Mike Pouraryan
Iran Now!!!
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No time to sit idly by, that's for sure!!!!
The struggle in Iran is very much evident in this image. Web 2.0 has been at the frontline of the struggle, whether it likes it or not. Although events in Iran have largely fallen off the attention span of the Mainstream Media, the struggle continues unabatted. Today, Iran's Armed Forces Chief of Staff came out swinging saying that the European Union was not qualified to participate in nuclear arms negotations because of their "meddling" in the elections. The Europeans, though, are in the midst of deliberations to potentialy withdraw their Ambassadors from Iran.
The Guardian Council, though, went through the routine of counting the 10 percent random vote. They even came out and said that their man had gotten more votes than before. The question they have never answered is simple: how can an entity that is supposed to be the highest deliberative body in the country who supports one candidate be impartial? Blaming the ones who have been wronged seems to be the order of the day. Even the genuis writers at Comedy Central's the Daily Show could not have come up with as great a script as this. One truly wonders whether they truly believe in what they are saying.
The campaign is continuing online, though. Mr. Mousavi's Facebook page has been quite active in urging people to continue their civil resistance. This "resistance" seems to be transitioning into a third phase. The Basji, apparently, is starting to target homes at night to silence the chants of Allah-o-Akbar--god is great. They have also come out swinging demanding prosecution of Mr. Mousavi, the opposition candidate. Mr. Mousavi and Mr. Karoubi have continued to issue prouncements rejecting the legality of the election and have vowed to press on with the campaign.
As this campaign enters its so-called third phase, Roula Khalaf of the Financial Times was right on when she noted that, "....he Iranian regime will not - and should not - relax. For it knows that it faces a crisis of legitimacy, with large parts of society refusing to recognise Mr Ahmadi-Nejad as president....." (Source: http://www.ft.com, retrieved 7/1/09). This has already happened. I also view the comments by Ali Larijani as quite courageous. It will be quite interesting to see what happens during the confirmation hearings for the 10th Government later on this month. But, having subverted the Constitution and the rule of law, Khameini may well make the decision and circumvent the Parliament all together. This is not over by any means. It is just get started.
