You know, I'm not surprised by what's going on in Iran right now. Anyone who has a clue as to what the US has been doing in Iran for the past couple of years should have seen this coming. First I do think there was some electoral fraud going on. I say this for the simple reason that if accurate, reports that the challenger lost his hometown is highly suspect. I have a hard time accepting that kind of news from that part of the world. Secondly the victory of the current president is pretty wide for the reported turnout. I realize there is a desire for legitimacy but they could have made that victory closer. And the reason I'm so nonchalant about it is because we know that the Supreme authority in Iran does NOT lie in the president, but rather the Supreme religious leader. So any president is going to be limited by that higher authority anyway.
Now what I find particularly disingenuous about the news coverage of the rioting in Iran is how downright hypocritical. The various news media in the US act as if police here wouldn't do the same things as the Iranian authorities are doing. See unlike many of my younger cohorts here in the US, I've actually been in on the street, no "permission" from the police protests. You know, back when Al Sharpton wore a sweat suit rather than an Armani suit. And I've been hit up by police in riot gear and watched people get tossed into "paddy wagons."
If that's not enough, I would ask the reader to recall the riots at the G8 summit that occurred in Seattle. Plenty of night sticking and tear gas there.
Not enough? Perhaps the reader will recall the Republican national convention in NY in 2004, where massive numbers of people were "detained" on bogus charges.
People, I can come up with a whole lot of examples. Simply put the only news here is that the Iranian people have the balls in a so called "dictatorship" to take to the streets for days, when they feel an election is stolen, and Americans? Those people in the "land of the free"? well they sat back in 2000, shrugged their shoulders and asked what was for dessert.
In anycase, not to long after the invasion of Iraq, Bush had stepped up efforts in Iran to have a regime change happen there by providing support (money) for "opposition" parties. And you'd be a fool to not believe there are not actual persons on the ground in Iran. This would be a direct meddling in the internal politics of Iran which would partially explain what I believe to be vote fraud. So when you're reading and viewing reports on the situation keep these points in mind. There's a lot not being said.
(17 years of informed commentary)