Of course, snap reaction from the US of this week’s events in Iran was unlikely to catch the depth of the developments and the prospects for the future. The disturbing while gleeful response of Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett was to be expected. (And, yes, I use “disturbing” without reservation: have a look at their “analysis” to see how they try to wipe away the post-election detentions, trials, and abuses.) Unsurprisingly, some Bush-era advocates of US power, having embraced the Green movement for “regime change”, backtracked when the Government did not fall on Thursday — Charles Krauthammer pronounced, “The regime has succeeded today, and unless there is some later demonstration of the power of the opposition, it could be a turning point in this process and the one that the regime will celebrate.”
However, what is most disturbing is how an analyst like Marc Lynch, normally quite good about Middle Eastern affairs, could issue this declaration after a superficial review of 22 Bahman and the Green movement, “I fully believe that the Iranian regime is more unpopular and less legitimate than ever before — but just don’t see it as especially vulnerable at the moment.” It is disturbing not because Lynch is duplicitous; to the contrary, he carries enough weight of expertise and of honesty in his approach for his analysis to race around the Washington network of political columnists as the final wisdom on the subject.
2140 GMT: Persian2English reports that more than a thousand relatives of detainees gathered outside Evin Prison to commemorate Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning after the religious occasion of Ashura. Demonstrators offered prayers and chanted “Allahu Akhbar (God is great)”.
1925 GMT: Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has issued a statement demanding the freeing of all political prisoners before 22 Bahman. Rahnavard, an academic at Tehran University, points to the problems that women have experienced under the regime and praises their passion on issues of freedom and equality.
1830 GMT: Catching Up. Highlighting a story that our readers noted this afternoon, Hassan Rassouli, a deputy of the Baran Foundation, headed by former President Mohammad Khatami, and Abolfazl Ghadiani, a member of central committee of the Mohajedin of Islamic Revolution party, were freed last night on bail. Read the rest of this entry »
2050 GMT: A First Go at Reading Mousavi. Edward Yeranian of the Voice of America writes, “Iran Opposition Leader Mousavi Not Afraid to Die for Reform” (there is also an audio report), and kindly gives us space in the article for a few thoughts:
Scott Lucas…thinks that both the opposition and the government are digging in their heels for a confrontation:
“The five-point plan is not new. [Mousavi] said something similar in around October. [This], therefore, is still a compromise within the system. [However], the other thing that’s important is that the language he uses — before he gets to that [compromise] — about his possible martyrdom is striking: ‘My blood is no redder than those of others in the [opposition] movement, but I’m ready to die.’ [This is] a language of expected confrontation, as opposed to political compromise,” he said.
Lucas also argues that Mousavi may be trying to re-establish himself as the clear leader of the opposition after complaints in recent months that he hadn’t been showing up to lead public demonstrations. Many in the opposition, he notes, have been saying that the “opposition is leading Mr. Mousavi and not the contrary”.
2010 GMT: Explaining the Mousavi Statement (0745 GMT). We’ll ponder overnight before offering an analysis tomorrow of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s political move today. However, we may have gotten clues from Dr. Abolfazl Fateh, the head of Mousavi’s media committee in the Presidential campaign: “Mousavi’s statement is a significant goodwill gesture from his side and an important test for the authorities.” Read the rest of this entry »
Iran: On the holy day of Ashura, coinciding with the 7th day of mourning for Ayatollah Montazeri, thousands of protesters are on the streets of Tehran and other cities throughout Iran. Amidst clashes with security forces, five demonstrators have been killed.
I never thought I would open an letter to you with a word of thanks. To be honest, I have almost never agreed with your past quarter-century of syndicated polemic in US newspapers and magazines. I respect your right to hold an opinion and your skill in writing. However, I find that your analysis is more often propelled by rigid belief rather than evidence, whether that belief is a specific objective (the unbending advocacy of Israel, whatever the circumstances) or a general aspiration, such as your call for an American “unipolar era” in which all others would bow to the dominance of the United States.
Yet I must note that, in your column on Friday, “2009: The Year of Living Fecklessly”, you ostensibly recognised the post-election demonstrations in Iran as a “new birth of freedom”. I am not sure exactly what a “new birth” is — I have found that most Iranians with whom I communicate have a long-held desire for freedom — but any acknowledgement of the public calls for justice and rights is to be welcomed.
In terms of foreign policy, this is a relatively insignficant interview. Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the UN, is not a heavy-hitter in the Obama Administration, so her appearance is merely a prop for the more important comments of the National Security Advisor, James Jones, on CBS and CNN.
Where this is notable is as an indicator of the domestic problems the Administration faces with the tangles in its policies. Rice stutters her way through the dilemma posed by the military’s open pressure on President Obama over Afghanistan troop numbers — “Why [won't] the president immediately grant the request of his commanders?”
And on Iran, this is simply appalling. David Gregory uses the misleading and quasi-hysterical New York Times report and the opinion of Charles Krauthammer, a drum-beater for war on Tehran, to steer the discussion towards the inevitable of “crippling sanctions”. Faced with the inanities, Rice can only — like the President she is serving — play for time.
In the run-up to the 44th President of the USA, there was a good deal of black comedy in the desperation of some to prevent the 43rd from taking his place in oblivion. From Karl Rove, who may just have been trying to sweep up around his own place in our memories, to Charles Krauthammer, who helped sell the notion of the “unipolar moment” that assisted the Bush Administration in its failed ambitions, to Andrew Roberts, who clung to dreams of American Empire, to Bruce Anderson, who bellowed, “History Will Vindicate Bush”, to former Dubya speechwriters, the chant went up: One Day You’ll Be Grateful for All He Did.
So, in that spirit, we’re pleased to re-print, from AlterNet, Bernie Horn’s Top10 Reasons to Remember Dubya.
So Long Worst President Ever; 10 Reasons History Will Hang You
Update: An Israeli bomb has killed nine and wounded at least 60 in a mosque in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. According to CNN, “leaflets signed by the commander of the Israeli military were dropped over northern Gaza on Saturday morning, warning residents to ‘leave the area immediately’ to ensure their safety”.
[The Israel-Gaza conflict] possesses a moral clarity not only rare but excruciating.
Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger.
A reader from Birmingham replies, “This issue of pre-warning Arab ‘targets’ was an impressive act of propaganda by the Israelis- not actually expected or intended to save lives it has been supplied as effective ammunition for pro-Israeli writers in America.”
Of course, snap reaction from the US of this week’s events in Iran was unlikely to catch the depth of the developments and the prospects for the future. The disturbing while gleeful response of Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett was to be expected. (And, yes, I use “disturbing” without reservation: have a look at their “analysis” to see how they try to wipe away the post-election detentions, trials, and abuses.) Unsurprisingly, some Bush-era advocates of US power, having embraced the Green movement for “regime change”, backtracked when the Government did not fall on Thursday — Charles Krauthammer pronounced, “The regime has succeeded today, and unless there is some later demonstration of the power of the opposition, it could be a turning point in this process and the one that the regime will celebrate.”
2050 GMT: A First Go at Reading Mousavi. 
Iran: On the holy day of Ashura, coinciding with the 7th day of mourning for Ayatollah Montazeri, 
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