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Iran Election - dodgy or not?


Rob W
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They (Iran) are already trying to make mileage from the election fiasco.

 

 

Now trying to used it as ammunition against the EU for their nuclear program....... it would be laughable if it wasn't likely to work. ;)

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8128858.stm

 

I think they already have a nuke fwiw.

 

 

news to me oh elf-meister

 

they have a nuclear reactor fo' sure but no sign of a bucket of instant sunshine yet............

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They (Iran) are already trying to make mileage from the election fiasco.

 

 

Now trying to used it as ammunition against the EU for their nuclear program....... it would be laughable if it wasn't likely to work. ;)

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8128858.stm

 

I think they already have a nuke fwiw.

 

 

news to me oh elf-meister

 

they have a nuclear reactor fo' sure but no sign of a bucket of instant sunshine yet............

 

They have one bomb they can drop or set off.....I have this from a very good Russian source. :lol:

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reckon they are going to try the ol' Trojan Horse trick on Netanyahooo?

 

maybe hijack an El Al plane, quick modification job and allow the brave Zionists to "rescue it" and take it back home.....................

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reckon they are going to try the ol' Trojan Horse trick on Netanyahooo?

 

maybe hijack an El Al plane, quick modification job and allow the brave Zionists to "rescue it" and take it back home.....................

 

Yup. ;) Without a doubt Iran (or the Dinnerjacket brigade at least) would kill every single Palestinian in a nuclear holocaust if it furthered their political ends.

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reckon they are going to try the ol' Trojan Horse trick on Netanyahooo?

 

maybe hijack an El Al plane, quick modification job and allow the brave Zionists to "rescue it" and take it back home.....................

 

Yup. :spinwank: Without a doubt Iran (or the Dinnerjacket brigade at least) would kill every single Palestinian in a nuclear holocaust if it furthered their political ends.

 

Poppycock!! ;):lol:

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reckon they are going to try the ol' Trojan Horse trick on Netanyahooo?

 

maybe hijack an El Al plane, quick modification job and allow the brave Zionists to "rescue it" and take it back home.....................

 

Yup. :spinwank: Without a doubt Iran (or the Dinnerjacket brigade at least) would kill every single Palestinian in a nuclear holocaust if it furthered their political ends.

 

Poppycock!! ;):lol:

 

 

Instead of all those weapons they supply they could be sending a lot of aid with the same money.

 

And look at the historical (even recent) issues, Iran would likely be fighting with whatever country controlled the area, if it was part of an "Arab" state.

 

Iran's interest in the area is one of convenience, no more no less.

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wellll - it is in their back yard - a bit like the Yanks in C America or the Rooshans in the Caucasus

 

people get concerned about the activities of their neighbours

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wellll - it is in their back yard - a bit like the Yanks in C America or the Rooshans in the Caucasus

 

people get concerned about the activities of their neighbours

 

Aye and Iran historically tries to kick the shit out of their Arab "neighbours" wherever possible (in fact it's funny you should mention the Caucasus in a discussion about Iran and what it would like to control again).

 

Actually Iran (or it's Persian fore-runner at least) has captured and ruled the area almost to the current Israel/Palestine eastern border before.

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It's the delusion that I cannot understand. How, when the world is watching and their people have access to foreign media sources, can they make such incongruous claims?

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Iran learns from past to crush dissent

 

 

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Supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi 18.6.09

Mass protests in the days following the election have been stopped or disrupted

 

By Jon Leyne

BBC Tehran correspondent

 

As opposition demonstrators came out in force after Iran's disputed presidential election, one exhilarated protester declared that his country was waking up.

 

Two nights ago someone told me that Tehran was now in a coma.

 

The mood swing could not be more dramatic, as the security and intelligence forces move to regain control.

 

Normally gregarious Iranians are afraid to speak in public places for fear that their words might be misinterpreted and relayed back to the authorities.

 

In the immediate aftermath of the disputed election result, the Iranian government appeared wrong-footed, astonished by the strength of protests.

 

An uncompromising speech by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on 19 June - a week after the election - signalled that any doubts were over.

 

What has happened since then has been described as a crackdown.

 

But it is clear that the leaders of the Islamic Republic have taken their own lessons from the way they took power in 1979.

 

 

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Burning police station in Tehran 11.2.79

Clerics are paying attention to the street anger, similar to that in 1979

 

The unrest that led to the fall of the Shah spiralled out of control.

 

Any time a demonstrator was shot there were more protests at the funeral and at the "arbayeen", the 40-day anniversary of the death.

 

Indecision on the part of the Shah only made his position weaker.

 

This time the Iranian security forces are trying to use the military principle of "minimum force".

 

They have been largely, though not entirely, avoiding the use of live fire.

 

Instead the police and the government's Basij militia have tried to spread fear, with mass arrests, repeated warnings in the media against unauthorised demonstrations, plenty of violence against demonstrators, but mostly not lethal force.

 

When protesters are killed, the families are prevented from holding public mourning ceremonies.

 

It has also become increasingly clear that the Revolutionary Guards are crucial in the crackdown.

Control of security

 

In a weekend news conference the head of the guards, Gen Mohammad Ali Jafari, came out publicly for the first time and announced that the guards had been given the task of controlling the internal security situation.

 

"This event pushed us into a new phase of the revolution," he said ominously. "We have to understand all its dimensions."

 

In other words - the Revolutionary Guards are in control.

 

That is the culmination of a trend that began as long ago as 1989, when Ayatollah Khamenei succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.

 

Lacking the religious credentials, or the charisma, of his predecessor, Mr Khamenei built up a power base in the Revolutionary Guards.

 

Since Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was first elected four years ago, commentators have seen an acceleration of that trend, with the guards now assigned multi-billion dollar contracts to help secure their loyalty.

 

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Plain clothes police beat a protester 14.6.09

Demonstrators have been on the receiving end of violence

 

As much as two years ago, some western diplomats were talking about a slow and silent military coup taking place. The power of the clergy has been steadily diminished.

 

So it should be no surprise that many senior ayatollahs and many members of parliament - the majlis - are deeply uneasy about what is going on.

 

For the moment, opposition and government have reached deadlock.

 

Public resentment means that even now, sporadic protests are continuing and there is a sense of burning anger amongst many Iranians about the election and what happened afterwards.

 

Even now, enough protesters gathering together on the streets could potentially overwhelm the security forces, or at least make them increase the use of force in ways that could be counter-productive to the regime.

 

But there is no clear strategy on how to achieve that.

 

At the same time the government faces the possibility of further challenges to its legitimacy, from the clerics and from the parliament.

 

Consolidating power is going to be difficult.

 

For the foreseeable future this is going to be a government that relies on force or the threat of force. The Islamic Republic will look much more like a traditional military dictatorship.

 

Elusive enemy

 

Ideally for them a new foreign threat might emerge. Already the government has tried to portray the protests as instigated by the West.

 

But President Barack Obama makes an elusive enemy.

 

On Thursday US forces even released five Iranian diplomats held in Iraq, removing a long-running sore between the two countries.

 

It is still possible that Mr Ahmadinejad's government will restore order and appear to rule as before.

 

There is no doubt he has a hard core of several million intensely loyal supporters, including members of the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia.

 

But the Islamic Republic has been badly damaged, already change has begun, and it is hard to see how it will end.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8143279.stm

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It's the delusion that I cannot understand. How, when the world is watching and their people have access to foreign media sources, can they make such incongruous claims?

 

 

lets see............... some other ridiculous statements

 

"The British Parliament is the envy of the World"

 

"We're a top class football club"

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Top Iran reform figures on trial

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Opposition supporters have denounced the sessions as "show trials"

 

The trial has begun in Iran of a number of senior opposition figures following June's disputed presidential election.

 

The defendants, who include former ministers in the 1997-2005 Khatami government, are accused of conspiring with foreign powers to organise unrest.

 

Two leading economists are also on trial, Saeed Leylaz and Kian Tajbaksh.

 

It is the fourth such trial since the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative, sparked pro-reform street protests.

 

BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne - who was expelled after the elections - says the trial looks like a public denunciation of President Mohammed Khatami's time in power, with the government trying to frighten the opposition into silence.

 

 

IRAN UNREST

12 June Presidential election saw incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected with 63% of vote

Main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi called for result to be annulled, alleging poll fraud

Mass street protests saw at least 30 people killed and foreign media restricted

 

 

 

Hardliners are currently also pressing for the arrest of the two leading opposition candidates in the election, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

 

The court proceedings are open only to Iranian news agencies and have been denounced as "show trials" by opposition leaders.

 

The 20 people in the dock on Tuesday included former Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh, former Deputy Foreign Minister Mohsen Aminzadeh and former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, reports said.

 

The leading reformist Saeed Hajjarian, a former city councillor and a close aide to former president, Mr Khatami, was also in court.

 

A statement was read out for him by another defendant, apparently for health reasons, saying sorry for "major mistakes" he had made in his analysis of the election.

 

"I apologise to the great Iranian nation... and resign from the Islamic Iran Participation Front (the main opposition party, also known as Mosharekat) and announce my complete adherence to the constitution and... to the supreme leader," he was quoted saying.

 

Opposition groups alleged widespread vote-rigging in the June election, which Mr Ahmadinejad won by a landslide.

 

Post-election protests saw the largest mass demonstrations in Iran since the 1979 revolution, which brought to power the current Islamic system of government.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8219782.stm

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