Some detainees were reportedly released yesterday, but many more arrested, and show trials for twenty people who have been detained for weeks are set to begin today.
Tehran Bureau's assessment of current political situation.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Today in Tehran
Iran security forces retreat at cemetery.
Vote for Iran's live-blogging of big demonstrations and clashes in Tehran today.
Ahmadinejad meanwhile has fled once again to Mashhad.
Reformists call for fall of the "coup government."
Enduring America's updates.
The Tehran Bureau has put together profiles of some of the 78 people known to have been killed by the regime. There will undoubtedly be more families coming forward with tales of their dead children in coming days. The stories, photos and medical testimony about unspeakable torture and rape are almost unbearable to hear about, yet iranians live with this every day. We cannot do enough for them, especially after all the ways the West and Russia abused Iran the last hundred years. We owe them all our love, support and cooperation.
Vote for Iran's live-blogging of big demonstrations and clashes in Tehran today.
Ahmadinejad meanwhile has fled once again to Mashhad.
Reformists call for fall of the "coup government."
Enduring America's updates.
The Tehran Bureau has put together profiles of some of the 78 people known to have been killed by the regime. There will undoubtedly be more families coming forward with tales of their dead children in coming days. The stories, photos and medical testimony about unspeakable torture and rape are almost unbearable to hear about, yet iranians live with this every day. We cannot do enough for them, especially after all the ways the West and Russia abused Iran the last hundred years. We owe them all our love, support and cooperation.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Battle Inside the Intelligence Ministry
This is the third report of an intra-ministry purge, all from very reliable sources and analysts, and it's the clearest and most insightful interpretation. Here.
"The cause? Ministry officials had been told to compile a report, based on files and interviews of detainees, on whether the quest for a 'velvet revolution' by outsiders was responsible for post-election conflict. Their investigations produced the answer: No. There was no proof that “foreign” elements had instigated the protests as part of a plan for regime change."
Mohsen Namjoo
Below, the Mohsen Namjoo version of Yare Dabestani, put to editorial cartoons about the Iran elections:
Mohsen Namjoo was recently sentenced to five-years prison in Iran for "insulting sanctities." Luckily, he's not in Iran at the moment.
Mohsen Namjoo was recently sentenced to five-years prison in Iran for "insulting sanctities." Luckily, he's not in Iran at the moment.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Future is Now: Thorium
The Ahmadinejad Gambit
It makes sense, as many sources are reporting now, that the Ahmadinejad government is imploding. Hope this is true. He may just succeed in uniting Iran -- against him.
But AN is a weaselly guy, so I can't help wondering how much of this is deliberate maneuver.
I couldn’t figure out the Ahmadinejad moves with Mashaie at first. For those just tuning in, Mashaie's daughter is married to Ahmadinejad's son, and AN had named him to be his first vice president, angering hardliners who thought Mashaie was soft on Israel, Islam, and dancing girls.
Why would AN want to anger hardliners right now, when he’s got most of the country seething at him? But then, he withdrew Mashaie’s name as vice-president, and made him a personal advisor, and "gatekeeper," instead. This smells like a familiar AN trick, something Mousavi brought up in a debate during the campaign. Ahmadinejad compiles dossiers on people who aren't completely subservient to him. If his security services can’t find real dirt on people, they just make it up. These dossiers are used to humiliate, break and often destroy his enemies. But if these people are useful to him, he “rehabilitates” them and makes them his advisers.
Another tactic of AN’s is to humiliate a rival in order to provoke an angry response in order to justify a crackdown. There are numerous reports that he sent someone from his camp to inform Mousavi that he had won on the night of the election, but that he’d mever get to be president. The scale of the fraud may have been deliberately designed to anger the people so he could crackdown and destroy the opposition in the streets. (It hasn’t worked out that way, however.)
Both strategies could be at work with Mashaie.
Mashaie was put out there to take a beating, instead of Ahmadi, and then rewarded for taking a pounding for his boss by being named an advisor.
Mashaie was also a lure to provoke and identify hardliner oppositon, such as the intelligence minister, who was fired this week.
The intelligence minister was officially in charge of the crackdown on protesters. Ahmadinejad used him to initiate his bloody repression.
Now AN has fired the intelligence minister, no doubt so Ahmadinejad can place blame for the crackdown on him and distance his own sorry self from it.
It doesn’t look like his old games are working as well these days though. He has alienated too many factions, including that of his champion Ayatollah Khamenei and Khamenei's son, Mojtaba.
One of the best non-Iranian blogs for cutting through the byzantine politics is Enduring America, a blog dedicated to:
UPDATE, again from Enduring America - Will Supreme Leader sacrifice Ahmadinejad?
Especially interesting are the blips about Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larjani. Larjani is the canniest, cold-blooded tightrope walker in Iranian politics, and people speculated for weeks which way he would go on the election. For weeks he dithered, watching, waiting to see how the post-election played out, before, recently, affirming his support for AN. But now, as the tide turns against Ahmadinejad, Larjani is suddenly very concerned about the detainees and their treatment and sending a few sympathetic signals to the Opposition.
The crackdown has been so outrageous and unpopular in Iran, strengthening the opposition instead of weakening it, that all the hardline scoundrels are scrambling to distance themselves from it now.
The protests haven’t stopped, they’ve just become stronger and more creative. They didn’t count on Iranians reporting their own revolt to the world, and they haven’t been able to completely block them. They thought they could use the old Soviet Era trick of the Big Lie to cover their deeds. But the Big Lie doesn’t work against a million phone cams.
They thought the world would lose interest and turn away. Instead, there is a galvanized community of committed supporters worldwide.
Khamenei and Ahmadinejad and their fair and foul-weather friends really misread the Iranian people.
But AN is a weaselly guy, so I can't help wondering how much of this is deliberate maneuver.
I couldn’t figure out the Ahmadinejad moves with Mashaie at first. For those just tuning in, Mashaie's daughter is married to Ahmadinejad's son, and AN had named him to be his first vice president, angering hardliners who thought Mashaie was soft on Israel, Islam, and dancing girls.
Why would AN want to anger hardliners right now, when he’s got most of the country seething at him? But then, he withdrew Mashaie’s name as vice-president, and made him a personal advisor, and "gatekeeper," instead. This smells like a familiar AN trick, something Mousavi brought up in a debate during the campaign. Ahmadinejad compiles dossiers on people who aren't completely subservient to him. If his security services can’t find real dirt on people, they just make it up. These dossiers are used to humiliate, break and often destroy his enemies. But if these people are useful to him, he “rehabilitates” them and makes them his advisers.
Another tactic of AN’s is to humiliate a rival in order to provoke an angry response in order to justify a crackdown. There are numerous reports that he sent someone from his camp to inform Mousavi that he had won on the night of the election, but that he’d mever get to be president. The scale of the fraud may have been deliberately designed to anger the people so he could crackdown and destroy the opposition in the streets. (It hasn’t worked out that way, however.)
Both strategies could be at work with Mashaie.
Mashaie was put out there to take a beating, instead of Ahmadi, and then rewarded for taking a pounding for his boss by being named an advisor.
Mashaie was also a lure to provoke and identify hardliner oppositon, such as the intelligence minister, who was fired this week.
The intelligence minister was officially in charge of the crackdown on protesters. Ahmadinejad used him to initiate his bloody repression.
Now AN has fired the intelligence minister, no doubt so Ahmadinejad can place blame for the crackdown on him and distance his own sorry self from it.
It doesn’t look like his old games are working as well these days though. He has alienated too many factions, including that of his champion Ayatollah Khamenei and Khamenei's son, Mojtaba.
One of the best non-Iranian blogs for cutting through the byzantine politics is Enduring America, a blog dedicated to:
"alternatives to a foreign policy based on conflict rather than co-operation, force rather than law, and caricature rather than understanding."
UPDATE, again from Enduring America - Will Supreme Leader sacrifice Ahmadinejad?
Especially interesting are the blips about Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larjani. Larjani is the canniest, cold-blooded tightrope walker in Iranian politics, and people speculated for weeks which way he would go on the election. For weeks he dithered, watching, waiting to see how the post-election played out, before, recently, affirming his support for AN. But now, as the tide turns against Ahmadinejad, Larjani is suddenly very concerned about the detainees and their treatment and sending a few sympathetic signals to the Opposition.
The crackdown has been so outrageous and unpopular in Iran, strengthening the opposition instead of weakening it, that all the hardline scoundrels are scrambling to distance themselves from it now.
The protests haven’t stopped, they’ve just become stronger and more creative. They didn’t count on Iranians reporting their own revolt to the world, and they haven’t been able to completely block them. They thought they could use the old Soviet Era trick of the Big Lie to cover their deeds. But the Big Lie doesn’t work against a million phone cams.
They thought the world would lose interest and turn away. Instead, there is a galvanized community of committed supporters worldwide.
Khamenei and Ahmadinejad and their fair and foul-weather friends really misread the Iranian people.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Another Martyr, and another, and another...
Almost every day now news gets out about another person killed by the regime in the protests or in prison. Usually, the families don't know the fate of their loved one until they get a terse call from a ministry to come pick up the body. Then, they are not allowed to put mourning banners on their homes or in any way publicly mourn, and cannot speak to anyone about it.
It isn't enough that the regime is cruel in the grandly evil ways, forcing its people to live in sadness and fear, but they are cruel in such petty ways too. Though there is no love lost between the Sunni Taliban and the hardline Shi'a regime in Iran, they have much in common.
Enough martyrs. The world must think of new ways to peacefully fight the regime and obtain the release of all detained protesters, activists, journalists and other political prisoners. Just as the reformists in Iran grow more creative, so must we -- which is not to say I have an idea how to do this, not right this minute, although I still think a targeted and graduated oil boycott is a good idea.
In one of the smaller, and most powerful protests of July 25th, the little town of Revine Lago Italy held a lantern ceremony to honor the martyrs, and support Iran:
It isn't enough that the regime is cruel in the grandly evil ways, forcing its people to live in sadness and fear, but they are cruel in such petty ways too. Though there is no love lost between the Sunni Taliban and the hardline Shi'a regime in Iran, they have much in common.
Enough martyrs. The world must think of new ways to peacefully fight the regime and obtain the release of all detained protesters, activists, journalists and other political prisoners. Just as the reformists in Iran grow more creative, so must we -- which is not to say I have an idea how to do this, not right this minute, although I still think a targeted and graduated oil boycott is a good idea.
In one of the smaller, and most powerful protests of July 25th, the little town of Revine Lago Italy held a lantern ceremony to honor the martyrs, and support Iran:
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Canada comes through
Montreal yesterday July 25, 2009:
Vancouver:
Toronto (and start of bike trip to Ottawa with Amnesty petition:
Oh. And here's some video of the pro-Ahmadinejad/Khameini rally in NYC yesterday.
Vancouver:
Toronto (and start of bike trip to Ottawa with Amnesty petition:
Oh. And here's some video of the pro-Ahmadinejad/Khameini rally in NYC yesterday.
United4Iran.org - U2 in Dublin Last Night
Dublin July 25, 2009 -- U2 green again and with video tribute to the Iranian reform movment:
Updated united4Iran playlist here.
Updated united4Iran playlist here.
The Green Scroll: Tonight in Paris
The Green Scroll, a petition over 2 kms long made with pieces sent from 190 cities around the world. The petition is to be unfurled at the Eiffel tower in Paris at 17.00 GMT. More at Where Is My Vote:
Friday, July 24, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
AN-Mashayi-Khameini
Have been trying to get handle on the whole fracas about Ahamdinejad's first VP pick, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie. Mashaie (aka Mashayi) isn't considered hard-line enough and he said some not completely hateful things about Israelis so the Khamenei gang and their frowning allies want him fired.
Ahmadinejad wants to anger hardliners NOW? Is it to distract people from what's going on in the streets and prisons? Is it a genuine power struggle between AN and Khamenei? Is it all just sheer stupidity? Insights?
It's just a matter of time before this regime falls. The question of course is how many more innocents will be tortured and murdered before this tinpot dictatorship flees the capital one step ahead of the angry mob. Iran deserves so so so much better than these Keystone clerics and their thuggish enforcers. It's just a crime that this great culture has been held hostage by these mentally deficient bullies for so long.
The same story has a good quote from Mousavi about the "elite's" dissatisfaction with the regime, and this might answer the question I had earlier about the Republican Guard, because quite a few of the IRG are technocrats, managers, and other members of the "elites," (which apparently has a less incendiary meaning in Iran than in America). Surely the Guard's interests would be better served by a strong republic with good trade and foreign relations, and one that promotes its people's talents instead of suppressing them and killing them.
Elsewhere on Ayatollah Watch... more influential Ayats join the reformists.
Ahmadinejad wants to anger hardliners NOW? Is it to distract people from what's going on in the streets and prisons? Is it a genuine power struggle between AN and Khamenei? Is it all just sheer stupidity? Insights?
It's just a matter of time before this regime falls. The question of course is how many more innocents will be tortured and murdered before this tinpot dictatorship flees the capital one step ahead of the angry mob. Iran deserves so so so much better than these Keystone clerics and their thuggish enforcers. It's just a crime that this great culture has been held hostage by these mentally deficient bullies for so long.
The same story has a good quote from Mousavi about the "elite's" dissatisfaction with the regime, and this might answer the question I had earlier about the Republican Guard, because quite a few of the IRG are technocrats, managers, and other members of the "elites," (which apparently has a less incendiary meaning in Iran than in America). Surely the Guard's interests would be better served by a strong republic with good trade and foreign relations, and one that promotes its people's talents instead of suppressing them and killing them.
Elsewhere on Ayatollah Watch... more influential Ayats join the reformists.
Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence
Green for Iran last night:
[via Green Brief]
India 4 Iran.
Japan 4 Iran.
Kyrgyzstan 4 Iran.
Hungary 4 Iran.
Incredible (but time and place unverified) videos from Iran via BBC.
[via Green Brief]
India 4 Iran.
Japan 4 Iran.
Kyrgyzstan 4 Iran.
Hungary 4 Iran.
Incredible (but time and place unverified) videos from Iran via BBC.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Strange Battlefields of Twitter: Part 2, The Guard
I’ll get back to my hacker story, which is still developing btw, later, when I have put more of the pieces together. This kinda ties into that.
Cyberwar: Iran Government versus Worldwide Hacktivists - it is an incredible story how these guys and girls have worked to keep Iranians anonymous and connected to the web. These people never sleep. @austinheap is the lynchpin of this effort. Follow him on twitter for the whole story.
Yet another thing I love about Twitter is the connection and access to people you’d likely never meet otherwise. Where else could one come in from the garden with an arm full of rhubarb in Ohio or Saskatchewan or Oslo and while it is rinsing, sit down at Twitter and pick up a conversation with a member of the Republican Guard?
The Guard is key at the moment. There are numerous rumors of dissension in the Guard over the election and Khamenei‘s interfering son Mojtaba, and stories (unconfirmed) of arrests of officers allegedly plotting to join reformists.
The Basij of course works for the Guard, officially anyway/ Basij agents online and their admiring wannabees were just as you’d imagine the Basij in the streets to be to be, crude parrots for the party line and the regime’s twisted brand of Islam and patriotism. They were often cruel and preferred clubbing ppl over the head with insults to talking. And they were also young men, time bombs of nsecurity, bravado, unarticulated anger and repressed sexual energy. Compressed might be a better word. It was all channeled, with fearsome strength, into protecting Iran and the revolution from foreign agents and esp. America, just as their forefathers had saved Iran from Saddam and Reagan in the 1980s.
Even among this band of warped Manboys, though, there were people willing to drop the propaganda and engage in a mostly sane discussion, but only briefly, just until they remembered their job was to blast Twitter with gunfire and track down any Iranians who were online. The Basij guys were often held back by poor English, but some spoke it pretty well, and not all were stupid -- the Basij get many of the best places in Iran‘s universities. It was interesting to see too how many Westernisms crept into the Basij tweets, the “Hey Man,” “Dude,” the Hip Hop references, etc. This was done self-consciously, which differentiated the Basij from the Basij fans in the west. These imitators and trolls had done some research and could often ape the Basij for a while, but most outed themselves pretty quickly.
A favorite subject of the Basij was the Neda conspiracy, that Neda was killed by either Mossad or the BBC and the proof of this was that she was shot with a “foreign bullet,” (claims the regime). It was all just a plot to make the Basij look bad.
The Twitarmy (that is what it is called, really), fired back, “If Isr. or BBC wanted 2 kill Neda and frame Basij, wldnt they use Iranian bullet?”
The Republican Guard fellows on Twitter were a cut above, way above. The ones tweeting in English wrote in excellent but formal English switching back and forth between it and Farsi with ease. They liked to quote Persian and western literature and got a bit emotional when discussing Iranian history, the Khomeini revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, and Ahmadinejad. They seemed happy to argue reasonably about various issues, and sometimes raised good points about Gaza or the 2000 US election. Often, they cited literacy and education stats to show how much better Iranian women were doing when compared to most of the world (and when not being clubbed, tortured and killed by Basij), and to show that they weren’t completely against women’s rights. Still, they doggedly stuck by Ahmadinejad and Khamenei.
What gave them pause were appeals to their sense of patriotism and their belief they are working in a noble tradition, because they admire Cyrus the Great, the Constitutionalists, and Prime Minister Mossadegh -- all reformers in their day.
But what stopped them cold was the arrow to the heart. “Mr.R they R arresting torturing killing innocents best and brightest of Iran & World. U know its true. Great loss 4 all.”
I am not an expert on Iran, but someone who got interested for personal reasons 30-some years ago and has followed it, and particularly the reform movement, since. I know and have known a lot of Iranians inside and out, but I am an outsider with all that entails. So please correct me if I'm wrong.
And... this is not a scientific sampling of members of the Republican Guard, obviously (nor the Basij), and what we see in the West, especially online and in English, is usually just the tip of the iceberg. But there were a surprising number of sane Guard supporters on Twitter, and this is backed up by a lot of anecdotal evidence from Iranians, Greens, in the vein of, “My late uncle was in the Guard and he was a wonderful man.” It is just enough to give me hope that the Guard will ultimately turn away from the regime and do what’s best for Iran.
That’s my hippie side talking. My cynical, punk rock side says the only thing that will win the Guard is if their vast industrial empire and Swiss Bank Accounts are more secure under a new government than under the old, crumbling one, that they’ll fight to the last man against the reformists if their iron-clad grip on the economy is threatened.
Maybe it will take both approaches, some compromise on the economy as well as an appeal to the hearts and minds of the Guard to win them to the Greens. If it's true certain popular officers have been arrested, that means there will already be disgruntled rank and file ready to honor the arrested officers.
Cyberwar: Iran Government versus Worldwide Hacktivists - it is an incredible story how these guys and girls have worked to keep Iranians anonymous and connected to the web. These people never sleep. @austinheap is the lynchpin of this effort. Follow him on twitter for the whole story.
Yet another thing I love about Twitter is the connection and access to people you’d likely never meet otherwise. Where else could one come in from the garden with an arm full of rhubarb in Ohio or Saskatchewan or Oslo and while it is rinsing, sit down at Twitter and pick up a conversation with a member of the Republican Guard?
The Guard is key at the moment. There are numerous rumors of dissension in the Guard over the election and Khamenei‘s interfering son Mojtaba, and stories (unconfirmed) of arrests of officers allegedly plotting to join reformists.
The Basij of course works for the Guard, officially anyway/ Basij agents online and their admiring wannabees were just as you’d imagine the Basij in the streets to be to be, crude parrots for the party line and the regime’s twisted brand of Islam and patriotism. They were often cruel and preferred clubbing ppl over the head with insults to talking. And they were also young men, time bombs of nsecurity, bravado, unarticulated anger and repressed sexual energy. Compressed might be a better word. It was all channeled, with fearsome strength, into protecting Iran and the revolution from foreign agents and esp. America, just as their forefathers had saved Iran from Saddam and Reagan in the 1980s.
Even among this band of warped Manboys, though, there were people willing to drop the propaganda and engage in a mostly sane discussion, but only briefly, just until they remembered their job was to blast Twitter with gunfire and track down any Iranians who were online. The Basij guys were often held back by poor English, but some spoke it pretty well, and not all were stupid -- the Basij get many of the best places in Iran‘s universities. It was interesting to see too how many Westernisms crept into the Basij tweets, the “Hey Man,” “Dude,” the Hip Hop references, etc. This was done self-consciously, which differentiated the Basij from the Basij fans in the west. These imitators and trolls had done some research and could often ape the Basij for a while, but most outed themselves pretty quickly.
A favorite subject of the Basij was the Neda conspiracy, that Neda was killed by either Mossad or the BBC and the proof of this was that she was shot with a “foreign bullet,” (claims the regime). It was all just a plot to make the Basij look bad.
The Twitarmy (that is what it is called, really), fired back, “If Isr. or BBC wanted 2 kill Neda and frame Basij, wldnt they use Iranian bullet?”
The Republican Guard fellows on Twitter were a cut above, way above. The ones tweeting in English wrote in excellent but formal English switching back and forth between it and Farsi with ease. They liked to quote Persian and western literature and got a bit emotional when discussing Iranian history, the Khomeini revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, and Ahmadinejad. They seemed happy to argue reasonably about various issues, and sometimes raised good points about Gaza or the 2000 US election. Often, they cited literacy and education stats to show how much better Iranian women were doing when compared to most of the world (and when not being clubbed, tortured and killed by Basij), and to show that they weren’t completely against women’s rights. Still, they doggedly stuck by Ahmadinejad and Khamenei.
What gave them pause were appeals to their sense of patriotism and their belief they are working in a noble tradition, because they admire Cyrus the Great, the Constitutionalists, and Prime Minister Mossadegh -- all reformers in their day.
But what stopped them cold was the arrow to the heart. “Mr.R they R arresting torturing killing innocents best and brightest of Iran & World. U know its true. Great loss 4 all.”
I am not an expert on Iran, but someone who got interested for personal reasons 30-some years ago and has followed it, and particularly the reform movement, since. I know and have known a lot of Iranians inside and out, but I am an outsider with all that entails. So please correct me if I'm wrong.
And... this is not a scientific sampling of members of the Republican Guard, obviously (nor the Basij), and what we see in the West, especially online and in English, is usually just the tip of the iceberg. But there were a surprising number of sane Guard supporters on Twitter, and this is backed up by a lot of anecdotal evidence from Iranians, Greens, in the vein of, “My late uncle was in the Guard and he was a wonderful man.” It is just enough to give me hope that the Guard will ultimately turn away from the regime and do what’s best for Iran.
That’s my hippie side talking. My cynical, punk rock side says the only thing that will win the Guard is if their vast industrial empire and Swiss Bank Accounts are more secure under a new government than under the old, crumbling one, that they’ll fight to the last man against the reformists if their iron-clad grip on the economy is threatened.
Maybe it will take both approaches, some compromise on the economy as well as an appeal to the hearts and minds of the Guard to win them to the Greens. If it's true certain popular officers have been arrested, that means there will already be disgruntled rank and file ready to honor the arrested officers.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Yes We Can
Video made by an unnamed Iranian artist (AFAIK now).
The Opposition, today. Khamenei issues another dark warning, Khatami asks for a referendum, and Mousavi blasts the regime for insulting Iran and again calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners.
What they are up against.
Iran's American Martyr/Ahmadinejad Caught Out in Mashhad/Talking to Wiretappers
Nebraska Howard and the Constitutionalists.
The turnout must have been low for Ahmadinejad in Mashhad Friday. There have been reports that he was jeered by people there, and the NYTimes and others report he was snubbed by the clerical leadership of the city. That may be why Iran's state-controlled media is running this doctored photo from four years ago as if it happened on Friday.
UPDATE: Video of the real turnout for AN (and some of them are wearing green):
"What to say to Brothers who are Listening in to Your Phone Calls." This comes from OnlyMehdi. His father Issa Saharkhiz, a journalist and reformer, among other things, was arrested in Tehran July 3rd and is still being detained along with dozens of other reporters, photographers, editors and publishers.
The opposition was very active over the weekend, according to the latest Green Brief. Green Brief is compiled from Farsi tweets that have been confirmed and translated by NiteOwl and others. It breaks a lot of news before the MSM, and everything I've read here has checked out so far.
Finally, Roger Cohen has been praised by the free Iranian media for his fair and heartfelt reporting on Iran. He doesn't just know a great deal about Iran, he also feels its heart.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Mr. & Mrs Iyer: Don't Look Away
From one of my favorite movies of the last ten years, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, about two young strangers thrown together when their bus gets caught in the middle of religious riots:
The Tehran Bureau
Part Two of Prayers Make History, an eyewitness account of events on the streets after Friday Prayers, is now up at the Tehran Bureau.
The Tehran Bureau provides deep, informative commentary about the post-election revolt from inside and outside Iran. Here is their assessment of the Rafsanjani speech.
More here.
The Tehran Bureau provides deep, informative commentary about the post-election revolt from inside and outside Iran. Here is their assessment of the Rafsanjani speech.
More here.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Rafsanjani's Sermon/Siemens in Trouble?/How Geeks and Non-Geeks Can Help
Ayatollah Rafsanjani does one for the people here, here and here. Big protests. Protesters condemn China, Russia for their support of regime and meddling in Iranian affairs.
Ahnmadinejad faces unprecedented criticism from hard-liners. He is even losing hard-liner support.
Siemens work with Iran's regime could cost it a Los Angeles Transit contract (YES!) [via Nico Pitney in HuffPost]
Also via Pitney, How Geeks and Non-Geeks Can Help iranians stay Online Anonymously.
More Friday Video here.
Ahnmadinejad faces unprecedented criticism from hard-liners. He is even losing hard-liner support.
Siemens work with Iran's regime could cost it a Los Angeles Transit contract (YES!) [via Nico Pitney in HuffPost]
Also via Pitney, How Geeks and Non-Geeks Can Help iranians stay Online Anonymously.
More Friday Video here.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Powerful forces converge in Iran this weekend after two remarkable acts of conscience:
1. The head of Iran's Nuclear Program resigns, not just from the Atomic agency, but also from the vice-presidency of Iran. He has ties to Khatami and Mousavi, and is believed to have strong reformist sympathies.
2. The head of Iran's national orchestra has resigned too and reportedly made it clear he was doing it to protest the crackdown on reformists, which continues, with more arrests every day.
3. Everyone now waits for Friday, when wild card Rafsanjani, the billionaire Ayatollah and pistachio king, delivers the Friday prayers. He is a wily old guy with a wet finger in the wind at all times, and has been sending mixed messages for the past few weeks. Just yesterday he said that he and Ayatollah Khamenei are like longtime lovers who occasionally have a spat(?!). But his family are strong reformists, his political party has condemned the elections, and he is the head of the Assembly of Experts, weakened a lot since the crackdown, but not out of the game. He is reported to be a big crook, which makes me think of the French elections in 2002, which resulted in a runoff between President Jacques Chirac, a center-of-right crook, and Jean-Marie Le Pen, an ultra-right, racist, xenophobe. Protest signs read, "Votez L'escroc, pas fasho," vote for the Crook not the Fascho. Good advice always. France held its nose and gave Chirac a huge victory, a landslide, but without a mandate.
Rafsanjani has more checks on his power now than when he was President. He has to be more responsive to the people, according to this Iranian, who has the most interesting take on Raffi.
4. And Mousavi has announced he will be attending the Friday prayers.
"Two strong factors are still working in his favour: a divided clerical establishment and the blogosphere, where Iranians are among the world’s liveliest performers." - The Economist
5. Karoubi says he'll be there too.
6. Ahmadinejad will not be in town as he has gone to Mashad to ride this out.
7. The regime thugs will make a good showing at the prayers. But they might want to be careful. The regime has lost a lot of support in places worldwide where Ahmadinejad was once admired for standing up to the West and to Israel, and revolt is brewing in three ethnic areas of the country.
8. Most importantly, Friday's gathering should feature a lot of mullahs holding Korans and heartbroken mothers holding photographs of their martyred children. Try as the regime might to confiscate every cellphone in Iran, block every port and punish in unspeakable ways those who record events, people will videotape and get it out to the world somehow.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The C.R.I.M.E. Report
I don't know where I signed up for this newsletter, but I'm glad I did. Civil Rights in the Middle East is comprehensive, well-written and often witty with stories you haven't read elsewhere ("MLK jr. comic translated into Farsi") Sign up on the website for the newsletter too.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Hip Hop: Lingua Franca of the World
If there is one universal language in today's world, it's hip-hop, which has been embraced by musicians and fans in every country, and married to the indigenous music. This one, a protest from Iran (don't have the English translation alas):
I'll get back to the saga of the Hacker soon-ish. Have a crapload of work to do.
I'll get back to the saga of the Hacker soon-ish. Have a crapload of work to do.
The Eyewitness Project
The Eyewitness Project aims to collect all photos, videos and other documents related to the Iranian elections for posterity. Help them out if you can here.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Strange Battlefields of Twitter - Part 1
First off, I do love Twitter. As a supplement to the mainstream media, it's vital. But, if anything the last few weeks, it has shown it can't replace it. Citizen journalism in general made its bones recently, but it also became clear how important it is to have trained journalists vetting the material, checking the background, the sources, the assertions. Not that all members of the MSM do this well, but the best are very, very good at clearing the smoke away and getting at some sort of truth.
Still, Twitter proved to be a great listening post on the world -- not just twitter but all the "social media," bringing together a "Twitarmy" worldwide to help and support the Iranian protesters. The Iranians kept the world informed of their view of events, risking everything to bring out videos and photos. The foreigners found proxies to try to protect Tweeters in Iran, organized protests for them, Tweeted and RT'd links to photos, videos, MSM news stories. It was exuberant and invigorating watching this worldwide wave of revolution take on tyrants.
But things got dark very quickly.
People were beat and killed in the streets, hauled off to prison with no word to their families, and arrested in their homes, often after being tracked down online through the social media.
The regime was a little late to the online game but entered it with ferocity, and suddenly Twitter was crawling with spies, intelligence, counterintelligence, pro-regime trolls, ideological warriors, spammers, porn princesses, hackers and other troublemakers. What had been a cyberwar of ideas, information and support turned into a real battlefield in the larger Cyberwar, starring the same players and hangers-on as real world conflicts, and with real victims.
The intelligence people and their supporters blasted forth with disinformation and outright propaganda. Seconds after the Tehran government would announce something, the army of regime tweeters would be hard at work spreading the party line to the world, word for word in many cases, pausing at their long row of databanks at the Ministry of Interior only for Coca Colas and prayers. By now, the Iranian protesters were effectively silenced by the regime, many disappeared, many hiding, internet and phone blocked for the rest. Very little could be confirmed, and this made it easier for the regime to engage in a sickening crackdown away from the world's eyes, and for its counterintelligence to spread their toxins around the internet and create a fog to help hide it.
Very quickly, the obvious agents and spammers were marked as [#trollfail] and [#twitspam, #spam123] and blocked, but not before Green supporters outside Iran, fresh from watching videos of a bloody crackdown, had blasted back, so a lot of people were beating each other over the head with clubs online by trading vicious insults.
The second level was smarter. They set up accounts with green icons and information that made them sound like protesters or their supporters, and their initial tweets were anti-regime and pro-opposition. They gained followers and followed others and once they had their trust, they began to use them to retweet stories that questioned protesters and gave credit to the regime and/or which farmed IP addresses or spread viruses. It took a while longer to weed these people out and by then, a lot of damage had already been done.
At the top of this group they were much, much smarter and much, much scarier. This elite cybercorps emerged a little later, having lurked and studied the #iranelection thread first. That's when some of us met The Hacker and learned way too much about Cyberwar and Disinformation.
To be continued.
Still, Twitter proved to be a great listening post on the world -- not just twitter but all the "social media," bringing together a "Twitarmy" worldwide to help and support the Iranian protesters. The Iranians kept the world informed of their view of events, risking everything to bring out videos and photos. The foreigners found proxies to try to protect Tweeters in Iran, organized protests for them, Tweeted and RT'd links to photos, videos, MSM news stories. It was exuberant and invigorating watching this worldwide wave of revolution take on tyrants.
But things got dark very quickly.
People were beat and killed in the streets, hauled off to prison with no word to their families, and arrested in their homes, often after being tracked down online through the social media.
The regime was a little late to the online game but entered it with ferocity, and suddenly Twitter was crawling with spies, intelligence, counterintelligence, pro-regime trolls, ideological warriors, spammers, porn princesses, hackers and other troublemakers. What had been a cyberwar of ideas, information and support turned into a real battlefield in the larger Cyberwar, starring the same players and hangers-on as real world conflicts, and with real victims.
The intelligence people and their supporters blasted forth with disinformation and outright propaganda. Seconds after the Tehran government would announce something, the army of regime tweeters would be hard at work spreading the party line to the world, word for word in many cases, pausing at their long row of databanks at the Ministry of Interior only for Coca Colas and prayers. By now, the Iranian protesters were effectively silenced by the regime, many disappeared, many hiding, internet and phone blocked for the rest. Very little could be confirmed, and this made it easier for the regime to engage in a sickening crackdown away from the world's eyes, and for its counterintelligence to spread their toxins around the internet and create a fog to help hide it.
Very quickly, the obvious agents and spammers were marked as [#trollfail] and [#twitspam, #spam123] and blocked, but not before Green supporters outside Iran, fresh from watching videos of a bloody crackdown, had blasted back, so a lot of people were beating each other over the head with clubs online by trading vicious insults.
The second level was smarter. They set up accounts with green icons and information that made them sound like protesters or their supporters, and their initial tweets were anti-regime and pro-opposition. They gained followers and followed others and once they had their trust, they began to use them to retweet stories that questioned protesters and gave credit to the regime and/or which farmed IP addresses or spread viruses. It took a while longer to weed these people out and by then, a lot of damage had already been done.
At the top of this group they were much, much smarter and much, much scarier. This elite cybercorps emerged a little later, having lurked and studied the #iranelection thread first. That's when some of us met The Hacker and learned way too much about Cyberwar and Disinformation.
To be continued.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Carter Was Right
Jimmy Carter's 1979 'crisis of confidence' speech, which was judged then as the disaster that sunk his re-election hopes, is now re-evaluated with open eyes and hindsight in a new book by Kevin Mattson.
Excerpt here.
Transcript of the speech here.
Excerpt here.
Transcript of the speech here.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Sunday July 12, 2009 Instructions
Don't Drive Day in Support of Iran, Sunday, July 12 - Here's what to do:
(If you are a nondriver, proceed to point 2.)
1. Don't drive. Leave the car at home (or just stay home and have a nice day there).
THEN:
2. Take a photo (or vid) that
a) expresses support for the iranian protesters, using the color green or a poster AND
b) optional - shows an alternative method of transportation
Then either upload it to flickr and copy to the Flickr group
or send it to: info@drivenot.org
Be as simple and straightforward or as wildly creative as you like. It doesn't have to be a photo, it can be a drawing (good thing to get kids to do). Aside from expressing support for the protesters, the rest is your call.
If you absolutely have to drive on Sunday, you could pick another day next week when you would normally drive and leave the car at home that day.
Questions, comments, ideas? Please email info@drivenot.org.
For more information see the blog and FAQ.
(If you are a nondriver, proceed to point 2.)
1. Don't drive. Leave the car at home (or just stay home and have a nice day there).
THEN:
2. Take a photo (or vid) that
a) expresses support for the iranian protesters, using the color green or a poster AND
b) optional - shows an alternative method of transportation
Then either upload it to flickr and copy to the Flickr group
or send it to: info@drivenot.org
Be as simple and straightforward or as wildly creative as you like. It doesn't have to be a photo, it can be a drawing (good thing to get kids to do). Aside from expressing support for the protesters, the rest is your call.
If you absolutely have to drive on Sunday, you could pick another day next week when you would normally drive and leave the car at home that day.
Questions, comments, ideas? Please email info@drivenot.org.
For more information see the blog and FAQ.
Mr. and Mrs. Behi
They Keep Going
Protests all over Iran yesterday, and reports that they continue today, in spite of the vicious crackdown by regime forces.
Meanwhile, The US and South Korea await more cyber-attacks.
Last week on twitter, in the #iranelection feed, someone (or ones) warned/bragged about just such an attack happening, and more. This was reported to authorities. I read it, and it sounded like crazy talk until my computer was overtaken and operated by remote control on Sunday night by a mystery person, who was also posting disinformation about Iran, for whatever that's worth.
This weekend, leave the car at home, wear Green to support the Iranian protesters, and post your pic in the Flickr group. This is the first of four Don't Drive Days this summer. Read the FAQ for more information.
Meanwhile, The US and South Korea await more cyber-attacks.
Last week on twitter, in the #iranelection feed, someone (or ones) warned/bragged about just such an attack happening, and more. This was reported to authorities. I read it, and it sounded like crazy talk until my computer was overtaken and operated by remote control on Sunday night by a mystery person, who was also posting disinformation about Iran, for whatever that's worth.
This weekend, leave the car at home, wear Green to support the Iranian protesters, and post your pic in the Flickr group. This is the first of four Don't Drive Days this summer. Read the FAQ for more information.
Monday, July 6, 2009
It is Now Urgent
The latest from the New York Times here. The regime has made it pretty clear, with us or against us:
The Green Brief has turned out to be one of the most reliable sources of breaking news, and the news that "doesn't fit" in the MSM as well. Read the latest here.
It's difficult to confirm anything right now and the brewing cyberwar makes almost all sources suspect. But given what we know of regime leaders' past actions, we can be sure the people still in custody and those who contiue to defy the regime and protest are in great danger.
One thing is certain. It is now urgent that people everywhere start conserving oil as much as possible because this is the only thing the regime understands, the only thing we can do as citizens to have a strong and positive effect on the outcome. Protests and petitions can help a few people and they give a lot of support to the Iranian protesters. Cutting oil usage quickly and significantly is the only way for people of the world to hit the regime where it will hurt them, barring a military strike, which would be a very bad idea.
It's not about one Don't Drive Day but as many as you can manage, and about convincing as many people as possible to do it too.
“Today, no one is impartial,” said Gen. Yadollah Javani, political director of the Revolutionary Guards, in comments made on Sunday as reported by IRNA. “There are two currents; those who defend and support the revolution and the establishment, and those who are trying to topple it.”
The Green Brief has turned out to be one of the most reliable sources of breaking news, and the news that "doesn't fit" in the MSM as well. Read the latest here.
It's difficult to confirm anything right now and the brewing cyberwar makes almost all sources suspect. But given what we know of regime leaders' past actions, we can be sure the people still in custody and those who contiue to defy the regime and protest are in great danger.
One thing is certain. It is now urgent that people everywhere start conserving oil as much as possible because this is the only thing the regime understands, the only thing we can do as citizens to have a strong and positive effect on the outcome. Protests and petitions can help a few people and they give a lot of support to the Iranian protesters. Cutting oil usage quickly and significantly is the only way for people of the world to hit the regime where it will hurt them, barring a military strike, which would be a very bad idea.
It's not about one Don't Drive Day but as many as you can manage, and about convincing as many people as possible to do it too.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Kalemeh, from Iran
Iranian girl rapper Kalameh got this out to the world:
Translation of lyrics can be found on Mark Levine's blog on Huffpo, about halfway down the page.
Translation of lyrics can be found on Mark Levine's blog on Huffpo, about halfway down the page.
News from World War Four
The Bad news is that Iran hanged 20 people this weekend, bringing to 32 the official total of people hanged in the last ten days. Iran claims they were hanged for drug trafficking, but there is no way to verify any of this. In the past, the regime has claimed executed people were ordinary criminals when in fact, they were opposition members. This is a way to preclude world condemnation. Iran executes more people than any other country except China according to Human Rights Watch.
There is good news too, an increasing amount every day. Under tremendous pressure at home and abroad, the regime is releasing more and more detainees. And in an unprecedented, and highly significant move, a respected body of Qom mullahs has condemned the Iran election and called for the results to be thrown out. Other groups of Mullahs are said to be meeting behind closed doors to decide what to do.
Ayatollah Ghaffari has done the unthinkable, called into question sharply the Supreme Leader.
Mousavi continues to hold out. This man reminds me a bit of Obama, a bit of Gandhi, and a lot of Mikhail Gorbachev, another man who worked and survived within a tricky political apparatus, the Politburo in his case, and emerged as a genuine reformer with his country's best interests at heart.
The Biden Gambit: Baffling? Interesting"? Crazy? Crazy like a Fox? Not sure.
Random Thoughts: This is the first world war of the 21st century, the first global cyberwar, the first war where anyone with computer access or a green balloon can fight, at little personal risk for those outside Iran, where they are risking everything.
The The Dutch go Green.
There is good news too, an increasing amount every day. Under tremendous pressure at home and abroad, the regime is releasing more and more detainees. And in an unprecedented, and highly significant move, a respected body of Qom mullahs has condemned the Iran election and called for the results to be thrown out. Other groups of Mullahs are said to be meeting behind closed doors to decide what to do.
Ayatollah Ghaffari has done the unthinkable, called into question sharply the Supreme Leader.
Mousavi continues to hold out. This man reminds me a bit of Obama, a bit of Gandhi, and a lot of Mikhail Gorbachev, another man who worked and survived within a tricky political apparatus, the Politburo in his case, and emerged as a genuine reformer with his country's best interests at heart.
The Biden Gambit: Baffling? Interesting"? Crazy? Crazy like a Fox? Not sure.
Random Thoughts: This is the first world war of the 21st century, the first global cyberwar, the first war where anyone with computer access or a green balloon can fight, at little personal risk for those outside Iran, where they are risking everything.
The The Dutch go Green.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Nature and The Nation
Nature Magazine on why world scientists should support the Iranian protests.
And The Nation on how widespread the pro-opposition protests have been.
A lot of the MSM seems to buy the regime's line that the movement is limited to North Tehran, despite scenes of mass protests drawing people from all walks of life all over the country. One of the videos I saw was nothing but miles and miles of South Tehran, that reported Ahmadinejad stronghold, lined with people holding pro-Mousavi posters, of anti-government graffiti and burning tires. I cannot find it now. It was shot by an old woman riding in a car, and as she videos she says over over in Farsi, "Bravo for the youth, bravo for the youth."
And The Nation on how widespread the pro-opposition protests have been.
A lot of the MSM seems to buy the regime's line that the movement is limited to North Tehran, despite scenes of mass protests drawing people from all walks of life all over the country. One of the videos I saw was nothing but miles and miles of South Tehran, that reported Ahmadinejad stronghold, lined with people holding pro-Mousavi posters, of anti-government graffiti and burning tires. I cannot find it now. It was shot by an old woman riding in a car, and as she videos she says over over in Farsi, "Bravo for the youth, bravo for the youth."
Friday, July 3, 2009
Happy July 4th!
Afshin Molavi sends a message from the Iranian people, wishing the American people a happy July 4th, and extending an invitation: Please join our revolution.
Let the Usurpers Writhe
Roger Cohen, who has covered the Iran story with a sharp eye and pen, has a very interesting take in the NYT today:
Meanwhile, the protester motto circulating at the moment is "Happiness and Hope," despite the dire stories coming out of Evin prison, reminding of a quote I saw this week from a protester about life during the crackdown after the positive mood of the demonstrations,"It's hard to go back into the cage once you've experienced joyful flight."
A very reliable source sends along a link to this video of students protesting at Kashan University the last few days. They can't go out to protest because of the security forces, so they stay in and innovate:
And a Portuguese revolutionary has been tweeting juicy bank details on regime leaders' Swiss and German bank accounts, including account numbers (Russian hackers are unclogging their siphon hoses as I write). No confirmation on whether the info is legitimate yet.
I think Mahmoudi’s right. Khamenei and Ahmadinejad may begin to unclench their fist, as isolation and sullen defiance grow, in a bid to deliver what they would not allow the reformists to initiate: détente with America.
Obama must leave them dangling for the foreseeable future. He should refrain indefinitely from talk of engagement.
Meanwhile, the protester motto circulating at the moment is "Happiness and Hope," despite the dire stories coming out of Evin prison, reminding of a quote I saw this week from a protester about life during the crackdown after the positive mood of the demonstrations,"It's hard to go back into the cage once you've experienced joyful flight."
A very reliable source sends along a link to this video of students protesting at Kashan University the last few days. They can't go out to protest because of the security forces, so they stay in and innovate:
And a Portuguese revolutionary has been tweeting juicy bank details on regime leaders' Swiss and German bank accounts, including account numbers (Russian hackers are unclogging their siphon hoses as I write). No confirmation on whether the info is legitimate yet.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Nonviolent (Mostly) Realism
At what point do you change tactics from nonviolence to physical defense, or even attack? Nonviolence doesn't always work. As Woody Allen said in Annie Hall, "With Nazis, bricks and bats are always better than biting satire." Andrew Sullivan's wrap-up on the latest news/rumours from Iran, here, focuses on this dilemma.
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