

Hundreds of thousands of people continue to protest in Iran at a minimum. The number may have exceeded a million. Many of the protesters were wearing black and carrying candles to morn the fallen along with the green in support of the opposition (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98T8FV00&show_article=1).

Horrific Pictures (second Horrific Warning) of some of the victims can be found at http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/06/obamas-cowardice-and-hypocrisy-in-iran.html.

A video of the aftermath of a beating can be found at (Warning, he survived but it is graphic) http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/gruesome-video-of-wounded-iranian.html.

There are reports of a split within the US government with Obama on one side and Biden / (Hillary) Clinton on the other pushing for a stronger stance. Republicans and a few notable Democrats have been pushing Obama to take a stronger stance as well (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/us/politics/18prexy.html?_r=1&hp). Indeed Obama's stance seems to be leaving him increasingly isolated (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124534133276328051.html [via http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/80371]).

Publicly, Clinton was scolding Israel instead of speaking out for the protesters:

"

Under any other circumstances, this press conference with Hillary Clinton and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman would be a national embarrassment.  In the Obama administration, it’s just business as usual.  While Hillary demanded an end to settlement expansion in the presser and gave a not-so-subtle scolding to Lieberman and by extension Benjamin Netanyahu, the most she could bring herself to say about Iran was that the US wanted to work with them, and that free speech is a good thing.


The Financial Times called it “one of the most tense encounters” of the last several years between Israel and the US, and for good reason" (http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/18/hillary-demands-settlement-closure-but-not-freedom-in-iran)

Kianoosh Sanjari believes that "The people of Iran will not forgive Obama for siding with the regime" (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/iranian-hero-human-rights-activist.html).

Nicholas Kristof thinks its time for a 'Tear Down This Cyberwall!' moment; I agree, though I think that individuals are already well on there way to beating the government to the punch (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/opinion/18kristof.html?_r=3).

The protesters are getting some high profile cyberwar support. Hacking and digital vandalism does not create many stars or famous groups, but two of the most famous are throwing their support behind the protesters. The new support group is http://iran.whyweprotest.net which is a collaberation between Anonymous and The Pirate Bay (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/iran-activists-get-assist-from-anonymous-pirate-bay).

To see how important social media has been, head over to http://mashable.com/2009/06/17/iranelection-crisis-numbers for detailed statistics and graph.

Nicholas Thompson disagrees at http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/iran-before-you-have-that-twitter-gasm, but I think he is wrong. Some of his citations have been skewed on purpose such as the people registered to be living in Iran, and I think exposure to the world is the only thing that is protecting the protesters from an absolute massacre. Looking back on this event, I would bet that Twitter will be considered among the most important assets of the protesters.

My reasoning is supported by one of the two explanations of why many of the signs are in English (that is getting world support) (http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-are-iranians-using-english-on.html). The other is the more basic English is the closet thing to a universal language (http://www.slate.com/id/2220307).

Time opines on the possible ways what is going down in Iran can end; One: Revolution 2.0?, Two: A Tehran Tiananmen?, Three: Khamenei's "Divine" Retreat?, or Four: A "Zimbabwe" Option? (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1905356,00.html?xid=rss-topstories).

Clerics could be the key to the outcome (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/world/middleeast/18clerics.html?_r=1&ref=world), but Iran may have had enough of the Mullahs (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124528279284625447.html#mod=rss_opinion_main). Then again, they are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

The person who released the 'real election numbers' is now dead in what may have been an assassination (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/20090617/iran-election-results-iranian.htm).

There is a growing feeling that the big showdown could come tomorrow (http://ace.mu.nu/archives/288729.php).

This may not be pertinent to the protesters, though depending on the outcome it may be extremely important afterwords, "Iranian Official Admits Nuclear Program Is Not Peaceful" (http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/06/iranian_official_admits_nuclea.asp).

I will end the rundown today with a cartoon. Is Obama not answering his '3am phone call' (again?)?



Past related posts:
Berman Post: Iranian Election Viewed as Rigged
Berman Post: Iranian Election Fraud Protest (NYC)
Berman Post: Iranian Riots Continue
Berman Post: Iranian Election Fraud Riots (Day Three)
Berman Post: Iranian Election Fraud Riots (Day Four)
Berman Post: Iranian Election Fraud Protest at Union Square (NYC)
Berman Post: Iranian Election Fraud Riots (Day Five)

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