The Latest from Iran (3 March): Disconnects

2340 GMT: Khamenei Watch. The Supreme Leader spent six hours at the Ministry of Intelligence today. He praised the work of the staff and called for long-term plans with comprehensive strategic initiatives.

2330 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Back from a break for the Cambridge University debate to catch up with the evening's news....

Ministry of Intelligence forces have again raided the empty home of prominent reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh and his wife Fakhrosaadat Mohtashamipour.

Tajzadeh, a former Deputy Minister of Interior, was seized the day after the June 2009 Presidential election. He has refused to withdraw the allegation that the vote was manipulated, ensuring his continued imprisonment.

Mohtashamipour was detained during Tuesday's demonstrations.

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US Politics: A Beginner's Guide to the Plans to Cut Government Spending

On Monday, the Tea Party Caucus held a meeting in Washington to discuss their potential approaches to a forthcoming vote, probably in June, on raising America's debt ceiling. No definite conclusion was reached by the Caucus, but here are the headline numbers, from the President's deficit reduction commission, that illustrate how the the debt burden in in the United States is forcing the political conversation in Washington....

In 2010, Federal Government spending was nearly 24% of the nation's GDP; a level not seen since the days of WWII. To cover this spending, the government raised tax revenues of 15% of GDP. In total, the difference between spending and revenue in 2010 –-- the deficit –-- stood at 9% of the value of all the goods and services produced in the economy, or GDP.

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Iran Document: Karroubi's Son "When My Parents Were Taken Away and Illegally Arrested"

Mehdi and Fatemeh KarroubiMohammad Taghi Karroubi, the son of the prominent opposition figures Mehdi and Fatemeh Karroubi, writes of the night last month that his parents were seized by security forces and taken to an unknown location, either in a house of detention or prison:

On Monday, 17 [[Note: other sources have said this should be 21] February 2011, coinciding with the birth of Imam Jafar Sadegh [6th Imam of the Shiites], security forces raided my father's residence, putting an end to the house arrest [of my parents]. In order to conceal the truth, they informed my brother [Ali] that my father's house arrest had ended and that his children were now free to visit with him. Upon hearing the news, Ali and his wife immediately went to my father's home, only to find 30 masked security agents inside their residence. My father was locked in a room on the first floor and my mother was being held on the 5th floor.

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Pakistan Feature: The Warnings Come True --- Another Minister Dies Because of the Blasphemy Law

Shahbaz BhattiPakistan’s blasphemy law took another life on Wednesday. The country’s only Christian cabinet minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, was gunned down 50 metres away from his home.

The government, in its silence, has failed to protect its ministers. In its refusal to amend the law, it is refusing to assume its responsibility to protect all of its people. So doing, it is going to take the back seat to a minority of violent Pakistanis who seek nothing but to destroy the country’s religious harmony and its fragile democracy.

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Turkey Special: Erdogan Government Reaches Out Abroad, Talks Tough at Home

Prime Minister Erdogan is striking a conservative posture at home, even as it holds out the unclenched first abroad. This does not mean he is seeking confrontation as an election strategy: there is no desire for a military clash with PKK, any more than there is a wish to use Iran and Syria against the US, but he is going to the leave no doubts. He is the man in charge.

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Libya Feature: A No-Fly Zone? (D'Amato)

Photo: Tiago Petinga (EPA)Military action should remain a last resort when all other options have failed. Increasing pressure on Gadhafi and his subordinates may cause some of his support to fragment, or even turn on the embattled colonel. An ill-conceived intervention can end up being far worse than taking no action at all. Any attempt by the United States to try to resolve the situation in Libya must be driven by a clearly thought-out strategy, not a response to political pressure.

Of course the Obama Administration wants to prevent bloodshed in Libya, but while a no-fly zone may seem to be a good way to do that, the devil is in the details.

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The Latest from Iran (2 March): Marching Through the Blackout

2135 GMT: Economy Watch. Voice of America profiles the five- to ten-fold increase in domestic gas prices after the removal of subsidy cuts.

2125 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Farah Vazehan, arrested after the Ashura demonstration of December 2009, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Vazehan was originally condemned to death.

Reformist activist Davoud Kahnamooei was arrested in Tabriz during Tuesday's protests.

Kahnamooei is a member of the East Azerbaijan branch of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front and of Mir Hossein Mousavi's 2009 Presidential campaign.

Three other activists distributing green wristbands have also been detained.

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Battlelines Drawn

2150 GMT: In Oman, about 200 protesters in Sohar defied a call to disperse at 6 p.m., reamining at the Globe Roundabout until late evening.

The number of protesters was sharply down from Monday, when nearly 2000 gathered. Six protesters were reportedly killed this weekend by the security forces.

2145 GMT: Associated Press is reporting that security forces killed two demonstrators when they fired tear gas at 100s of anti-government protesters in Sadr in southern Yemen.

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Iran Feature: The Opposition Resumes --- EA's Coverage of Tuesday's Protests

We are still going through information and working on an analysis of Tuesday's opposition rallies in Tehran and other Iranian cities, the third day of demonstrations in just over two weeks.

James Miller and Scott Lucas covered all the developments of the protests, and all the politics beyond them, in EA's Daily LiveBlog on Iran. Last night, we put together the best videos of the day.

There is background to yesterday's protests, the LiveBlog of last Thursday's sudden arrests of four opposition figures --- Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi and Fatemeh Karroubi. And we have three analyses leading up to the demonstrations that appear to be just as relevant after them: James Miller's "Notes of Caution on Sudden Change", and Josh Shahryar's "The Race Between Fear and Hope".

And, as a vital keepsake not only of yesterday but of the entire post-election crisis, we offer you "A Commemorative Poster of the Political Prisoners".

Latest Iran Video: The Protests of 10 Esfand

Tehran: Soon after "Death to Dictator" is Heard, Security Forces Arrive"

Tehran: Enghelab Square

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