Secretary of State Clinton is quite right to say that Iran is now a military dictatorship. A note on Twitter last week put it succinctly and accurately:
[The Revolutionary Guards, [aka “Sepah”] & its Commander in chief have taken over & have no intention of letting go. [Next year’s regular Army] budget is not even quarter of Sepah’s budget.
- Basij is totally integrated in Sepah now.
- From National police to Central command, all Sepahi & Basijis.
- The Ministry of Intelligence is run by Sepah Intelligence.
- [State broadcasting] & most print media are run by Sepah.
- Most judges are Sepahis.
- 3/4 of Gov is Sepahi.It is a de facto military dictatorship.
The supremacy of the Revolutionary Guards and their instruments of mass brutality were shown on the Tehran streets last Thursday, the anniversary of the seizure of power by the followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979. According to eyewitness , both online and in newspapers like Le Monde, there were huge numbers of security forces in major squares, and along the streets leading to them. Some Green demonstrators—“many of us,” according to Le Monde’s source–even found themselves funneled into Azadi Square along with regime supporters. So, for those who like to keep score, it was hard to get an honest count. We do know that the Guards, police, and Basij beat up hundreds of Greens with considerable savagery. Their victims included the wife of Green leader Meir Hossein Mousavi, the other top Green figure, Mehdi Karroubi (who was struck in the face with a tear gas canister and may lose an eye) and his son, Ali (who was beaten and tortured in a mosque after being seized).
We also know that the regime falsified the size of the crowd that came to cheer President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Official pictures purported to show a monster turnout in Azadi Square, but overhead photography from Google Earth shows that only a quarter of the space was full, and YouTube videos on the spot show lots of empty space. Kids had room to kick a soccer ball around, and plenty of the faithful lay down on the grass and took a nap while the president delivered his usual diatribe.
Noush…
That’s cheers in Farsi, said right before, or after a shot of drink.
It’ll be kinda hard uttering it as you drinking, though! Noush…
Anyhow, below is a piece on this one, in Farsi
It is a translation, sort of, but for the sake of space I made quick reference to the events already known.
I am the guy who back in the day told you how pained and disappointed I was about Armitage calling IR a kind of a democracy, while Powell said it was a family feud that we shouldn’t intervene. So I wanted to give up the fight, but you told me to carry on…remember?! We’ve come a long way since then, haven’t we?
Thanks for your interest in bettering the lives of Irainans and as an extension of that, the security of the world… Noush…
http://balatarin.com/permlink/2010/2/17/1955219
Michael, you would have an easier time getting blood out of stone, than effecting a course change by those who have their paws on the levers of power.
It is treason to work against one’s government, but I figure the US government works so
hard against what you communicate that they preceded you in breaking faith.
Thanks to the GFC, the old line up is changing. The EU will be relegated to the dust bin of history because of the intrusiveness of Brussels into too many areas. Countries
which would want more room, than what the EU is prepared to give, can group together into amalgams (I see three), and turn the page on the past brought about by those who simply cannot resist playing God.
Why won’t they strike? That’s the one thing they can do to really hurt the Guard, a general work stoppage. The economy is hurting and it costs allot to pay demonstrators and arm terrorists. When the troops can’t be paid you will then have a change in leadership.
Good to see the US Sate Department got the message at last
>a war they declared 31 years ago.
Michaelle should read a little history. The CIA betrayed exiled the pro-American leader of Iran in project AJAX precisely to steal the oil and rename Iran Oil as British Petroleum. As well an unstable Iran proved an excellent chess-peace for USA meddling in the Middle East over the next 40 years.
>The second is that they are killing Americans
Self defense isn’t an act of war. As usual Michaelle willfully omits USA instigation of hostilities.
Michael,
Too many “insiders” are telling me that the regime is “done,” to offhandedly dismiss.
Appears that anyone with a “green-card” has already flown the coop.
Still waiting for the Fatwa.
Regards.
Sean
Yah – what Yoda said.
Shouldn’t we have some full disclosure on the ethnocentric bonds of authors and their subject matter???
I mean.. every time somebody whose eaten a falafel for lunch opines on the Middle East – we are tutored to question their motives.
Medved has family in Israel.
He’s hardly an untainted source ….
Remember how we don’t like those double standards????
I said Medved… when I meant Ledeen…
same difference… kind of like Mohammed or Akbar
Another Iranian dissident sentenced to death – Iranian court attorney, Mohammad Mostafai reported that Amir-Reza Arefi has been sentenced to death by the judiciary. The 21-year-old is charged with “enmity against God through membership in the Association of Iranian Monarchists,” according to Mr. Mostafai’s weblog. -Radio Zamaneh 02/17/10
The savages in Islamic republic continue to suppress our people brutally and with all force while the spineless leaders of the free world continue to waste time and test the waters giving the barbarians time to kill, gather new force and cause continued mayhem in the world. It seems to me that the West actually wants this putrefied monstrous regime stay in power for sick reasons. One reason being lack of will and courage to fight back, another reason lack of principled politicians and the influence of PC world views that has crippled many minds, and the other reason being multi billion dollar trade contracts with the regime. The West is losing its power, prestige and identity every passing day due to weaknesses its leaders show on the world political stage. The barbarians see that and feel ecstatic about that. They know deep down that they will be triumphant because their enemy the Western bloc and their ally the Iranian people have not been able to confront them effectively because they act independently of each other. If the 2 forces meaning the West and the Iranian people joining forces together things would have been different but again the West has decided to stay on the side lines, leaving Iranian people on their own peril to be maimed by barbarians and allowed the monstrous regime to harness its lost legitimacy and power. The last battle will be between the West and the monstrous regime and so far things do not look good for the West!!!
It is totally up to the people in the West meaning Americans and Europeans to force their leaders to take REAL ACTION AGAINST THE ISLAMIC REGIME AND SUPPORT THE IRANIAN FREEDOM FIGHTING PEOPLE otherwise the Western civilization will be lost forever the way we see it, live it and believe in it!
Freedom and regime change in Iran!
I am certain the whole world joins me in unequivocally condemning the brutal repression of these peaceful freedom-seeking Iranian protesters by Israel.
“Google Earth also shows an armada of buses…”
Yeah, probably Ray (D-Louisiana) Nagin’s left-overs.
#3 “Why won’t they strike?”
Strikes are likely only have a limited effect. Keep in mind that 50-85% of Iranian government revenue comes from its oil & gas production. Even the vast IRGC business network are somewhat insulated to strikes, as much of their income derives from government contracts or foreign ventures.
Unless you get the oil/gas industry workers to strike, the regime will continue to have a steady flow of cash to finance its army of thugs.
Shiraz, the truth is PharoObama was trained under the same basci ideology as that of Ahmedinajad.
You only use the ballot box and the protest until you get to where you can use bullets to rule. This is the basis of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.
Obama and his followers (his main backer Soros was a Nazi collaborator during WWII) only wait until he has the power to where he can do the same to all the people here.
I can not prove it but we have heard rumors that there were senior people from ACORN helping at the poles in Iran during the last election.
There is no difference between your leaders and ours but the relative power they have over the people – once they have enough, you will not be able to tell the difference from the streets of Tehran and Main Street, USA .
The prospect of a general strike in Iran’s petroleum sector should be welcomed. Let’s hope the movement spreads. Just as oil workers are oppressed in Iran, oil workers are also oppressed in the Saudi Kingdom.
Any call for a general strike against an oil tyrant of the Gulf would have greater moral clarity if it were a call for a petroleum strike on both sides of the Gulf, not merely one. If petroleum workers in Iran and Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi and Qatar and Iraq and Kuwait worked together as part of one movement, they would have a greater voice than if their protests were voiced in only one nation at a time.
The Saudi monarchy and Iran’s clerical regime have been holding hands and working in tandem for at least a decade; their ideological rivalry is tempered by their common interest in both controlling their domestic populations, promoting terrorism, and keeping the ideals of freedom at bay. They share a common interest with al-Qaeda in keeping Iraq in perpetual civil war. It is time to see both tyrannies as one and the same problem.
The United States of America needs a President who sends a clear message to the working class of the Gulf that they, at long last, have a friend on their side. Just as a previous generation of leaders helped the Solidarity movement of Poland, a new generation of leaders can raise their voices to call for social justice in the Gulf.
There is no industry so strategic that we must allow unspeakable crimes and injustice to happen merely because the world economy presently needs that resource. Let us not be enslaved by tyrants who would frighten us with the prospect of an oil shortage if workers in the Gulf call a general strike against their oppressors. Let’s support Gulf workers who defend their rights.
If we could drive the price of crude down to $65/brl and keep it there for a year, it would put a $20B hole in the budget. They would have to drastically cut their subsidy of religion, terrorism and.or staples.
Of course the problem is how to do that.