On June 15 2009 03:11 Jibba wrote: From my uninformed point of view, it seems possible that Ahmadinejad was poised to win the election (and probably did win it legitimately) but there was panic up top when Mousavi made his announcement and as a result voting fraud did take place, accounting for some of the strange polling numbers. Obviously there's corruption taking place with censorship and so on, but Mousavi's supporters also need to learn that you don't judge the merit of an election based on whether your candidate wins or loses.
I think he said that because the very first few results that came in showed him with an advantage so he thought that trend would continue.
I think it quite hard for Mousavi to state he will run again in 4 years when he is under house arrest, his organizers are being arrested, and frankly the statement by the President.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declined Sunday to guarantee the safety of his defeated rival Mir Hossein Moussavi in response to a question from CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
"There is rule of law in this country and all the people are equal before the law," Ahmadinejad said when Amanpour asked if he would guarantee Moussavi's safety. She also asked why opposition leaders had been arrested.
"In a soccer match, people may become excited and there may be confrontation between the people and the police force. People who violate traffic regulations will be fined by the police no matter who he is. These are not problems," Ahmadinejad said.
I certainly would not feel comfort or even issue a statement about 4 years time when I'm not certain of tomorrow.
I must admit I was riding the foul-play-bandwagon until I read some of the retorts like one post above. It's so easy to believe what we're told in Western media, but hard to distinguish which version is the correct one. Guess keeping an open mind is all one can do.
On June 15 2009 03:19 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: I think it quite hard for Mousavi to state he will run again in 4 years when he is under house arrest, his organizers are being arrested, and frankly the statement by the President.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declined Sunday to guarantee the safety of his defeated rival Mir Hossein Moussavi in response to a question from CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
"There is rule of law in this country and all the people are equal before the law," Ahmadinejad said when Amanpour asked if he would guarantee Moussavi's safety. She also asked why opposition leaders had been arrested.
"In a soccer match, people may become excited and there may be confrontation between the people and the police force. People who violate traffic regulations will be fined by the police no matter who he is. These are not problems," Ahmadinejad said.
I certainly would not feel comfort or even issue a statement about 4 years time when I'm not certain of tomorrow.
There's a reason Ahmadinejad avoided her question, because she's a bitch and just trying to stir up drama. Wtf question is "are you going to guarantee Moussavi's safety?", seriously? That just fuels the perception that Iran is some kind of authoritarian regime that silences dissidents at all costs (I'm not saying Iran doesn't do this to some extent). But what does that mean? Ya.. Ahmadinejad is going to have Moussavi killed. Sure.
I don't believe the Moussavi under house arrest story either.
On June 15 2009 03:20 foeffa wrote: I must admit I was riding the foul-play-bandwagon until I read some of the retorts like one post above. It's so easy to believe what we're told in Western media, but hard to distinguish which version is the correct one. Guess keeping an open mind is all one can do.
so many people are and I'll argue against it until I'm blue in the face because it's MOST LIKELY not true. Western coverage has just been SOOOOOOOOOO biased.
Honestly I think that has a lot to do with it. An interesting thing I found when I was working on my thesis is that many Arab governments are afraid of Iran and see it as a threat, but all the Arab people are very supportive, especially of Ahmadinejad because they see him as a figure who is not afraid to stand up to Western powers. That's what a lot of his popularity is based off of, even domestically.
He did a shitty job with the economy and many of his domestic policies were far from being notably good, but what he has done is fought against the West. Today many Middle Easterners still have a profound dislike/mistrust of the United States, and hatred towards England. Ahmadinejad being a person who is not afraid to tell them to go fuck themselves makes him really popular, unfortunately.
Mousavi has made a statement: "Ahmadinejad has had his big rally for his followers. I request a permit for the same. If I do not receive permission for a rally tomorrow, I will take refuge at Khomieni's shrine. This will cause much unrest and the political turmoil."
Some of the Ayatolla will probably join the march from the Holy City of Ghoum (The center of Shiite Scholarship).
The following people have not been heard from since the election results. The Supreme leader, Rafsanjani, Khatami, Speak of the House (Majles). No one knows where they are.
University of Isfehan (one of the largest in Iran) 700 students protesting the election began rioting, breaking windows, furniture. Approx 300 Rev Guards moved in chasing students back to their dormitory where the police entered and began beating and arresting almost all the students. 100 students have been critically injured and taken to hospital, 500 suffered have minor injuries. Many escaped and are hiding.
first of all: I am uninformed and didn't follow the Iranian election until this thread came up I read some articles of "good" german and austrian newspapers
secondly: I read these articles and they didn't really convince me. It were only assumption, no facts. Xeris posts(even though I don't completely agree with them sometimes on general level - but I don't know this exact situation) and the blog entry seemed more logical.
the only thing that strikes me as odd is that (I hope have understood this) Mehdi Karroubi go from 17.24% down to 0.85%
maybe it's just me that I cannot imagine such a big loss for one party in such a short time is there some kind of explanation for this? I would really be interested in it
@ could any of you iranians or iraniana immigrants give me a good source where I can read a little bit about the life in your country? Can you go out at night? How are women treated? Are you allowed to drink alcohol? How is it in the other cities of the country, how in the rural areas?
PS: I think it's the worst thing to send foreign press away , honeslty that's much worse than bad articles in newspapers (they are not all that negative btw) It's the worst sign you can give the world imo
Just got off the phone with my dad. He leaves in northern Tehran, off Afrika Blvd.
He said that most iranians believe that a lot of the "commandos" on the bikes are Hezbollah arabs brought in to do to the citizens what a Persian cop would refuse to do. Accordingly when the protesters knock one of the biker thugs off they are being particularly brutal, believing that the rider is Arab.
Also there are reports of Tanks in Tehran.
EDIT: UPDATE #1
Mousavi's wife speaking(?), cell phone footage so kind of slow.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ieXw28ZUpg/SjQFbTrz9pI/AAAAAAAABOQ/tTZvulsWhwE/s400/iran2.PNG)
Guess keeping an open mind is all one can do.
