Iran Feature: Leading Conservative Website Tears Apart Ahmadinejad's Rahim-Mashai

An EA correspondent passes on a translation, provided by the US Government's Open Source Center, of a 30 March article in Khabar Online --- the website connected to Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani --- challenging and eve ridiculing President Ahmadinejad's close ally and Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, "Will Masha'i Be Eliminated or Achieve His Presidential Ambitions?":

One may regard Esfandiar Rahim-Masha'i as someone for whom "words go in from one ear and go out from the other ear" (someone who does not listen to the criticisms of others). He was one of the most provocative figures during the year 89 (the Iranian year that ended 20 March 2011), but he never took back any of his words.

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The Latest from Iran (5 April): The Economy, Anyone?

1547 GMT: More news on Ebrahim Yazdi, the former leader of the Freedom Movement of Iran who was detained from early October until 20 March. This week, he gave an "interview" that alarmed many members of the Green Movement. (see our coverage on April 3)

Today, several sources are reporting that Yazdi has condemned the interview, given to IRNA without his consent while he was being detained in a "safe house." Also, Abdol-Ali Bazargan, a leader of the Freedom Movement in exile, presumably close to Yazdi, has said that the interview was faked, a montage of statements that has no credibility. 

1531 GMT: MP Hamidreza Katouzian, head of energy committee, has released a statement that, without proper investment, Iran will become the largest importer of oil and related products. He also said that subsidy cuts were generally positive, but that the lack of refunds will put Iranian industry in dire condition. 

1525 GMT: The Supreme Leader's younger brother, reformist Seyed Hadi Khamenei, has sent Mir Hossein Mousavi a letter of condolences after the death of his father last week. Hadi Khamenei is highly critical of, and estranged from, his brother.

1456 GMT: Check Engine - Oil Light is On:

Ghassem Noudeh Farahani, the head of domestic guilds, has announced that he predicts prices on all goods to increase by 15-20% this year alone.

MP Moayed Hosseini-Sadr, a member of the Energy Committee, has criticised the formula for deriving the price of gas, claiming that the way many are calculating the price of gas is not legal. The government has increased gas prices up to 40 times higher than previous, although there was only a shallow rise in price expected. Hosseini-Sadr said that gas prices should not exceed 90% of the exported gas price.

High gas prices have forced the free bakeries in the city of Khoy, and perhaps elsewhere, to stop business.

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Settling Into Conflict

2020 GMT: Abdel Fatah Younis, the head of the pro-democracy opposition's army, addressed a press conference in Benghazi. He said there are no divisions in the rebel army. He continued:

NATO has disappointed us. My staff have been in contact with the NATO envoys to direct them to targets that should protect civilians, but until now, NATO has not given us what we need...

Civilians are dying daily in Misurata because of lack of food or milk, even children are dying. Even by bombing. If NATo waits for another week, it will be a crime that NATO will have to carry. What is NATO doing? It is shelling some defined areas only.

2010 GMT: Two civilians were killed and six others were wounded when two roadside bombs exploded outside a shiite mosque in western Baghdad. 

2000 GMT: Video showing Libyan rebels modifying rockets/missile launchers in an unknown place. 

1955 GMT: Qaddafi forces have razed a mosque in Az Zawiyah that had been used by rebels as a base.

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US WikiLeaks Feature: Former State Department Spokesman Crowley --- Why the Treatment of Bradley Manning is Stupid

Bradley ManningWhen I was asked about the "elephant in the room," I said the treatment of Private Manning, while well-intentioned, was "ridiculous" and "counterproductive" and, yes, "stupid".

I stand by what I said. The United States should set the global standard for treatment of its citizens --- and then exceed it. It is what the world expects of us. It is what we should expect of ourselves.

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Iran Feature: The List of 1900 Political Prisoners

Journalist Naeemeh DoostdarA database of political prisoners --- some detained, some released on heavy bail --- has now grown to 1900 names. Many of the files have details, and there are more than 400 photographs.

China: Artist Ai Weiwei Detained

One of China's best-known artists, Ai Weiwei, was detained in Beijing on Sunday at the capital's airport, as police searched his studio, confiscated computers and questioned assistants.

Ai, who designed the Olympic Bird's Nest stadium and created the Sunflower Seeds installation for the Tate Modern in London, has been an outspoken critic of the government.

At least 23 people have been criminally detained, mostly for incitement to subversion or creating a disturbance, in recent weeks. Three more have been formally arrested and more than a dozen are missing, including high profile human rights lawyers.

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Syria Feature: Waiting for Death --- I Will Not Carry Flowers to My Grave (Yazbek)

Photo: API no longer fear Death. I wait for him calmly with my cigarette and my coffee. I think that I can stare into the eyes of a sniper on the roof of a building. I stare without batting an eyelid. I go out onto the streets and stare at the roofs of the buildings, calmly, and walk. I cross the pavements and a square in the city. I think, where could the sniper be now? I think that I will write a novel about a sniper watching a woman walking calmly on the street. I think about them both, as two lonely heroes in a city of ghosts. Scenes that resemble the streets of Saramago in the film “Blindness.”

I return to the capital, and I know that this place is no longer as it once was. Fear is no longer like breathing! Life here has changed forever in a single moment.

I return, and I know that I will not despair of struggling for justice, even if my chest is opened for Death. As I said, I got used to it, no more and no less: I wait for him, and I will not carry flowers to my grave.

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The Latest from Iran (4 April): Taking Away Zeroes

1725 GMT: Mona Lisa Watch. The head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization says Tehran has severed all ties with the Louvre Museum because the French art center has not fulfilled a promise to hold an exhibition in Iran.

Hamid Baghaei said that Iran had put on two exhibitions at the Louvre, one showcasing objects from the Safavid era and the other introducing the ancient Persian Civilization, and had given the French until the beginning of the Iranian year (21 March) for an exact date for the exhibition in Iran and a list of the artifacts to be displayed.

1715 GMT: A Stonewall on Oil. Khabar Online, the conservative website linked to Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, features President Ahmadinejad's press conference answer to a question about $11 billion in missing oil funds: "What answer is there to give?"

Parliament's Energy Commission, the Supreme Audit Court, and other conservative publications have all raised questions about the shortfall in oil revenues.

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Iran Video: Can Non-Violent Resistance Work? (Jahanbegloo/Toscano/Sadjadpour)

A discussion on 25 March at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace between political philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo and Italian diplomat Roberto Toscano, moderated by Carnegie's Karim Sadjadpour. Carnegie's summary of the discussion follows the video:

Non-Violence as a Strategic Imperative

Despite the Iranian regime’s willingness to crack down on protestors with brutal force, Jahanbegloo and Toscano argued that non-violence is the best strategic option for the opposition.

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Shifting Positions?

1915 GMT: Medical sources says at least five people have been killed in shelling by regime forces and five more people are in critical condition. Many other wounded people could not be reached by medical teams because of sporadic shelling.

1820 GMT: Britain has announced that it is bringing four more Tornado fighter jets to the coalition mission, bringing the British total to 10.

Even more interesting, however, is the news that London will provide communications equipment on the ground to the opposition. That has probably already been occurring --- Al Jazeera English's James Boys reported yesterday on insurgents moving towards Brega with the new gear.

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