I really hope we will finally tone down the idea that he still holds power. He has no power and is being pushed out of the instittuional sphere.
He has been hounded out of the Assembly of Experts, his son [Mohsen Hashemi] ousted as head of the Tehran Metro, the other son [Mehdi Hashemi] a fugitive, and the daughter [Faezeh Hashemi] called a whore in broad daylight.
What can you really expect from the man now?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 8:51 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
2125 GMT: Witnesses say Yemeni police have fired on protesters in the capital Sanaa, injuring 50.
2120 GMT: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has arrived at Tripoli's Rixos Hotel, where many foreign journalists are staying. He is expected to hold a news conference soon.
2035 GMT: In Egypt, a Coptic Christian man has reportedly been killed in clashes this evening between Copts and Muslims.
1835 GMT: In Syria, human rights activist and government critic Haitham al-Maleh has been released from jail.
Maleh, 80 and reportedly in poor health, was freed after President Bashar al-Assad issued an amnesty for those convicted of minor crimes and prisoners over the age of 70.
Maleh was imprisoned last July for three years on charges of spreading false information and damaging national morale.
A well-placed Iranian source in Tehran sends a letter through an EA correspondent:
I hear the same thing being repeated: the regime are terrified, divided and thus making very bad decisions. (Bad for them, and their survival!) People are agreed that the arrests of [Mehdi] Karroubi, [Mir Hossein] Mousavi and their wives will only create more enemies for the regime. People who have consistently supported them are now beginning to turn against the regime, saying ‘enough’. Even my contacts [within the regime] are aware that, with every passing day, more and more hardliners are turning against them. One friend told me, “There are too many bosses, but no one is really in control”.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 7:05 | Scott Lucas in EA Middle East and Turkey, EA USA, Journalism and Media, Middle East and Iran It is now almost a month since President Hosni Mubarak resigned, sparking a celebration by millions of people across Egypt. As the country goes through post-Mubarak discussions and clashes, you may be struggling to understand what is happening.
So let me turn it over to Mr Glenn Beck, who interpreted the events only hours after Mubarak was ousted, in this two-part video. I cannot hold an intellectual candle to this leading international commentator, so I can only stay with him up to these points: "They have toppled Mubarak. Now what?" and "I have been called a madman....I have been called a nutjob."
Apparently, however, the protests and resistance in Tahrir Square, throughout Cairo, and in other Egyptian cities were all part of a plot which ends in the takeover not just of the Presidential Palace but of the United States of America.
I am still waiting for Mr Beck's explanation of how events in Libya fit into this conspiracy.)
Egypt, Glenn Beck, Hosni Mubrak 
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's son Saif Al Islam claiming a prominent role in the current crisis, making the rounds of the media to promote the regime position.
This cable from the US Embassy in Tripoli in December 2009 offers a glance at Saif's move to expand his political influence, with his staff lobbying American diplomats for sales of military equipment: "he concerted attention that xxxxxxxxxxxx devoted to military and security issues during recent meetings with Emboffs suggests that Saif is beginning to insert himself into the political-military and security spheres."
Protest on 14 February, TehranThe Los Angeles Times posts a small but interesting cross-section of opinions from Tehran on the political situation, protests, and the opposition movement.
There is a range of views on whether the opposition protests are building and whether the challenge has gone beyond figures such as Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, with comments such as "we are subversive" and "we need militant groups". But while there is division on those important questions, seven of the nine respondents are united by the perception of discontent --- and thus the likely continuation of some form of resistance --- within Iran.
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 10:54 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2050 GMT: Two claimed videos from Az Zintan, 160 km (100 miles) southwest of Tripoli, where the opposition says it attacked regime forces on the outskirts of the city: the first is of questioning of captured Qaddafi troops, the second is a brief clip of the pre-1969 flag flying over the town:
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 8:30 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
Juan Cole gets to grips with all the developments to produce his Top 10 List of changes for democracy. It's a good round-up, but we should also note events ---covered in EA's LiveBlog --- that did not make the list, such as weekend protests in Lebanon and Casablanca (see inset picture):
10. In the Sunni-ruled monarchy of Bahrain, which has practiced employment discrimination against the Shiite majority of citizens, the Ministry of Interior has announced it will create 20,000 security-related jobs, apparently intended to be filled mainly by Shiite Bahrainis with college degrees. The protest movement, however, is unlikely to be satisfied unless there are political, not just economic concessions.
Ali Abdullah Saleh, Bahrain, Jordan, Juan Cole, Oman, Tawakul Karman, Yemen 2115 GMT: The Assembly of Experts Meeting. The gathering of the 84 members of the Assembly of Experts begins tomorrow, but already there is a ripple: the office of Ayatollah Dastgheib, whos is the member for Shiraz, says the cleric has not received his invitation to attend and has demanded the release of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
2110 GMT: An Unscripted Moment for the Speech. Footage from Voice of America of a member of the audience interrupting today's speech in Shiraz by President Ahmadinejad:
1935 GMT: Economy Watch. An official at the Central Bank has said that Iran's annual rate of inflation, in the second month after subsidy cuts, has risen from 10.8% to 11.6%.
2000 GMT: A Right Nuclear Mess. Looks like Iran has got itself in a real tangle over its first nuclear plant at Bushehr.
Last week reports emerged that Iran was having to withdraw fuel rods from Bushehr, opened last autumn, because of unspecified technical problems.
Although there was some discussion of whether the difficulty was the Stuxnet computer worm, allegedly introduced by the "West" and/or Israel into software running the plant, the issue might have stopped there. But then Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Tuesday denied reports that any fuel has been removed, saying operations at the facility "are running their normal course."
And now the deputy head of Parliament's Energy Commission, Abdollah Kaabi, has given the nuclear tension another stir with accusations against Moscow, contradicting the Foreign Ministry line that all is well. Kaabi said Saturday, “If Russia continues to delay the inauguration of Bushehr nuclear power plant, the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) will definitely table a motion to demand compensation from Moscow.”
Kaabi said the Russians had always been “unreliable partners in the course of history”, causing “unacceptable” delays in the project and imposing heavy costs on Iran.
