Remember Iran Flashback: 15 June 2009 --- The March of the Millions

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EA's Live Coverage three years ago today --- the world is taken by surprise as more than a million Iranians, joined by Presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, take to the streets of Tehran to challenge Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supposed election. However, there are signs that the regime will defy the protesters and confirm Ahmadinejad's "victory", and there is ominous news of more detentions and deaths of demonstrators at the end of the evening:

2230 GMT: The end of a long and, for many, amazing day in Iran with the hopes of the mass movement balanced by rumours of deaths, beatings, and detentions (one activist writes of many people being taken to Evin Prison). Still a state of tension, with uncertainty over casualty figures from this afternoon at Azadi Square and no firm confirmation of the big march for 5 p.m. tomorrow (local time) in Tehran. Tonight, there are sounds of ambulances and police sirens and occasional gunshots.

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Egypt Feature: The Muslim Brotherhood Comes to America (Bohn)

Sondos AsemSondos Asem has butterflies, formulating answers to questions she expects to be asked and practicing her diction with the devotion of a high school debate champion. The gentle 24-year-old graduate student at the American University in Cairo is in a hotel room in downtown New York, figuring out what to wear on national television. ("This blazer would look good, right?" "Should I wear more color?")

Like many young Egyptians, she's been tweeting the fallout after the 2011 uprising that brought down former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The stakes are higher than 140-character dispatches might suggest. Asem has emerged as an unlikely unofficial spokeswoman for the Muslim Brotherhood, helping to run its English-language Twitter feed, @Ikhwanweb, and in turn revamp the group's image in the West.

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EA Flashback: Christopher Hitchens and the Policing of Dissent

After seeing Hitchens at this debate, I fear his thoughtful moments will be rare. "The Hitch" is no longer an activist, no longer a participant in the real debates about power and who wields it, no more a source for thought. No, he is an industry, posing in trench coat with a cigarette dangling from his top lip, hailed as "one of the few remaining practitioners of the five-hour, two-bottle lunch". And, naturally, the most profitable industry is a monopoly. So he packages himself, surreally, not just as a policeman but the only policeman of "a radical left that no longer exists".

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US Elections Analysis: No Victory, Only Stalemate

UPDATE 1605 GMT: Amongst all the post-mortems, I was struck by this conclusion from Alexander Cockburn: "By 1996 Clinton had outmaneuvered the Republican leadership and won reelection. Today the economic situation is far worse than it was in 1994. No effective political and economic strategy for recovery is on the cards in the current atmosphere. As always, these days in America, our last best friend will be gridlock."

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With the notable exceptions of health care reform and financial regulation, the situation in Washington has been one of stalemate, with the Republicans blocking Obama's legislation --- even in the limited success on health care, not one GOP Senator voted for the bill --- but lacking the strength or willingness to make deals with the Democrats to put forth their own measures.

That situation has not changed. So the best prospect is to try and keep the American economic ship on the water, rather than under it, amidst protracted recession and unemployment. (And, although this was largely forgotten in campaign coverage, to do so while keeping large numbers of troops in Iraq and fighting a war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.)

The Democrat/Obama strategy will be to present this pragmatic "stay the course" approach, appealing to the good sense --- political and economic --- of an American centre. It is unlikely they could do more, even if they wanted to take the risk. No prospect of climate change legislation, no campaign reform measures, no further moves on health care. And unless the Republicans do more than put forth a vague "Pledge for America", unless the Tea Party can move beyond the appealing but illogical mantra --- given the existence of programmes like Medicare and Social Security, let alone US defense --- of "slash taxes, slash Government", they will not be putting forth any significant programme for progress.

So the ultimate outcome of Tuesday night is stalemate. And as even a beginner chess player will tell you, that's not a win.

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