If the Europeans weren’t all that exercised about the spread of fascism on their own continent, why would they care about it in the ME. Perhaps they could visualize a fascist Germany with nuclear capabilities. That might give them pause.

This is terrible news. I took a tour of some the Iranian blogs to see who, if anybody, was commenting about this. I found only one and he was walking very very softly and speaking only metaphorically (another did not mention Arash but spoke again of his own imprisonment).

In my travels I came across a University of Oslo post-graduate thesis about Iranian blogging which turned out to be pretty interesting. Apparently the Iranian government doesn’t bother blocking access to outside sources (many bloggers link to US & European news websites); pornography appears to be the major concern among the clerics. However, they watch the bloggers closely. When the mullahs began a crackdown on both blogs and the independent press late last spring, many bloggers discontinued regular postings for months or went out of business altogether. For those who have picked it up again, the difference in tone and substance is marked. While the internet provides Iranian dissidents with information and a window to the world, given the draconian penalties, its use as either a communication medium or a means of political expression seems very limited at this time. Sad.