Basiji Weary.
Simple, sad, compelling video, a minute of sorrow far away in a graveyard in southern Tehran, where the body of a young woman was hidden from the world by the usurper Ahmadinejad and his goons, who murdered her and covered up the crime. We have this from resistance. The first weeks after the murder, the regime prevented mourners from reaching Neda Soltan's grave. There looks to have been a change now. A policy change? Or weakening in police controls? The Basiji who killed Neda and covered up the crime look to be be in retreat or perhaps just exhausted by the weeks of turmoil.
Ahmadinejad.
The ursurper is not idle. The decision has been made to hang on, even to the point of removing one of his relatives from the Vice-Presidency in response to crankiness from the mullahs. Meanwhile there is indication that Tehran is planning to disrupt the elections in Afghanistan in August in order to distract attention from the bad vote in Iran. Hamid Karzai is running for re-election, and his major opponent is Abdullah Abdullah, who is backed by Tehran. There are lesser candidates, one of whom is backed by HRC and James Carville. In sum, the elction in Afghanistan will be a mess of US influence peddling and Iran vote-buying and Karzai ballot stuffing. Expect claims and counterclaims of fraud and theft. It will not be untrue that the US interferes in Afghanistan affairs. Neda Soltan's grave will grow colder; there will be fewer flowers; her mother's emptiness will remain.
I have been noticing a growing trend, especially in lib talking points, to marginalize the whole concept of “Democracy”. A friend of mine recently asked, “Who are we to impose Democracy on the rest of the world?” thereby attempting to bolster the notion that elections in and of themselves are in essence unreliable at best, or illusory (and damaging intrusions into the political process) at worst.
The Obama strategy of breaking things (or saying they're broken) and then responding with some oversize emergency measure has become painfully obvious. Whereas it is acceptable for a president to respond to problems with what may be regarded as unique or even unorthodox solutions, the problem appears to have become one of trust. Quite frankly, growing numbers of individuals no longer trust this president.
We all are flesh and blood. We all can forgive someone for making an honest mistake. However, should the mistakes continue unabated, while the dismal results are routinely whitewashed with incomprehensible language (or language that belies the facts), then we are forced to consider that something is afoot.
This is where Obama's past associations again come back to haunt. Wright, Ayers, Pfleger and all the others who were kept in the shadows during the election campaign are suddenly re-emerging in the public mind as signposts pointing to what may yet lie ahead. Many of Obama's current czar appointments themselves, we find, have played significant roles in radical, far left political organizations.
The Soviet Union never died a natural death. It merely set up shop inside a more spirited host, eating away at its entrails to quench its insatiable appetite for enforced political conformity.
It may well be that all we've glossed over in order to give a handsome, young, black man an honest chance to shine will come back to bite us. On the other hand, let us take comfort in the knowledge that when a leader - like Bush - makes mistakes, everybody loses. Bush can no longer torment us. When, however, a specific strategy is in play by which some win and others lose, at least the winners will have something to celebrate.
http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
If this is a true happening, it is very important. Seemingly, to ID her grave and allow family to mourn would occur with much security.
That might explain why this seems too subdued.
Opposition asks the regime's permission for commemorative ceremony for the 40 day mourning cycle, Reuters reports. Will they allow it and what happens if they don't?
Also, "The son of an adviser to defeated conservative candidate Mohsen Rezaie was reported dead in Tehran's notorious Evin prison after being detained in post-election unrest, a reformist website said Saturday. His mourning ceremony Sunday was canceled by his family to avoid any unrest, ILNA reported."
'Iran has denied the opposition a permit for a ceremony to mourn people slain in protests after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, Fars news agency on Tuesday cited the interior ministry as saying.
"No permit has been issued for gathering and marching for any individuals or different political groups," Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini, political director of the ministry, told the news agency.
Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi had put in a request to the interior ministry for a memorial event at a grand prayer venue in Tehran on Thursday.'
Now what?
Mr Batchelor... any word on what can be expected concerning Thursday in Teheran?
What does morning bring?
jbatchelorshow at Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:23:20 +0000: US secretary of state has called on Iran to free political detainees, many are being abused by the authorities. http://tinyurl.com/lg8xx8