In case you didn’t know it, Los Angeles, aka Tehrangeles, is one of the biggest Iranian cities in the world, perhaps the biggest outside Iran. According to Wikipedia, metropolitan LA has about 900,000 Iranians and descendants. That’s considerably less than the some 7.7 million in Tehran itself, but still a significant number.
Many of these Tehrangelenos (and other Iranians throughout the US) hold Iranian identity cards or passports – sometimes dual citizenship – and are qualified to vote in Friday’s Iranian presidential election, for which there will be polling stations across the USA. A fair number of these Iranians will be going into Southern California stations in such redoubts as the City of Commerce and Anaheim and exercising their franchise to reelect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
What, you say, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, noted Holocaust denier and nuclear arms developer – the very pivot of the Axis of Evil who calls the United States the Great Satan roughly every thirty minutes – is going to be elected in Los Angeles? Yes, the same guy. Of course, some, perhaps more, will be voting for his “reformist” adversary Mir Hossein Mousavi or his two other opponents. Indeed Iranian elections are strange and hard to parse. (An interesting overview is here.) But it is indeed difficult to fathom how someone would leave Iran to live in America and then vote for Ahmadinejad, unless he or she were an agent of the regime, which, I am told, can often be the case.
Still, the majority of the voters in the US will probably be backing the “reformer” Mousavi. (I keep that in quotes because the last reformer, Ayatollah Khatami, turned his head away, ignoring horrific violence by the mullahs’ minions, the Revolutionary Guard, which resulted in the murder and imprisonment of many students, some of whom were hurled to their deaths from their dormitory windows.) But even if they do vote for Mousavi, it’s questionable that those votes will arrive back in Iran intact. Corruption has its way and what interests the mullahs, apparently, is to demonstrate that they can stage their election on American soil, that they have global reach.
So who allowed that, you might ask? There weren’t any polling places for last year’s US Presidential election in Tehran or Isfahan, as far as I know.
Well, it’s our State Department, I presume – the same “realists” who are pushing dialog with the Islamic regime, hoping they will abandon their development for nuclear weapons. Perhaps if we allow them a polling place under the Liberty Bell, they’d reconsider.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see what transpires on Friday. PJTV is going to try to film at one of the Iranian stations. We had been planning on the one at the Culver City Radisson, but the hotel management evidently got cold feet at the last minute. That polling place is closed. City of Commerce anyone?
Will Carter be a poll watcher?
We allow alien nationals to vote for a creep like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in our own country? Just when you think you’ve heard all of the BS in life, up pops another turd blossom like this!
As the scholar once uttered, WTF?
I try to keep informed in the myriad ways Muslims are waging Jihad on our soil, but despite living in Los Angeles for more than 20 years, I had no idea this was going on.
Despite the spiralling incitement, violence and subversion by traitorous Muslims across our once fair land, our elites continue to retail the lie that Muslims here “enrich” our society. How, exactly? How does giving US citizenship to the Nazi flotsom of Islam “enrich” us? The theory is also retailed that exposure to moderate Western mores will tame the savage beast, yet it’s becoming more evident that successive generations of Muslim immigrants are just as likely to become MORE bloodthirsty, arrogant, and intolerant rather than less when residing here in the West.
So despite our lying eyes, despite their betrayals, lies, contempt, and menacing trajectory, we also allow Muslims from across the bloody Islamic world to continue storming our shores posing as “refugees” as if nothing could possibly go wrong. We pretend they will moderate once arriving and they exploit our idiocy by pretending that they are fleeing tyranny in their nations of origin. But once firmly ensconced here, they continue to adhere to the very thing which supposedly caused them to flee in the first place: Islam.
But read any opinion piece or analysis by, for example, a Muslim from Iran — and you usually won’t hear a peep about Islam. The same is true for a Muslim from Pakistan, or Turkey, or Lebanon, or Egypt. Such Muslims will endeavor to fully exploit our ignorance about Islam and deflect attention away from the direct cause of their supposed asylum in the West. It has a name: Islam. Their continued adherence to Islam indicates that they are not here to flee, but that they are here to advance the cause of Islam at our cost. This also has a name: Jihad.
WRT “agents of the regime”
When I studied at SIU, there were _three_ Iranian student organizations; each of which accused the other two of being full of SAVAK agents. Perhaps they were all correct.
A couple questions…
Do you have to provide identification to vote? If so, how hard is it to get the required ID? Does the ID requirement discriminate against poor or otherwise disadvantaged Iranian-Americans? If so, how can that be allowed and why isn’t the left up in arms about it?
Are gays allowed to vote? If not, is there something like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in place that allows closeted gays to vote? Will Code Pink be picketing the polling places?
I will ask my brother in law who is Iranian if he plans on voting. He has been here since 1979 just as the Ayatollah came into control of the country.
“Will Carter be a poll watcher?”
Well, we *are* becoming more like a Banana Republic every day, so what the hell.
Just so long as no one gets defenestrated from the hotel.
Geez.
People are worried about “the Israel lobby”?
I’m confused, Roger. Are you saying we *shouldn’t” allow Iran a polling place in LA? Also, it’s weird to say in one sentence that Ahmadinejad “will be elected” in Los Angeles and then to acknowledge in the next sentence that “the majority of the voters in the US will probably be backing the “reformer” Mousavi”. I can’t tell if it’s unclear writing or deliberate obfuscation.
As for whether there were polling places in Iran for the US election, well, I didn’t realize there was a sizable population of US citizens in Tehran the way there is an Iranian population in LA which would make polling places useful or nexessary. Americans living abroad, as you probably know, can vote with an absentee ballot (and sometimes in person at embassies and consulates). Are you saying Iran didn’t allow Americans living there to vote via absentee ballot?
Seriously, I’m just confused by this post.
Also, it’s not the US State Department arranging the Iranian polling places in the US as you assert. It’s (yes, state-controlled) Iranian news organizations and Iranian citizens setting up polling places and coordinating. So again, color me confused.
Clearly you have no idea about what you are talking about. First of all Americans can vote in the Swiss embassy in Tehran, the same way Iranians can vote in the Pakistan embassy in Washington DC. Secondly, absolute majority of the Iranians in the US oppose Ahmadinejad. In my 13 years of living in the US I have not seen even one immigrant supporting the hard-liners in Iran. Besides, a huge number of the Iranian immigrants in Los Angeles are Iranian jews, Iranian-Armenians, and Iranian Kurds who definitely vote against Ahmadinejad. Thirdly, you talk about this as if this is a new thing happening in the US. Voting polls for the Iranian elections were available in LA four years ago too, when president Bush was in power. How come you became interested in making a report about them now?
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is but a face that the Iranian shows the world and this “vote” is meaningless. This clown has no power; he’s just a mouthpiece for the real power.
If Ahmadinejad “loses”, so what? Do we actually think that Iran is a democracy, even in the broadest interpretation of the term? It’s a theocratic hellhole, run by apocolytic madmen.
Whatever happens – meet the new “boss”, same as the old “boss”.
Mike, I found the article confusing too as the Iranians living in U.S. are one of the strongest opposition to the mullahs. The mullahs have so many agents in L.A monitoring the opposition. And actually the opposition in L.A has caused major headache for the mullahs with their TV programs aired via satellite into Iran inciting uprising.
On another note the SMS system in Iran has now been cut off so that people cannot text each other before the election. Many in Iran use SMS to communicate and direct to places of demonstration and other actions.
Dale I agree, every Iranian knows nothing will change until the mullahs as a whole are kicked out of Iran.
Where do you get this figure of 900,000? Either you’re exagerrating or flat out lying.
Ive heard the 900,000 before but I think it refers to ‘people of Iranian descent in LA’ which Roger is confusing with ‘Iranian citizens with voting rights in LA’- big difference, as many or most of those 900000 are not first-gen immigrants.
I believe the population of LA County is about 13 mill. I would think that the 900,000 would even be high for LA county let alone LA City. Maybe there’s 900,000 in all of So Cal counties, but find it hard to believe in LA County
Pathetic really. Khameini and his sclerotic old cronies who control all the levers of power – law enforcement, the military, the “judiciary” – will not allow any genuine reform, and Mousavi is a lap dog who has no intention of trying to reform anything.
It’s just a huge con job; the sad thing is seeing all those hopeful, trusting young faces smiling at the camera, as if their vote will change anything. It’s Khatami all over again – the only bright spot is that the 70% of Iranians under 30 will come that much closer to throwing out the mullahs after their trust is dashed again; violently, alas.
In Iran, it’s not a real democratic election. It’s a circus masquerading as democratic election. The real powers belong to the Supreme Leader and the unelected Guardian Council. Candidates like Ahmadinejad or his opponents are beholden to them, not to the people. I feel sorry for the Iranians for being suckered into thinking they could effect real change, whereas, in reality, they are only effecting change at the whims of the Supreme Leader and the Guardian Council, not for the Iranian people.
Thanks for sharing, Parham, but (a) voting in and embassy is not the same as voting in public spaces (hotels, etc.) across the country. 37 venues, by one report. And, yes, I am well aware that this occurred during the last Iranian election. And, finally, if you read my post, I am also well aware that the opposition should get most of the votes here. I went on to point out that it was unlikely that those votes would be reported accurately back in Tehran. The object of the mullahs here is to show their reach into America. They are doing it, whatever the result.
Roger, okay, so what is the point of your post? Are you saying that the US should have somehow prevented these polling places? (On what legal grounds they could have done this, I’m not sure, as people are allowed to assemble publicly, etc., and communicate with people in other countries. ) That’s what you seem to be suggesting in the post. Or maybe you’re just venting, rather than making an actual cohesive argument.
As for the larger question of whether this election matters or whether it’s mullah shadow-play, well, I think that’s a complicated question, and the answer is some of both. This data is interesting:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/06/polling-and-voting-in-irans-friday.html
Promoguy- having spent some time in LA I would believe that 900000 of the 13 million people there are Persian.
Mike Shuster, with the usual caveat that I am no lawyer (nor do I play one on TV)), here is a legal basis I was told by several Iranian who are protesting the voting in the US (now at 45 or so venues across the country). According to them, a legal Iranian polling place must have five official Iranian state observers to make sure everything running correctly. Under US law, however, Iranian officials are not allowed beyond 25 miles of New York (the UN) or Washington DC. Los Angeles – and many other venues – are rather far beyond that. So there’s a legal.
On another level, I am disturbed the US being used for election propaganda purposes by the mullahs, but more of that later. As for the shadow-play election issue, I agree – it’s complicated.
Roger, but that law about observers being necessary must be an Iranian law, not a US one. So how would the US have jurisdiction to shut down polling places on the basis of Iranian electoral law? That makes no sense to me. (If anything, that sounds like a pretense for the mullahs to throw out the ballots if they don’t like how they come in)
The propaganda issue is a valid concern, but in balance, I’d rather the elections happen rather than not happen, and the data at fivethirtyeight.com suggests that this will be a somewhat more real Iranian election than past ones. And I hope Moussavi wins. Don’t know that it’ll make a huge systemic difference, but at least he won’t be yammering about the Holocaust, and I think he will be more amenable to some sort of negotiation about not weaponizing Iranian nuclear power (which frankly is the best we can hope for at this point, thanks to the past two or three US administrations mishandling the issue). I think this is kind of a pragmatism vs. idealism issue- I understand why some Persians in the US are protesting for ideological issues, but I think the election is a good development.
IRNA (Iranian state) has declared Ahmadinejad the winner. According to peiknet. com (Iranian dissident site) foreign reporters are declaring Mousavi winner with 65%. Site also has reports in Farsi of Mousavi headquarters under grenade attack.
BTW, Mike Shuster, every voter I interviewed at the Westin Hotel told me he or she voted for Ahmadinejad. Of course many protestors (Iranian) outside didn’t vote at all and said they never would support an election of the IRI (the same one you countenance being in West LA).
Extended polls haven’t even closed yet MSNBC is declaring Mousavi the victor, never mind the final count won’t be announced until tomorrow. Schuster is attributing it to the “Obama Effect.”
Roger: well, that’s too bad. I wish those protestors had voted.
BTW, suppose the US government *did* somehow shut down these poll sites. Imagine the propaganda that the Iranian regime would make out of *that*.
What kind of reasons did the Ahmadinejad voters in WLA give for their decisions? What was the age/gender skew like?
Present your proof that Iran is developing Nuclear arms. IAEA, UN, and Dick (“Hague?”) Chenney would all be quite grateful to you. No proof? Kindly shut up.
Attn: Mike Shuster
I live in Los Angeles and don’t think the number that’s high. It’s not just from spending some time here. Again, out of 13 mill it sounds high for LA County. Maybe not so much when taking in all of So Cal counties.
And what’s the big deal whether they voted or not. Although I would kind of get a kick out of the Ahmadinejad winning only to not have to hear how the O man was able to get out the vote for change.
“LA Iranian: Present your proof that Iran is developing Nuclear arms. IAEA, UN, and Dick (”Hague?”) Chenney would all be quite grateful to you. No proof? Kindly shut up.”
My Dear Iran Apologist,
You’re kidding, right? Neither the IAEA or the UN couldn’t find proof of nuclear weapons if it was placed before them. They can’t seem to get their collective heads out of their collective posteriors long enough to do anything constructive, so if you are using them as the arbitors of “lack of proof”, your argument is lame beyond description.
Dick Cheney? What’s THAT all about?
1) What will convince you; Tel Aviv being turned into a pile of radioactive rubble?
2) If/when that happens, would that, in your opinion, be a good thing or a bad thing?