Updates July 6th
We have confirmation that one of Mousavi's campaigners has died due to being tortured. (both links are in Persian and basically said that he died due to bleeding in the head)
Plans for a world wide rally on July 25th.
Join us in organizing a global day of action in solidarity with the Iranian people! We are coordinating a multi-city event July 25, and we need someone with superb online organizing skills who can hit the ground running now for a two-week all-out dash of blogging, twittering and online organizing to pull this thing together. Fast paced, fun, for an important cause. Gain experience and play a crucial role in organizing for this worthwhile cause! Contact united4iran@gmail.com.
Hot off the press, there are reports that the military is siding with the opposition! National Iran Resistance is a new movement & hashtag #NIR that calls on the military to ignore the orders that require them to turn against fellow Iranians.
The National Iran Resistance demands for brothers in arms, wearing the coat of arms of the Republic, to defy & resist orders which could harm unarmed citizens. The officers Corps are disgusted. So many lost children & relatives. We are fed up. We demand the Khobregan and Parliament to authorize the Armed Forces to apprehend foreign & domestic thugs killing our people.
User on iran.whyweprotest gives more information IRGC and NIR
NCR-Iran Is National Council of Resistance of Iran <- Got some interesting articles as well.
There is also a report that 30 IRG Officers were arrested for disobeying orders I've been hearing for hours today. So far there are no newspapers out to confirm it but if so this is HUGE!
July 12, 2009 post | July 11, 2009 post | July 10, 2009 post | July 9, 2009 posts | July 8, 2009 post | July 7, 2009 post | July 6, 2009 post | July 5, 2009 post | July 4, 2009 post
Strike is in progress and Thursday there will be a march.
Live Blogs on Iran Protests
Nico's Pitney's live blog on HuffPo
The most excellent live blog out there. Has an absolute ton of information dating back the very first day. Filled with pictures and vids.
July 6th | July 5th | July 3rd | July 2nd | July 1st | June 30th | June 29th | June 28th | June 27th | June 26th | June 25th | June 24th | June 22nd | June 21st | June 20th pt 2 | June 20th pt 1 | June 19th | June 18th | June 17th | June 16th | June 15th
Andrew Sullivan's blog <- Political blog but he has a lot of coverage on iran.
EnduringAmrica blog <- Political but they have a lot of coverage (they are also sharing tips with NiteOwl (I forgot them earlier...my bad)
NiteOwl's Green Briefs <- Anonymous teamed up The Pirate Bay (before they sold out) to provide logistical help to the Iranians in a safe anonymous forum - the vids of Anonymous declaring 'war' on Iranian govt are interesting to watch. NiteOwl's Green Briefs are compilations of news reports straight from Iranians.
#18-#19 (July 4-5) (NiteOwl's net didn't let him access the archives of twitter (?) so it's late) | #17 (July 3) | #16 (July 2) | #15 (July 1) | #14 (June 30) | #13 (June29) | #12 (June 28) | #11 (June 27) | #10 (June 26th) | #9 (June 25) | #8 (June 24) | #7 (June 23) | #6 (June 22) | #5 (June 21) | #4 (June 20 | #3 (June 19) | #2 (June 18) | #1 (June 17)
Want to know how the power check system in Iran works? The Wall Street Journal has an excellent graph.
Mark Firore - Power Cling <- vid in jibjab style...
Weapon of Choice for the 21st Century
Twitter pulls an LJ failboat and human error mass suspends accounts...bad news it got some of the Iranians as well.
Open Democracy
The archaeology of Iran’s regime
Boycott Nokia Petition
A letter from the three daughters of the detained ex-Vice President of Iran for fathers day.
Iran Tracker
Unrest in Iran: Incident Statistics and Map for Protests, Arrests, and Deaths
BBC
The Now Show <- Radio version of Daily Show...mentions Iran (you go through several commericals? before the show comes on)
Doonesbury (The comic is covering Iran from this point on)
Note Worthy Newspaper Articles
LA Times
Iran's Revolutionary Guard takes command
Calling the move "a new phase of the revolution," leaders insist there is no room for compromise on Ahmadinejad's reelection.
The New Yorker
Six Essential Books on Iran
Huffington Post
Iran: British-Greek reporter held for weeks freed
Asia One News
EU presidency condemns Iran executions
The latest hangings bring to at least 161 the number of people executed in the Iran so far this year, according to an AFP count based on news reports. In 2008, Iran executed 246 people, according to that count.
New York Times
Despite Crisis, Policy on Iran Is Engagement
In an interview with The New York Times, a day before his scheduled departure for Moscow on Sunday, Mr. Obama said he had “grave concern” about the arrests and intimidation of Iran’s opposition leaders, but insisted, as he has throughout the Iranian crisis, that the repression would not close the door on negotiations with the Iranian government.
“We’ve got some fixed national security interests in Iran not developing nuclear weapons, in not exporting terrorism, and we have offered a pathway for Iran to rejoining the international community,” Mr. Obama said.
Scores Said to Be Killed in Clashes in China
The riot was the largest ethnic clash in China since the Tibetan uprising of March 2008, and perhaps the biggest protest in Xinjiang in years. Like the Tibetan unrest, it highlighted the deep-seated frustrations felt by some ethnic minorities in western China over the policies of the Communist Party, and how that can quickly turn into ethnic violence. Last year, in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, at least 19 people were killed, most of them Han civilians, according to government statistics.
Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim group, resent rule by the Han Chinese, and Chinese security forces have tried to keep oil-rich Xinjiang under tight control since the 1990s, when cities there were struck by waves of protests, riots and bombings. Last summer, attacks on security forces took place in several cities in Xinjiang; the Chinese government blamed separatist groups.
Times Online (U.K.)
Iran clerics declare election invalid and condemn crackdown
On Wednesday, a day after the Guardian Council said that the election result was final, Mr Mousavi talked of forming a new political grouping to fight an illegitimate government.
With the popular former president Mohammad Khatami and Medhi Karoubi, another defeated candidate, challenging the Government’s legitimacy, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, another former president, pointedly meeting the families of those killed in street demonstrations, that coalition is beginning to take shape.
Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran
British calls for diplomatic walkout from Iran are rejected by EU partners
EU resolve hardens as British workers face Iran show trial
140 killed in western China after Uighur riots and security crackdown <- Why this is tied to Iran, Uighur's are Chinese Muslims
One hundred and forty people have been killed and more than 800 wounded in riots that rocked the western China at the weekend, the deadliest social unrest since the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Running battles raged through the city of Urumqi throughout Sunday, pitting members of the Uighur minority against ethnic Han Chinese. Witnesses said that up to 3,000 rioters went on the rampage, smashing buses and overturning police barricades during several hours of violence.
The death toll from the day of violence was put at 140 by the Xinjiang police, who said 816 were injured. The numbers were announced by the state run Xinhua news agency in an unusually swift revelation of the extent of the violence.
Police said the number of dead was expected to rise. State television said at least one member of the paramilitary People's Armed Police had been killed.
Uighur exile groups said the violence started when Chinese security forces cracked down on the peaceful protest.
It was only after dark and following several hours of violence that the paramilitary police, equipped with tear gas and firing weapons, were able to restore order.
The violence flared days after reports of ethnic clashes between Han Chinese and Uighur workers at a toy factory in the southern Guangdong province in which two Uighurs were killed and 188 wounded.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Reuters
Britain has frozen $1.6 billion in Iranian assets
Ynet news
Iran: Detained journalist's son attacks Ahmadinejad The letter in full in English
On Sunday the younger Saharkhiz stepped up the fight for his father, posting an open letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his blog. Addressing the latter by his surname alone - "you are being addressed only by the name Ahmadinejad since it is impossible to add the title of a man to your name" - Saharkhiz delivers a sharply-worded personal attack against the president.
The Jerusalem Post
One on One: 'The revolution in Iran has just begun'
Khamenei climbed a tree from which he can't come down, by saying that everything was OK in Iran; Mousavi did the same, by saying that nothing in Iran was OK; and in between them is [Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi] Rafsanjani, who is very worried about his own personal fate, the fate of his family and fortune, on the one hand, and on the other, he is worried about the future of the regime, that might collapse. So, he's saying, "Come and let's find a solution involving a compromise that will satisfy everyone."
That's impossible, because if Khamenei makes even the slightest concession, it will harm his status. A supreme leader can never make a mistake, and if he admits to one, it will bring about the end of his reign. Then there's Ahmadinejad, who is a merciless fanatic. One of his past jobs was as a final executioner. He would fire the last bullet into the heads of people put to death. His nickname is "the man of a thousand bullets," since he used to boast that he had shot bullets into the heads of 1,000 executed people. He will not concede on anything. Nor will he ever forgive Mousavi or his family.
'US appeasement toward Iran is worrying'
The Washington Post
Who Will Stand With Iranians?
People began to argue: What should Obama do? I'd like them to ask another question: What should ordinary Americans do?
Today, America's Independence Day, it's important to recognize the Iranian struggle for what it is: a grass-roots, vital movement for greater liberty enriched by more than a century of struggle against foreign powers, autocratic kings and repressive theocrats. Iran's rulers would have the world believe that the protesters are a minority inspired by foreigners, but this denies a fundamental piece of Iranian history.
n recent weeks, courageous Iranians have been writing, tweeting, text-messaging and telephoning the outside world with an almost universal message: Please bear witness, please stand with us. One Iranian demonstrator e-mailed me: "Where are the American actors, the writers, the university professors, the intellectuals?" I would add to this patriot's list: Where are the labor unions, teachers unions, science academies, university students and ordinary Americans from all walks of life who took to U.S. streets last year to back an unlikely presidential candidate whose motto of hope and change is mirrored by Iranians half a world away? The key difference between them? Iranians are facing guns and violence as they wage their struggle for a democratic future.
The Weekly Standard
Bibi's Choice <- An in-depth analysis of what an Israeli preemptive strike against Iran would bring.
Meanwhile, for many onlookers in the United States and elsewhere, the popular uprising in Iran has encouraged the hope that internal reform might dispose of the menace posed by the mullahs. Unfortunately, as much as the leader of the Iranian opposition, former Prime Minister Mir-Hussein Mousavi, may have been radicalized by Tehran's election fraud, the people's protests, and the government's violent crackdown, and as much as these dramatic events may have opened up a rift not merely between the people and the regime but within the regime, Mousavi is still a child of the Islamic Revolution and a creature of the establishment and remains unlikely anytime soon to lead a revolutionary overthrow of either. Yet with thousands of centrifuges spinning away to produce highly enriched uranium, and, on an entirely separate track, its development of technology for the production of plutonium proceeding apace, Iran gets closer with every day to owning nuclear weapons.
Leaving me to draw the proper inference, Ben-Israel emphasized that clandestine operations can delay but will not destroy Iran's nuclear program. And the experts agree that time is running out: Absent dramatic action--by the United States, the international community, Israel, or some combination--Iran is on track to join the nuclear club sometime between 2011 and 2014.
For a variety of reasons--President Obama's attempt to engage Iran may prove futile, the international community may be unable to maintain effective sanctions, the mullahs may hang on to power, an Israeli attack might fail, Israel might elect not to attack Iran--Israelis are compelled to contemplate the structure of an effective containment regime. The challenges are immense. Realists argue that containment based upon the doctrine of mutual assured destruction worked for the 40-year Cold War and will work in the Middle East. But they overlook that in the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 it almost failed.
And how ought Israel respond to--and containment work against--the myriad other dangers spawned by a nuclear Iran? The moment that Iran announces its possession of nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and perhaps Kuwait, taking to heart Iran's declared hostility to Sunni Islam and determination to obtain hegemony in the Gulf, will go shopping for their own. Egypt and Turkey will not be far behind. As if a nuclear-armed Pakistan were not worry enough, the vulnerability of these regimes to overthrow by the forces of radical Islam heightens the possibility of the world's most dangerous weapons falling into the hands of many of the world's most dangerous actors.
Furthermore, once the Middle East went poly-nuclear, it would be only a matter of time until a suitcase nuclear bomb fell, leaked, or was placed into terrorists' hands. Even before that, radical Islamists throughout the Middle East--particularly Hezbollah and Hamas--would receive a tremendous psychological boost from a nuclear Iran and be emboldened by their patron's nuclear umbrella. A nuclear Iran would further undermine the chance for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel and Syria by tempting waverers in the region, those who had begun to abandon the idea that Israel might someday disappear, to once again contemplate an Israel-free Middle East.
In sum, containment is a grim option. So is a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. And relying on prayer for Mousavi and the Iranian people to overthrow the mullahs is no option at all, at least not for the state of Israel, the front line in Islamic radicalism's war against the West. Thus, in the short time left before Israel is compelled by an Iran fast closing in on a nuclear capability to choose between two grim options, Israel's highest priority will be to persuade an equivocating United States, a dithering Europe, and an obstructionist Russia that a nuclear Iran is not just an Israeli problem or a Middle Eastern problem but a problem for the United States and the world.
And this is why Obama has to at least consider Ahmedi's proposal.
CBC News (Canada)
Iran frees British-Greek journalist
CNN
Moussavi said to be planning new party after Iran vote
US News
On Iran, the U.S. Needs Handshakes and an Iron Fist
The U.S. is still waiting for the emboldened mullahs to unclench their fists
The danger is that Obama's foreign policy direction puts him on the path to becoming Jimmy Carter 2.0. Carter took office with similar illusions about the Soviet Union, promising to cure our "inordinate fear of communism." He asked America to put aside its concern with traditional issues of war and peace in favor of the "new global issues of justice, equity, and human rights." He asserted that we had betrayed our principles in the course of the Cold War. The Soviet answer to that brave, new world was the invasion of Afghanistan in December of 1979, a single event that Carter described as teaching him more about the Soviet Union than any other event since he'd been president. This from the same president who refused to supply tear gas to the shah of Iran to help him control the crowds that ultimately overthrew him. We do not need Carter's naiveté back in the White House.
While America must not neglect, as Obama suggests, soft power, it must not forget that there are hard and cynical leaders in places like Tehran. As one Egyptian leader put it to me in a play on Obama's approach, "You need to deal with them with a clenched fist and not with a handshake."
The Tennessean
Student helps fill news gap from Iran
Dual citizen uses Facebook to post accounts, videos
The Wall Street Journal
Shift by Influential Clerics Bolsters Iran Opposition <- Has a graph of where the leaders stand political vs spiritual
Some members of Iran's powerful clerical class are stepping up their antigovernment protests over Iran's election in defiance of the country's supreme leader, bringing potential aid to opposition figures as the regime is increasingly labeling them foreign-sponsored traitors.
PressTv <- The puppet media of Iran
Israel denies Saudi green light for Iran attack
Tel Aviv has denied reports that suggest Israeli bombers have been allowed to use Saudi airspace for an attack on Iran's nuclear sites.
World Tribune
Hamas, Hizbullah join Iran's paramilitary forces in post-vote crackdown <- Old article, June 19th but relevant now since rumored coup of IRG (It's basically being taken for fact now that Iran govt brought them in and that is against Iranian constitution and it seems the loyalists IRG's to the constitution are rebelling)
Y!News
Ethnic riots spread in China's west; 140 killed
nternet access was blocked or unusually slow in Urumqi on Monday. Videos and text updates about the riots were removed from China-based social networking sites such as Youku, a YouTube-like video service, and Fanfou, a Chinese micro-blogging Web site similar to Twitter.
A Fanfou search for posts with the key word Urumqi turned up zero results while Twitter, which is hosted overseas, yielded hundreds of comments in Chinese and English. Major Chinese portals such as Sina.com, Sohu.com and 163.com relied solely on Xinhua for news of the event and turned off the comment function at the bottom of the stories so people could not publicly react.
Witnesses said the protests spread to Kashgar, a second city in Xinjiang, on Monday afternoon. A Uighur man there said he was among more than 300 protesters who demonstrated outside the Id Kah Mosque. He said they were surrounded by police, who asked them to calm down.
"We were yelling at each other but there were no clashes, no physical contact," said the man, who gave his name as Yagupu.
Again, isn't that coincidental?
Notable Tweets <- Way too numerous for me to c&p all of them, Green Briefs is back
@winston80: I'm told; the reason for Iran's regime anger at UK? Khamenei's son bank account in London s blocked #iranelection <- Watchout it's a neo-con...but they support Iran.
@winston80: Gooya News (persian news website) reports ppl have boycotted SMS service en masse in Iran. Not using it at all #iranelection
RT @LaraABCNews: Photos of #iranelection protests around the world R being forwarded widely in Iran, apparently boostng otherwise low morale <- YAY US!
Useful Resources
Translations: TehranBroadcast.com | Translate4Iran
Helping Iranians use the web: Tor Project (English & Farsi)IranHelp.org (Farsi)
Demonstrations: Facebook | WhyWeProtest
Activism: Avaaz.org | National Iranian American Council
Mousavi's FB
Haystack <- The all powerful proxy (still in testing)
Vids
Vid and pictures of a protest in Brussels on the 4th of July
I think this is a semi?-famous singer/band in Iran or Iranian...and he's speaking out against the Iranian Government. He even says Marg bar dictatori (Death to the Dictator (dicatator being the Khamenei (the Supreme Leader...the Iranian version of a Pope in the Middle Ages))) This was put up on Youtube June 21, 2009 but I think it's pretty relevant considering this possibly took place just after the big massacred on Saturday the 20th.
Protests in Seoul, South Korea in front of Iranian Embassy
So much is happening right now on twitter that it's hard to follow what is and is not being confirmed. So there is not so many vids this time. Sorry.
Plans for a world wide rally on July 25th.
Join us in organizing a global day of action in solidarity with the Iranian people! We are coordinating a multi-city event July 25, and we need someone with superb online organizing skills who can hit the ground running now for a two-week all-out dash of blogging, twittering and online organizing to pull this thing together. Fast paced, fun, for an important cause. Gain experience and play a crucial role in organizing for this worthwhile cause! Contact united4iran@gmail.com.
Hot off the press, there are reports that the military is siding with the opposition! National Iran Resistance is a new movement & hashtag #NIR that calls on the military to ignore the orders that require them to turn against fellow Iranians.
The National Iran Resistance demands for brothers in arms, wearing the coat of arms of the Republic, to defy & resist orders which could harm unarmed citizens. The officers Corps are disgusted. So many lost children & relatives. We are fed up. We demand the Khobregan and Parliament to authorize the Armed Forces to apprehend foreign & domestic thugs killing our people.
User on iran.whyweprotest gives more information IRGC and NIR
NCR-Iran Is National Council of Resistance of Iran <- Got some interesting articles as well.
There is also a report that 30 IRG Officers were arrested for disobeying orders I've been hearing for hours today. So far there are no newspapers out to confirm it but if so this is HUGE!
July 12, 2009 post | July 11, 2009 post | July 10, 2009 post | July 9, 2009 posts | July 8, 2009 post | July 7, 2009 post | July 6, 2009 post | July 5, 2009 post | July 4, 2009 post
Strike is in progress and Thursday there will be a march.
Live Blogs on Iran Protests
Nico's Pitney's live blog on HuffPo
The most excellent live blog out there. Has an absolute ton of information dating back the very first day. Filled with pictures and vids.
July 6th | July 5th | July 3rd | July 2nd | July 1st | June 30th | June 29th | June 28th | June 27th | June 26th | June 25th | June 24th | June 22nd | June 21st | June 20th pt 2 | June 20th pt 1 | June 19th | June 18th | June 17th | June 16th | June 15th
Andrew Sullivan's blog <- Political blog but he has a lot of coverage on iran.
EnduringAmrica blog <- Political but they have a lot of coverage (they are also sharing tips with NiteOwl (I forgot them earlier...my bad)
NiteOwl's Green Briefs <- Anonymous teamed up The Pirate Bay (before they sold out) to provide logistical help to the Iranians in a safe anonymous forum - the vids of Anonymous declaring 'war' on Iranian govt are interesting to watch. NiteOwl's Green Briefs are compilations of news reports straight from Iranians.
#18-#19 (July 4-5) (NiteOwl's net didn't let him access the archives of twitter (?) so it's late) | #17 (July 3) | #16 (July 2) | #15 (July 1) | #14 (June 30) | #13 (June29) | #12 (June 28) | #11 (June 27) | #10 (June 26th) | #9 (June 25) | #8 (June 24) | #7 (June 23) | #6 (June 22) | #5 (June 21) | #4 (June 20 | #3 (June 19) | #2 (June 18) | #1 (June 17)
Want to know how the power check system in Iran works? The Wall Street Journal has an excellent graph.
Mark Firore - Power Cling <- vid in jibjab style...
Weapon of Choice for the 21st Century
Twitter pulls an LJ failboat and human error mass suspends accounts...bad news it got some of the Iranians as well.
Open Democracy
The archaeology of Iran’s regime
Boycott Nokia Petition
A letter from the three daughters of the detained ex-Vice President of Iran for fathers day.
Iran Tracker
Unrest in Iran: Incident Statistics and Map for Protests, Arrests, and Deaths
BBC
The Now Show <- Radio version of Daily Show...mentions Iran (you go through several commericals? before the show comes on)
Doonesbury (The comic is covering Iran from this point on)
Note Worthy Newspaper Articles
LA Times
Iran's Revolutionary Guard takes command
Calling the move "a new phase of the revolution," leaders insist there is no room for compromise on Ahmadinejad's reelection.
The New Yorker
Six Essential Books on Iran
Huffington Post
Iran: British-Greek reporter held for weeks freed
Asia One News
EU presidency condemns Iran executions
The latest hangings bring to at least 161 the number of people executed in the Iran so far this year, according to an AFP count based on news reports. In 2008, Iran executed 246 people, according to that count.
New York Times
Despite Crisis, Policy on Iran Is Engagement
In an interview with The New York Times, a day before his scheduled departure for Moscow on Sunday, Mr. Obama said he had “grave concern” about the arrests and intimidation of Iran’s opposition leaders, but insisted, as he has throughout the Iranian crisis, that the repression would not close the door on negotiations with the Iranian government.
“We’ve got some fixed national security interests in Iran not developing nuclear weapons, in not exporting terrorism, and we have offered a pathway for Iran to rejoining the international community,” Mr. Obama said.
Scores Said to Be Killed in Clashes in China
The riot was the largest ethnic clash in China since the Tibetan uprising of March 2008, and perhaps the biggest protest in Xinjiang in years. Like the Tibetan unrest, it highlighted the deep-seated frustrations felt by some ethnic minorities in western China over the policies of the Communist Party, and how that can quickly turn into ethnic violence. Last year, in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, at least 19 people were killed, most of them Han civilians, according to government statistics.
Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim group, resent rule by the Han Chinese, and Chinese security forces have tried to keep oil-rich Xinjiang under tight control since the 1990s, when cities there were struck by waves of protests, riots and bombings. Last summer, attacks on security forces took place in several cities in Xinjiang; the Chinese government blamed separatist groups.
Times Online (U.K.)
Iran clerics declare election invalid and condemn crackdown
On Wednesday, a day after the Guardian Council said that the election result was final, Mr Mousavi talked of forming a new political grouping to fight an illegitimate government.
With the popular former president Mohammad Khatami and Medhi Karoubi, another defeated candidate, challenging the Government’s legitimacy, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, another former president, pointedly meeting the families of those killed in street demonstrations, that coalition is beginning to take shape.
Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran
British calls for diplomatic walkout from Iran are rejected by EU partners
EU resolve hardens as British workers face Iran show trial
140 killed in western China after Uighur riots and security crackdown <- Why this is tied to Iran, Uighur's are Chinese Muslims
One hundred and forty people have been killed and more than 800 wounded in riots that rocked the western China at the weekend, the deadliest social unrest since the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Running battles raged through the city of Urumqi throughout Sunday, pitting members of the Uighur minority against ethnic Han Chinese. Witnesses said that up to 3,000 rioters went on the rampage, smashing buses and overturning police barricades during several hours of violence.
The death toll from the day of violence was put at 140 by the Xinjiang police, who said 816 were injured. The numbers were announced by the state run Xinhua news agency in an unusually swift revelation of the extent of the violence.
Police said the number of dead was expected to rise. State television said at least one member of the paramilitary People's Armed Police had been killed.
Uighur exile groups said the violence started when Chinese security forces cracked down on the peaceful protest.
It was only after dark and following several hours of violence that the paramilitary police, equipped with tear gas and firing weapons, were able to restore order.
The violence flared days after reports of ethnic clashes between Han Chinese and Uighur workers at a toy factory in the southern Guangdong province in which two Uighurs were killed and 188 wounded.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Reuters
Britain has frozen $1.6 billion in Iranian assets
Ynet news
Iran: Detained journalist's son attacks Ahmadinejad The letter in full in English
On Sunday the younger Saharkhiz stepped up the fight for his father, posting an open letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his blog. Addressing the latter by his surname alone - "you are being addressed only by the name Ahmadinejad since it is impossible to add the title of a man to your name" - Saharkhiz delivers a sharply-worded personal attack against the president.
The Jerusalem Post
One on One: 'The revolution in Iran has just begun'
Khamenei climbed a tree from which he can't come down, by saying that everything was OK in Iran; Mousavi did the same, by saying that nothing in Iran was OK; and in between them is [Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi] Rafsanjani, who is very worried about his own personal fate, the fate of his family and fortune, on the one hand, and on the other, he is worried about the future of the regime, that might collapse. So, he's saying, "Come and let's find a solution involving a compromise that will satisfy everyone."
That's impossible, because if Khamenei makes even the slightest concession, it will harm his status. A supreme leader can never make a mistake, and if he admits to one, it will bring about the end of his reign. Then there's Ahmadinejad, who is a merciless fanatic. One of his past jobs was as a final executioner. He would fire the last bullet into the heads of people put to death. His nickname is "the man of a thousand bullets," since he used to boast that he had shot bullets into the heads of 1,000 executed people. He will not concede on anything. Nor will he ever forgive Mousavi or his family.
'US appeasement toward Iran is worrying'
The Washington Post
Who Will Stand With Iranians?
People began to argue: What should Obama do? I'd like them to ask another question: What should ordinary Americans do?
Today, America's Independence Day, it's important to recognize the Iranian struggle for what it is: a grass-roots, vital movement for greater liberty enriched by more than a century of struggle against foreign powers, autocratic kings and repressive theocrats. Iran's rulers would have the world believe that the protesters are a minority inspired by foreigners, but this denies a fundamental piece of Iranian history.
n recent weeks, courageous Iranians have been writing, tweeting, text-messaging and telephoning the outside world with an almost universal message: Please bear witness, please stand with us. One Iranian demonstrator e-mailed me: "Where are the American actors, the writers, the university professors, the intellectuals?" I would add to this patriot's list: Where are the labor unions, teachers unions, science academies, university students and ordinary Americans from all walks of life who took to U.S. streets last year to back an unlikely presidential candidate whose motto of hope and change is mirrored by Iranians half a world away? The key difference between them? Iranians are facing guns and violence as they wage their struggle for a democratic future.
The Weekly Standard
Bibi's Choice <- An in-depth analysis of what an Israeli preemptive strike against Iran would bring.
Meanwhile, for many onlookers in the United States and elsewhere, the popular uprising in Iran has encouraged the hope that internal reform might dispose of the menace posed by the mullahs. Unfortunately, as much as the leader of the Iranian opposition, former Prime Minister Mir-Hussein Mousavi, may have been radicalized by Tehran's election fraud, the people's protests, and the government's violent crackdown, and as much as these dramatic events may have opened up a rift not merely between the people and the regime but within the regime, Mousavi is still a child of the Islamic Revolution and a creature of the establishment and remains unlikely anytime soon to lead a revolutionary overthrow of either. Yet with thousands of centrifuges spinning away to produce highly enriched uranium, and, on an entirely separate track, its development of technology for the production of plutonium proceeding apace, Iran gets closer with every day to owning nuclear weapons.
Leaving me to draw the proper inference, Ben-Israel emphasized that clandestine operations can delay but will not destroy Iran's nuclear program. And the experts agree that time is running out: Absent dramatic action--by the United States, the international community, Israel, or some combination--Iran is on track to join the nuclear club sometime between 2011 and 2014.
For a variety of reasons--President Obama's attempt to engage Iran may prove futile, the international community may be unable to maintain effective sanctions, the mullahs may hang on to power, an Israeli attack might fail, Israel might elect not to attack Iran--Israelis are compelled to contemplate the structure of an effective containment regime. The challenges are immense. Realists argue that containment based upon the doctrine of mutual assured destruction worked for the 40-year Cold War and will work in the Middle East. But they overlook that in the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 it almost failed.
And how ought Israel respond to--and containment work against--the myriad other dangers spawned by a nuclear Iran? The moment that Iran announces its possession of nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and perhaps Kuwait, taking to heart Iran's declared hostility to Sunni Islam and determination to obtain hegemony in the Gulf, will go shopping for their own. Egypt and Turkey will not be far behind. As if a nuclear-armed Pakistan were not worry enough, the vulnerability of these regimes to overthrow by the forces of radical Islam heightens the possibility of the world's most dangerous weapons falling into the hands of many of the world's most dangerous actors.
Furthermore, once the Middle East went poly-nuclear, it would be only a matter of time until a suitcase nuclear bomb fell, leaked, or was placed into terrorists' hands. Even before that, radical Islamists throughout the Middle East--particularly Hezbollah and Hamas--would receive a tremendous psychological boost from a nuclear Iran and be emboldened by their patron's nuclear umbrella. A nuclear Iran would further undermine the chance for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel and Syria by tempting waverers in the region, those who had begun to abandon the idea that Israel might someday disappear, to once again contemplate an Israel-free Middle East.
In sum, containment is a grim option. So is a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. And relying on prayer for Mousavi and the Iranian people to overthrow the mullahs is no option at all, at least not for the state of Israel, the front line in Islamic radicalism's war against the West. Thus, in the short time left before Israel is compelled by an Iran fast closing in on a nuclear capability to choose between two grim options, Israel's highest priority will be to persuade an equivocating United States, a dithering Europe, and an obstructionist Russia that a nuclear Iran is not just an Israeli problem or a Middle Eastern problem but a problem for the United States and the world.
And this is why Obama has to at least consider Ahmedi's proposal.
CBC News (Canada)
Iran frees British-Greek journalist
CNN
Moussavi said to be planning new party after Iran vote
US News
On Iran, the U.S. Needs Handshakes and an Iron Fist
The U.S. is still waiting for the emboldened mullahs to unclench their fists
The danger is that Obama's foreign policy direction puts him on the path to becoming Jimmy Carter 2.0. Carter took office with similar illusions about the Soviet Union, promising to cure our "inordinate fear of communism." He asked America to put aside its concern with traditional issues of war and peace in favor of the "new global issues of justice, equity, and human rights." He asserted that we had betrayed our principles in the course of the Cold War. The Soviet answer to that brave, new world was the invasion of Afghanistan in December of 1979, a single event that Carter described as teaching him more about the Soviet Union than any other event since he'd been president. This from the same president who refused to supply tear gas to the shah of Iran to help him control the crowds that ultimately overthrew him. We do not need Carter's naiveté back in the White House.
While America must not neglect, as Obama suggests, soft power, it must not forget that there are hard and cynical leaders in places like Tehran. As one Egyptian leader put it to me in a play on Obama's approach, "You need to deal with them with a clenched fist and not with a handshake."
The Tennessean
Student helps fill news gap from Iran
Dual citizen uses Facebook to post accounts, videos
The Wall Street Journal
Shift by Influential Clerics Bolsters Iran Opposition <- Has a graph of where the leaders stand political vs spiritual
Some members of Iran's powerful clerical class are stepping up their antigovernment protests over Iran's election in defiance of the country's supreme leader, bringing potential aid to opposition figures as the regime is increasingly labeling them foreign-sponsored traitors.
PressTv <- The puppet media of Iran
Israel denies Saudi green light for Iran attack
Tel Aviv has denied reports that suggest Israeli bombers have been allowed to use Saudi airspace for an attack on Iran's nuclear sites.
World Tribune
Hamas, Hizbullah join Iran's paramilitary forces in post-vote crackdown <- Old article, June 19th but relevant now since rumored coup of IRG (It's basically being taken for fact now that Iran govt brought them in and that is against Iranian constitution and it seems the loyalists IRG's to the constitution are rebelling)
Y!News
Ethnic riots spread in China's west; 140 killed
nternet access was blocked or unusually slow in Urumqi on Monday. Videos and text updates about the riots were removed from China-based social networking sites such as Youku, a YouTube-like video service, and Fanfou, a Chinese micro-blogging Web site similar to Twitter.
A Fanfou search for posts with the key word Urumqi turned up zero results while Twitter, which is hosted overseas, yielded hundreds of comments in Chinese and English. Major Chinese portals such as Sina.com, Sohu.com and 163.com relied solely on Xinhua for news of the event and turned off the comment function at the bottom of the stories so people could not publicly react.
Witnesses said the protests spread to Kashgar, a second city in Xinjiang, on Monday afternoon. A Uighur man there said he was among more than 300 protesters who demonstrated outside the Id Kah Mosque. He said they were surrounded by police, who asked them to calm down.
"We were yelling at each other but there were no clashes, no physical contact," said the man, who gave his name as Yagupu.
Again, isn't that coincidental?
Notable Tweets <- Way too numerous for me to c&p all of them, Green Briefs is back
@winston80: I'm told; the reason for Iran's regime anger at UK? Khamenei's son bank account in London s blocked #iranelection <- Watchout it's a neo-con...but they support Iran.
@winston80: Gooya News (persian news website) reports ppl have boycotted SMS service en masse in Iran. Not using it at all #iranelection
RT @LaraABCNews: Photos of #iranelection protests around the world R being forwarded widely in Iran, apparently boostng otherwise low morale <- YAY US!
Useful Resources
Translations: TehranBroadcast.com | Translate4Iran
Helping Iranians use the web: Tor Project (English & Farsi)IranHelp.org (Farsi)
Demonstrations: Facebook | WhyWeProtest
Activism: Avaaz.org | National Iranian American Council
Mousavi's FB
Haystack <- The all powerful proxy (still in testing)
Vids
Vid and pictures of a protest in Brussels on the 4th of July
I think this is a semi?-famous singer/band in Iran or Iranian...and he's speaking out against the Iranian Government. He even says Marg bar dictatori (Death to the Dictator (dicatator being the Khamenei (the Supreme Leader...the Iranian version of a Pope in the Middle Ages))) This was put up on Youtube June 21, 2009 but I think it's pretty relevant considering this possibly took place just after the big massacred on Saturday the 20th.
Click to viewProtests in Seoul, South Korea in front of Iranian Embassy
So much is happening right now on twitter that it's hard to follow what is and is not being confirmed. So there is not so many vids this time. Sorry.