Tehran calm after vote fraud claims trigger clashes

Sunday 14th June, 06:46 AM JST

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teleprompter at 04:53 PM JST - 14th June

sezwho

Thank heavens the US would never fund anti-government demonstrations, especially in Iran. Subject only to our reserved right to second-guess the people's will and to blacken those we dislike with charges of thwarting it, we always support popularly elected governments unless, of course, we do not like the results.

Got all the bases covered there?

I'm rather surprised to see your lack of faith in the Obama admin.

Again, I read a post like that and think it's like you have a certain world view (and more to the point a political ideology you believe can truly transform others) you are just dying to tell us all about but fear (of embarrassment?) prevents you from spelling it out clearly.

Contested elections in theocratic Iran, gov't violence against ordinary citizens,the mullahs decide another Potemkin election and yet all you can come here with is a desperate, tortured denunciation not of Iran but of the country you claim to hail from?
jackseoul at 05:01 PM JST - 14th June

This is a crooked regime like that of North Korea. Nothing we can do to change the "divine assessment." But who the frick are you Khamenei, to know what God wishes for your people? Unless you are God or have a Bat-phone to direct you to the Big Man upstairs, you are Beelzabub's next of kin.

I said before that Ahmadinejad will be back to selling kabobs on the street, but I see now that nobody in Iran would buy them, so he tried hard for a second mandate of mayhem.
Triumvere at 05:16 PM JST - 14th June

Liberalism can be slowed, but not stopped. In 20 years the students will be in charge of the country and the world will be a better place.
Den Den at 05:25 PM JST - 14th June

Great to see this change. Congradulatiions to Ahmadinejad, but he needs to address the growing gap between rich and poor and between modernized and uneducated. This is hell of a task, especially with certain countries plotting to destabilize Iran.
teleprompter at 05:44 PM JST - 14th June

denden, in the know!

This is hell of a task, especially with certain countries plotting to destabilize Iran.

Why can't you name these countries?
jhk at 05:55 PM JST - 14th June

Mousavi led Iran into a war with Iraq which led to many Persians fleeing the country. I have not read much about Ahmadinejad doing anything violent. He does seem to represent strong Islamic sentiments, and deeply opposes Israel's attacks on Palestine, Israel more or less being a non-religious population although most would presume that they are.

Ahmadinejad comments controversially on the Holocaust, in response to Israel's pounding on Palestine, with the point that the Holocaust, while clearly a historical and shocking event, is being used today as tool to persecute, in much the same way that it uses small provocations by Palestine, to retaliate, and for that matter the persecution he faced when visiting the University in the US with his rather imperfect English, and inability to fully communicate in two clearly different cultures, as well as the persecution he faced at one of the more recent summit meetings in which he attempted, again to communicate his point on Israel's attack on Palestine, and his perhaps, not so well taken comments on the Holocaust. It was Israel which sent bulldozers into Palestine and cleared the homes of families, which would obvious provoke anyone who would lose their home. And it was Israel which used this to pound Palestine.

Consider, the point of view, the Holocaust was an un-kosher event which persecuted religious Jews, Israel becomes a non-religious state and claims land, which biblically, is not supposed to exist until a later stage in time, and was actually opposed by core Jews, and uses the Holocaust as an excuse to persecute Palestinians, as defended by Ahmadinejad, who is now being accused of rigging elections by Mousavi, a non-religious proponent, who was involved in a war with Iraq.

Perhaps it could be the non-religious that incite violence, war, and noise against the religious. By definition, religion is intended for the betterment of people and always incites helping the oppressed, and is diametrically opposed to evil which incites violence, confusion, and noise in attempt oppress the religious, of which many still do.

When David Letterman or Jay Leno poll everyday Americans on basic questions involving America, it would not be hard to presume that everyday Americans would have a very difficult time understanding someone like Ahmadinejad or Islam, or matters outside of America, and would automatically presume, after reading an article as the one above, that someone is a wacko, as indicated in our comments above.

More than 80% of Americans believe in God, why would Iranians (Persians) who are 89% Shia Muslim, not vote for Ahmadinejad, clearly a more religious person than Mousavi, who incited a war with Iraq, and sells his movement as a "green" movement as opposed to a religious one.
jackseoul at 06:04 PM JST - 14th June

Den Den,

Great to see this change. Congradulatiions to Ahmadinejad, but he needs to address the growing gap between rich and poor and between modernized and uneducated. This is hell of a task, especially with certain countries plotting to destabilize Iran.

What change? The police are still beating on the Iranian citizens and there is no freedom. No change there.

When has he ever addressed the poor and the uneducated? He is one of them... well, now he has a fat bank account in Switzerland, but he's still uneducated! He should attend an online school at least...

Now you're thinking just like Ahmadinejad. Someone's always out to get him. I bet he's taking small doses of arsenic to strengthen his system. I wish he would screw up his dose with a large one. I'm tired of his rhetoric. Anyway, what country is trying to destabilize Iran? Iraq? USA? Canada, the Brits, EU... Isreal? The Klingon Nation is more of a threat!
jackseoul at 06:08 PM JST - 14th June

Oh yeah, congratulations to Ahmadinejad! Anyhow, how does Khamenei get his hand up Ahmadinejad's backside to control his moving lips? I'm sure the second term is easier.
yabits at 09:00 PM JST - 14th June

teleprompter writes: "Like I said the other day this was a Potemkin election."

Thus contradicting what you said a few days before that when you proclaimed that the Iranian election itself would show the world how much the Iranians were willing to try diplomacy. Of course, at that time you were just fishing for another phony premise to slam President Obama's speech in Cairo.
yabits at 09:10 PM JST - 14th June

Liberalism can be slowed, but not stopped.

It could not be stopped after the US election of 2004, and the return to office of Mahmood W. Bush and his masterful management of the economy paved the way for the Democrats. The same will happen as a result of this election in Iran too.
Sarge at 10:06 PM JST - 14th June

JoeBigs: "Who are we to judge what happens in another country?"

Allow me: What's happening in Iran, with Mahmoud I'minajihad being "re-elected," bites the big one.
SushiSake3 at 11:21 PM JST - 14th June

Sarge - "What's happening in Iran, with Mahmoud I'minajihad being "re-elected," bites the big one."

What are you going to do about it?

Yes, I know you know Iran has oil and lots of it.

Get out invasion plans but make sure you say for years that you are 'liberating poor Iranians from a brutal dictator' or some other total claptrap. :-)
beyonbeach at 03:58 AM JST - 15th June

Well Obama speech doesn't make any difference
zurcronium at 06:48 AM JST - 15th June

Looks like they borrow a page from the bush/cheney/rove election campaign book of 2000.

Reactionaries like Bush and Ahmadinejad support democracy until they see that they are going to lose. Then its hanging chads and court directed election outcomes. Same type of people despite the different countries they controlled
SezWho2 at 08:23 AM JST - 15th June

Again, I read a post like that and think it's like you have a certain world view (and more to the point a political ideology you believe can truly transform others) you are just dying to tell us all about but fear (of embarrassment?) prevents you from spelling it out clearly.

teleprompter, what point are you confused about? I do have a world view as does almost everyone else and I post from that world view. I am not aware of having any particular ideology but there is no question that from your point of view I am what you would call a leftist simply because you don't seem to be capable of seeing the world other than in terms of a left/right divide. Again, if you are confused, ask a question and I'll be happy to try to answer. Do try, however, to confine the questions to the topic at hand.

Contested elections in theocratic Iran, gov't violence against ordinary citizens,the mullahs decide another Potemkin election and yet all you can come here with is a desperate, tortured denunciation not of Iran but of the country you claim to hail from?

It amuses me that people outside of Iran seem to know a lot more about what is going on inside Iran than the Iranians do. I haven't even begun here to denounce the US--which, by the way, in spite of your insistent innuendo, I do hail from. The point of my post is that you are naive if you do not think that the US supports the Iranian opposition or that it will not try to get as much political mileage as possible from this result.

How do you know this is a Potemkin election? I submit that you do not. You may guess that it is, but what is that based on other than the non-objective utterances of US officials and your own prejudice?

We will not soon know the actual results. I was speaking to a group of posters who thought they did. Protests are good for the American propaganda machine. They are also proof of democracy in Iran.