Another Showdown at the Mullahs’ Corral
I believe that the Iranian regime has assembled the largest armed force in history to protect it from the Iranian people’s righteous indignation on Thursday the 11th. There will be hundreds of thousands of police, revolutionary guards, Basij, and people bused in from the countryside to Tehran.
Additionally, the regime is shutting down communications, especially in Tehran. Iranian Tweeters say internet is largely gone, and cell phones are not working. None of this is new, and in the past the dissidents have managed to beat the censors; it will be interesting to see if the mullahs’ trusted advisers (mostly Chinese) are more effective this time. They certainly have failed in China, and the Iranian authorities have demonstrated an almost supernatural ability to screw up their own plans.
A case in point: the political center of the city is Azadi Square, and workers have been stringing loudspeakers (and probably cameras) all over the square and the approach routes, in order to drown out the chants of the demonstrators. So today they tested the system by broadcasting the national anthem. Except it was the shah’s anthem, not the Islamic Republic’s.
Was it sabotage, or that incredible knack of ruining even a simple dry run? Who knows? Whatever it was, it reinforces the regime’s popular image of a bunch of thugs who can only kill, maim and torture, but not build anything of value.
The regime is very nervous, as well it should be. They don’t trust anyone outside a very small circle of fanatical loyalists. The broadcasters at radio/tv headquarters scheduled to cover the festivities were all replaced on Tuesday. Activists, intellectuals, and relatives of opposition leaders have been thrown in jail. These measures have been in effect for some time now — Reporters Sans Frontières claims 400 journalists have left the country since June 2009 and 2000 journalists are jobless — but have not cowed the dissidents. We’ll soon see if that has changed.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the current phase of the Iranian revolution is that many of those arrested knew it was coming, had the opportunity to hide, but chose to go to jail. They viewed their arrest as a badge of honor, and (not to make light of the horrors of Iranian jails) perhaps even a good career move. They expect the regime to fall, and they are building up credits for the next government.
The two leaders of the Green Movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, expect to be arrested either Wednesday or Friday, and indeed they have been daring Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to do it. They believe that if they are arrested, the country will rise up against the regime.
Thank God for Pajamas Media and PJTV.
Michael,
“Except it was the shah’s anthem, not the Islamic Republic’s.” Nice… There is the old rabbinic observation that says every sin and error will be first punished by it’s repetition. That holds-out the possibility that Khamenei’s promise of “a devastating punch” will turn out to be Judy.
Do you have links to the Banafsheh and Homylafayette blogs?
should be there now…sorry. fingers frozen from all the shoveling, heh.
Well, to our great shame, the United States will not be of any assistance to the freedom fighters. We’re damned.
…We the People of the Persia, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for Persia…
Can’t help a little daydream. If the people succeed, I pray that this time they won’t exchange one tyranny for a worse one.
The opposition’s odds are not favorable against a ruthless regime that is determined to maintain its power, nor is the outlook necessarily favorable in the aftermath of a successful uprising.
Nevertheless, much of human progress is due to people who ignore those odds.
My thoughts and prayers are with the Iranian patriots who are risking their lives for their country and for humanity.
Raised by Comintern pedophiles, a Muslim from birth through age 22, Frank Dunham/Barry-O/Barak Hussein Soetoro –as Greenspan said, call anything you can’t name “a Banana”– kowtows to kleptocratic Soviet-style thuggeries, pulls punches with murderous mullah-dullahs in Iran and elsewhere (Libya, Palestine et al.), because he is very much in sympathy with what they represent.
Meantime, his war on America’s hated “white middle-class” (his words) proceeds apace, intended to destroy the U.S. energy economy, tax small business into bankruptcy, promote core unemployment, empower a bureaucratic/collectivist super-State in violation of every ethical, moral, democratic principle known to man. His trillion-dollar National Civilian Defense Force (NCDF), a brownshirt ghetto gang designed to steal elections, awaits only their Caudillo’s call.
Banana’s minions are death-eating Luddite sociopaths, so far beyond political norms that homicidal anarchists like Ayers and Dohrn, Maoists like Van Horn, lurking subversives from ACORN to the SEIU, are but frosting on his vile anti-Semitic, Black Supremacist, quota-baby cake. Since 2007, anyone who has not seen Corpse Man for the creep he is has only themselves to blame.
Obama is still holding at 2 strkes, no balls
5. ahem:
Well, to our great shame, the United States will not be of any assistance to the freedom fighters. We’re damned.
The USA is next door in both Afghanistan and Iraq. It is not in the USA’s interest to be visibly seen helping.
–Mike Jr.
Michael …how many times has this happened throughout history ?
It’s happening again.
I don’t think it is just history repeats itself as much as this is what humans do.
So today they tested the system by broadcasting the national anthem. Except it was the shah’s anthem, not the Islamic Republic’s.
Weird!
Forgive my ignorance and pardon me if I’m completely misunderstanding, but reading these accounts based on inside sources paints a very different picture of the liberal, modernist Green Revolution that one sees on television. When I read these accounts, it seems that the really important thing going on in Iran, from a perspective of the balance of power, are the squabbles among the mullahs and within the IRG.
Couldn’t that just produce a regime only slightly less vicious, dangerous and oppressive than what we have with Ahmadinejad and Khatemei? How far wrong am I?
Second tier news event by the MSM, which will give more airtime to the record snowfall. The Chinese are in no mode to cooperate and are flexing their economic and military muscles for now (Talk about an economy built on a house of cards… it’s the Chinese.)
I wish for change, but my heart still says the current regime stays the course and while Obama is in power, no real threat (via black ops/arms. even serious embargos)from the west.
By the time we in the US get up in the morning, much of the Day’s events will be over…
Let us just hope that the winners are a bit more responsible. It won’t help if they are just as bad as their predecessors.
The truth of the matter is, our president will once again shrink from another opportunity to do the right and noble thing. My prayers are with the freedom fighters because when they secure their own freedom, the world will reap the benefit. We’ll have Iranian people to thank for that.
I really wish you’d source more….this is, as usual, great information, but a blog just isn’t as credible without linking to its sources. That’s part of what gives you more credibility for when you need to keep your source anonymous. That bit about the Shah’s anthem, for instance – I’m quite, quite curious where to find that information.
When a country has lived its life exchanging one guy on a white horse for another guy on a white horse the it should be apparent that the problem isn’t with the guy (or the horse) It’s with the people who expect the new guy on the horse to save them. I hope the Iranian people understand that their future is in their hands.
Since, days ago, reading that the world will be stunned, I’ve wondered what that might mean; thinking some sort of external attack was coming. It didn’t cross my mind that this (what you’ve outlined above) is the essence of it – a pseudo-universal public support for the regime. I suppose that makes sense.
Where is our fearless leaders??
Where is our media?
Why again are we calling it Iran? Why not Persia? It was called Persia for a long time, until the idiotic Shah fell in love with Hitler. Persia has a long and honorable history.
listened to you on Mark Levin. thumbs up !
Best post so far from Al Bullock–
“Obama– 2 strikes, no balls”
But it should be more emphatic–NO BALLS!!!!
Of course O’BamBam cant really criticize the current regime in Iran– he doesnt want to appear hypocritical, since he is already pushing for a milder(for now) version of it HERE.
Remember Biden’s quote that he had a “spine of steel” ??? what a pansy!!!
I’m a freedom supporter as much as any but this article is filled with many inaccuracies and twitter gossip.
During the Ashoura demos, Laranjani’s son was arrested along with other opposition demonstrators. They have to bus in Hezbollah and other thugs, too many Security Force personnel have defected. Rumors have it that Khameini has sent most of his private wealth out of the country to Russia. God be with the Greens.
Thank you for the links to the live blogging sites.
Thanks to Michael Ledeen we are informed on Iran to an extent not previously seen. Please continue. A blow for freedom must be struck there as well as here in the United States.
Iran just shutoff gmail. They plan to replace it with a system that will build trust with the people. Unsurprising tactic from a tinhorn dictator, really. Maybe we should be surprised by their techno savvy. Perhaps…
http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=226870
China is #1 in military size at 2.4 million. USA is #2 at 1.4 mill. That is as of 2004.
IIRC, the largest in history was the Soviets at 30 million, give or take. Nazi Germany had 24 mill under arms. The USA had 12 million. During WW2.
Not sure how many the Chi-Coms had for Tiananmen. I’ve seen numbers from 8,000 to 60,000. I suspect not even the Chi-Coms know for sure.
We won’t know if there were enough until tomorrow night, or maybe by Saturday. If the Army gets involved, it might be weeks before there is a resolution. The Army has the best logistics, so the longer it goes the stronger they get.
Logistics is why the USA won’t send weapons to the greens. Weapons take bullets.
A loaded M-16 magazine weighs about a pound. That is pretty light for such things. You can burn thru that mag in about 3 seconds. 5 if you are experienced and take your time. So you can figure about 3 mags per minute, since it takes longer to put in a new mag then it does to empty one. So that is about 100 pounds of ammo per hour, given time to cool the weapon every few minutes. So 20 guys will fire off a ton of ammo in an hour. If there are 1000 guys involved that is 1000 tons per hour that has to be delivered to our underground fighters. A tractor trailer carries about 80 tons. So we need to get around a dozen tractor trailers into Tehran EVERY hour. Do you think anyone would notice that long line of trucks?
IIRC, the US Army figures on a rifleman firing 9 magazines per day. Or they did back when I had to know this stuff. The Marines have a slightly higher unit of fire. 14 magazines, I think.
Anyway, those advocating the US supply the Greens with weapons are completely clueless about what that actually means. It would be an act of war and a stupid one. If we wanted war with the Mullahs, it would be better to send in American professionals to use those weapons. As well as the other weapons they would bring along.
Am I the only one who finds it disconcerting that one of Mousavi’s top aides has a brother in law who is the “godfather of Hezbollah”, and that refusal to release this particular aide could have “dire consequences” for the regime? I’m all for more freedom in Iran, as I am all for more freedom everywhere. But I don’t see Iran’s foreign policy materially changing for the better, at least is it concerns us, if the “Greens” have close ties to a jihadist organization. And it makes me a little skeptical as to just how much freedom the Iranian people will achieve by throwing out one group of radicals and replacing them with another.
Twitter is alive on #22bahman
Guys, don’t be Eeyores. Since they have a chance, why not believe in them? You have nothing to lose but your pessimism.
If you are on twitter, go to the hash tag #iranelection for continuous updates.
Make NO mistake. The Chinese will bear the onus, as well as the brunt, of the civilized world’s wrath for continually aiding and abetting the most brutal thugs on the face of the earth.ALL worldwide terror somehow leads back to the Iranian Hitlers. This is a fact.
The fact of the matter is that the Chinese are playing a lethal game due to their greed/need for oil, and their visceral hatred of the west. The truth is, that in every game with the devil there is a hefty price to pay.
In the VERY near future the Iranian Hitlers and their Chinese counterparts will pay the price of their treachery. The tragic fact of the matter is that unfortunately many innocents will die in the process.
I suspect Israel will come out on top of the fray, mostly because we have the most to lose, therefore, we will pull out ALL the stops. Time will tell….
As much as it pains me to say this, we should already have targeted Iran. When missiles leave the ground there, ours should be on their way as well, no matter where their missiles are aimed. Little Napoleon (Abinutjob) or as I call him Lil’ Nappy won’t understand anything but force and like Wacky Quadaffy before him, he won’t stop until someone stops him. Unfortunately per usual the only people besides Israel willing to do that is the US.
Of course we used to be willing to stand for liberty but with the socialist in power now they will probably end up giving him (Lil’ Nappy) the presidential medal of freedom (wussdome). It will balance out the shelf when he receives his nobel peace prize.
Iran was called Persia for probably 3000 years, until the Shah changed the name to “Iran” (“Aryan” or the “land of the Aryas”) in 1937 to show his support for Hitler. (Like Adolf Hitler, these “Aryans” – Persians – were blue-eyed with blond hair! Just like the Vikings!)
Well, the worse thing they could do today is not only arrest, beat, kill students and other protesters, but start arresting, beating, killing embassy personnel, foreign contractors, tourists, resident Christians and other religious faiths and of course dogs and cats.
Other than that the Mullahs have no power, no bomb, no Air Force, No Missile defense to speak of and no real Army, Navy and their vaulted Republican Guard is a sham and populated with drug addicts, malcontents and cowards.
Maybe they will introduce a new Ipod or device to read the Koran in some other language than old Arabic.
Or Not.
Papa Ray
Looks like that commitment to human freedom was a mile wide and a foot deep.
An opportunity wasted. Obambi had a chance to step up and become the President that history would remember, the man who drew a line in the sand with the Islamic nuthouse and said to them “this much and no more”. By voicing our country’s support for the Iranian dissidents he could have made history. So I’ll ask a simple question. Does Obambi wear boxers or panties?
Ottawa giving asylum to that Iranian. How did Churchill put it? The half asleep are now half
prepared. Or something like that.
http://www.bloggybayou.com/2010/02/iran-is-on-fire-but-its-gonna-be.html
When Bill Clinton’s stent and the Weather makes the news over Iran, then consider the West officially disengaged.
I hope for change, but it is gonna be awhile: the earliest possible date: 20 January 2013….
Cheers
Muckraker