If this election was rigged (which we can presume it was)...

 

 

 

Do you believe it was?

 

 

 

All I'm reading at the moment is some funny business with shutting down facebook/texting services. It's a far cry from flat out election rigging, though. From what I could tell based on the election polls, there was little to indicate that the result seen was surprising. I also get the impression that the polls are mostly unreliable in the first place, so I don't see any evidence at this stage that the elections were rigged.

 

 

 

I'm not going to quote exactly what someone said before. But it was something along these lines

 

 

 

"He even lost in his own hometown by a landslide majority, an area heavily hit by the extremist attitude of the current dictator. Putting it this way, it would be McCain beating Obama in a landslide majority in Obama's hometown, made up of 80% democrats and 90% Blacks". Seriously, if he lost in his home town where general opinion would show he had overwhelming support, it's safe to say it was rigged.

Very powerful 1st video you posted magekillr. Can you imagine living in that city and feel the buildings shake with their chants? Not much we can do but hope for the best. Its funny actually, if Ahmadinejad would have lost not that much would have changed in Iran, the Supreme leaders would still be there and the national policies wouldn't change that much.

 

 

 

But now that Ahmadinejad won and all the youth of Iran believe it was corruption and oppression... this has the potential to change Iran far more than what would have happened if they (the Supreme leaders) just let Ahmadinejad lose.

I'm looking through a few of the things you guys mentioned and there definitely looks like something is wrong here. I'll have to keep looking through this later on.

http://twitter.com/change_for_iran

 

 

 

Talk about first hand journalism. Hope that guy and the rest of the university's students makes it all right, and tweets more.

 

 

 

This twitter is updating:

 

 

 

http://twitter.com/Iranelection09

 

 

 

Sources close to Mousavi: today's rally will go on as scheduled regardless of government's permission #iranelection

 

 

 

and this one is really interesting....

 

 

 

Mousavi in a phone msg states he's under pressure from government to accept the anounced results

 

 

 

I wonder why...

Found a good channel to keep track of this. He's an Iranian civilian who's taping these events and posting them on Youtube as they happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/iraniannews

My personal opinion is that the election was rigged.

 

 

 

My guess as to why they say Ahmedenijad won by so much is so that they can say he received a "mandate" to keep going with his current policies. Had they made the results more realistic (51% vs 49%), he wouldn't have this "mandate" (although I'm not sure what they have in place to make that matter significantly).

 

 

 

Also, I found this article (I Fark.com) a while back and thought it interesting and that the Israelis do make some valid points for why they hold the positions they do (I'm not entirely sure what my opinion on this matter is, yet and just want the election results to be what the people voted for): Israel tacticians want Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win

Oh jesus, the craps going to hit the fan, and soon. I don't know if this is a best or worst case scenario but in any case here's the latest FLASH traffic from a BBC respondent:

 

 

 

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8099884.stm

 

 

 

...situation in Tehran is becoming unpredictable and potentially explosive...Iranians came out on to their roofs to shout "down with the dictator". It has become a challenge not just of an election result, not just to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei himself.

 

 

 

That means it is, in effect, a challenge to the whole basis of the Islamic Republic.

 

 

 

For two years I have watched as young, ambitious Iranians go about their lives with growing frustration.

 

They feel the system stifles their aspirations. Now they feel that their intelligence and their pride has been insulted by an election result many Iranians believe is blatantly fraudulent...many people will fear that the government will authorise the police to open fire, if the situation slides further out of control.

 

 

 

Has anyone seen the ending for V for Vendetta? A government that escalates things and tries to use more force and more violence to quell a citizen uprising...

 

 

 

Like I said, I don't know if this is a best or worst case scenario. I guess it depends on if you value human life or human rights.

 

 

 

 

 

update: FLASH traffic again, holy crap Ahmadinejad was on his way somewhere only to walk into a ambush and get swarmed by protesters chanting LIAR LIAR LIAR. Ahmadinejad was forced to crawl onto the roof of his car and it sped away. :shock: Wow.

 

 

 

 

2nd update: Sixteen cities in Iran are now in full riot and the crowds on the streets are only growing. See this pictures of a skirmish that happened in the University of Tehran, collateral damage in the fighting: http://25khordad.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

Twitter reports coming from Iran state that Iranian military is refusing to intervene against the protesters. If this is true it could mean the Supreme Leader is loosing some footing. I mean wow, if all the cards lie right and there really is a revolution here... holy crap, I don't think any of us realize how beneficial that would be. Iran funds Hezbollah, Iran arms the militants in Iraq, Iran makes the IEDs used in Baghdad, Iran gives the rockets to the Palitinains to fire against Israel, and Iran trains jihadists. I mean, the potential of a new Iranian revolution that would rid Iran of these extremist leaders would actually, dare I say it, bring peace to the Middle East. Thats freaking insane. Sure there is only a 5%-10% chance there will be a revolution, but if it does happed it will be the most powerful and important event since the fall of the USSR.

Best of luck to humanity and iran, all I can say I am sure of here.

Khamenei has called an inquiry into the claims of vote rigging but I can't see it overturning the result.

This is interesting, it's spreading further and I fully support it. The sooner more people find out about this the better, it will do a lot for current Western views on Islam. I'm tired of being surrounded by ignorant hate and racism, most people in the West don't even know the basics of Islam.

Thanks for all the updates, everyone.

 

 

 

Damn it, I want to be there right now.

 

 

 

I want to be there,

 

upon a rooftop and amongst the noise--shouting:

 

 

 

DOWN WITH THE DICTATOR! DOWN WITH THE DICTATOR!

You are such damned hypocrites. I can't be bothered to quote them all, but on the first page alone I saw at least two people state that they'd like to see America intervene. If Iraq wasn't any of our business, then this isn't either. I would like to see a military strike on Tehran, though. I don't care who it's from. Israel, America, whatever. I want that man dead. He's done enough harm already.

A military strike from an external source would be robbing the people of their power.

 

No, I want the people of Iran to handle this with their own voices.

 

Their own hands.

Thanks for all the updates, everyone.

 

 

 

Damn it, I want to be there right now.

 

 

 

I want to be there,

 

upon a rooftop and amongst the noise--shouting:

 

 

 

DOWN WITH THE DICTATOR! DOWN WITH THE DICTATOR!

 

 

 

Same that really would be epic.

 

 

 

I really hope something does come from this riots/protests and hopefully not just dead/injured people.

You are such damned hypocrites. I can't be bothered to quote them all, but on the first page alone I saw at least two people state that they'd like to see America intervene. If Iraq wasn't any of our business, then this isn't either. I would like to see a military strike on Tehran, though. I don't care who it's from. Israel, America, whatever. I want that man dead. He's done enough harm already.

 

 

 

Yes, lets deal with the government hostile to the US by intervening with spontaneous assassinations, Im sure that has no potential to cause a backlash ten times worse then Iraq.

1 dead 4 injured as of now.

 

[cabbage] hit the fan

1 dead 4 injured as of now.

 

[cabbage] hit the fan

 

 

 

hardly

 

 

 

In a riot of that scale, a few casualties, while tragic, arent entirely unexpected.

1 dead 4 injured as of now.

 

[cabbage] hit the fan

 

You forgot to add that several are missing.

1 dead 4 injured as of now.

 

[cabbage] hit the fan

 

 

 

This might sound sickening to many and I see it sickening as well, but my friend who is pretty interested in politics said a small death count would do them good in the greater element, as most of the riots have seem somewhat peaceful (Not enough violence to require deaths) it will raise serious concern throughout the Western world and something might actually be done about the situation.

Heard that pro-Gorvernment protestors fired some shots at the other protestors, i doubt there are many pro-gov protestors, but i bet for sure they will be much more heavily armed.

Heard that pro-Gorvernment protestors fired some shots at the other protestors, i doubt there are many pro-gov protestors, but i bet for sure they will be much more heavily armed.

 

 

 

I wouldnt be surprised is pro government "protestors" were actually military

The Big Picture did another photo essay today: Iran's Disputed Election.

Some powerful pictures in there indy500, a lot of people i have been talking to say this one will win the Pulitzer. The determination and strength in the eyes of the protester (in green) and the wounded animal look on the face of the riot officer, now being taken care of by the same people he was fighting.

 

 

 

As for a news update on the situation, things are heating up as you can probably guess. The Supreme Leader stated that it was prohibited for people to protesting in the city square at noon today... so of course people protested in the city square just to defy him. The crowd/riot took up the entire street and was five miles long. Picture the massive crowd that came to see Obama's inauguration... only angry :ohnoes:

 

 

 

The army declared neutrality and much of the police disbanded, the violence is between the protesters and the Basij

 

 

 

The Basij are the armed hand of the clerics. The Basij are a legal group, officially a student union, and are legally under direct orders of the Revolutionary Guard. Their main raison to quell dissent. They are the ones who go and crack skulls, force people to participate in pro-regime demonstrations, and generally try to stop any demonstrations from even starting. They are basically located throughout the country, in every mosque, every university, every social club you can think of. They function in a way very similar to the brown shirts. There are thousands of them.

 

 

 

An interesting note is that the protesters are mostly peaceful but are beginning to fight back. They burned down the headquarters of the secret police in a Tehran square and killed a local commander of the Basij.

Sane:

 

 

 

"The point is this is not about us," said one administration official, who has been working on the issue of Iran. "The point here is we will continue to monitor the situation to see how it, in a sense, resolves itself over the coming days. The pressure is on them to demonstrate to the world that this was a legitimate election and that the outcome reflects the will of the Iranian people."

 

 

 

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/06 ... -about-us/

 

 

 

Sane:

 

 

 

President Barack Obama says it's up to Iran to determine its own leaders.

 

But he also says he's troubled by the situation in Iran and that it would be wrong to stay silent. Obama says any investigation into Iranian election results must not result in bloodshed.

 

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090615/ap_ ... us_iran_27

 

 

 

Insane:

 

 

 

"We stand with the people of Iran in their struggle to participate in a democratic election and who deserve the right to freely assemble and voice their opposition to its questionable outcome.

 

 

 

"The Administration's silence in the face of Iran's brutal suppression of democratic rights represents a step backwards for homegrown democracy in the Middle East. President Obama must take a strong public position in the face of violence and human rights abuses. We have a moral responsibility to lead the world in opposition to Iran's extreme response to peaceful protests."

 

 

 

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archiv ... 018630.php

Just a noob question (I don't follow politics): What kind of foul play may have been involved? Could it be some kind of bribery? :?