Iran's Presidential Election One Year Later -- Why the Greens Failed

[fallsaddles]

Comments

[selenia_actimel]

Even though this is quite the Pro-Ahmadinejad read (the author could be less subtle), it was a good read, specially combined with the post directly above this one.

One of the reasons I like this comm, it can offer different views on one issue.

[fallsaddles]

I'm writing my thesis paper, and my topic is Blogging and Social Media as a Tool and Catalyst of Political Change (or something like that anyway), so I'm writing about the Iranian election and its aftermath and the way events on the ground were conveyed through social networking sites, and in my reading I came across this article and thought, wait, what? So I had to post it here to see what you lot thought, because it's an opinion piece that clashes violently with most of the things I've read so far. But it's a great read, I have to agree with you there.

[selenia_actimel]

You're right on the clashing violently. Specially because it really reads like propaganda sometimes doesn't it?

[fallsaddles]

Does it ever! I was doubly surprised because I first checked out the author's name before reading it, and I thought the content would be something completely different.

[senkig]

This week in other loveletters to Mahmoud...

http://www.hulu.com/watch/16771/saturday-night-live-digital-short-iran-so-far
I couldn't find a Youtube version, this will have to do.

[randomneses]

and more respected abroad.

Uh, they are? What have I missed this past year which supports this?

[fallsaddles]

He refers later to the nuclear fuel exchange agreement Iran signed with Turkey and Brazil, so I guess that's what is meant?

[randomneses]

Yeah I figured that may have been what they were alluding too but still I guess I'm thinking too much about overall public opinion, which I doubt has changed much.

[earlywinter13]

As of 2006, Iran had exported weapons to 57 countries, including NATO members.

WHOA. Really?

I had no idea.

Dishonest

[leprofessional]

"To begin with, they ran a dishonest presidential campaign. Their candidate, Mr. Mousavi, ran for president but refused to submit to the will of the majority when it became clear that he had actually lost at the ballot box. This has led many observers to believe that his presidential campaign was more akin to a coup attempt."

No, this article is retarded and dishonest, and basically rehashes all the talking points of the Iranian government; by all counts in the Iranian political scene, it is accepted that the election was filled with anomalies, this is something that people within the government have admitted to themselves.

The only reason the Iranian movement failed was because of a lack of a cohesive leadership that people trusted and were willing to put their lives in the line for. Aside from that, Iranian government made it very clear that they are NOT willing to back down-- they are still ELIMINATING many people from academia and replacing them with pro-government academics-- this is direct from Iran from multiple sources.

Re: Dishonest

[hinoema]

It's more like 'still trying to justify themselves, one year later'.