Are You Ready For War With Demonized Iran? By Paul Craig Roberts + Ahmadinejad Won. Get Over It

Dandelion Salad

By Paul Craig Roberts
June 16, 2009 “Information Clearing House”

How much attention do elections in Japan, India, Argentina, or any other country, get from the US media? How many Americans and American journalists even know who is in political office in other countries besides England, France, and Germany? Who can name the political leaders of Switzerland, Holland, Brazil, Japan, or even China?

Yet, many know of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad. The reason is obvious. He is daily demonized in the US media.

The US media’s demonization of Ahmadinejad itself demonstrates American ignorance. The President of Iran is not the ruler. He is not the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He cannot set policies outside the boundaries set by Iran’s rulers, the ayatollahs who are not willing for the Iranian Revolution to be overturned by American money in some color-coded “revolution.”

Iranians have a bitter experience with the United States government. Their first democratic election, after emerging from occupied and colonized status, in the 1950s was overturned by the US government. The US government installed in place of the elected candidate a dictator who tortured and murdered dissidents who thought Iran should be an independent country and not ruled by an American puppet.

Babak Yektafar: Revolutionary guard in charge

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews

Massive protests as Revolutionary Guard consolidates power, likely to expand economic control

Facing the Bushes’ Iranian whirlwind by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman + Shots fired on an angry crowd

Crossposted with permission from The Free Press.

Dandelion Salad

by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
The Free Press
June 15, 2009

The parallels between the stolen Iranian election of 2009 and the American of 2000 and 2004 are tempting. The histories—and futures—of the two nations are inseparable. Bound up in their tortured half-century of crime and manipulation are the few glimmers of hope for lasting peace in the Middle East.

In both countries, a right-wing fundamentalist authoritarian with open contempt for human rights and the Geneva Convention has come up a winner, with catastrophic consequences. In both countries, the blowback of two George Bushes loom large.

Clinton: We hope the outcome reflects the genuine will and desire of the Iranian people

Updated: June 30, 2009

Propaganda Alert

compiled by Cem Ertür
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
15 June 2009

1) Clinton: We hope the outcome reflects the genuine will and desire of the Iranian people(13 June 2009)
2) Clinton Threatens to Attack Iran ‘The Way That We Did’ Iraq (7 June 2009)
3) Biden: We are not going to allow Iran to go nuclear (14 June 2009)
4) US President Obama: The clock is ticking (26 June 2009)
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http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/06/124717.htm

excerpt from: Remarks With Canadian Foreign Minister Cannon

Joint press conference by US Foreign Minister Clinton and her Canadian counterpart Cannon, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, 13 June 2009

Quote:

SECRETARY CLINTON: We watched closely the enthusiasm and the very vigorous debate and dialogue that occurred in the lead-up to the Iranian elections. We are monitoring the situation as it unfolds in Iran. But we, like the rest of the world, are waiting and watching to see what the Iranian people decide. The United States has refrained from commenting on the election in Iran. We obviously hope that the outcome reflects the genuine will and desire of the Iranian people. FOREIGN MINISTER CANNON: For Canada, on behalf of Canada, Canada is deeply concerned by reports of voting irregularities in the Iranian election. We’re troubled by reports of intimidation of opposition candidate’s offices by security forces. We’ve tasked our embassy officials to – in Tehran to closely monitor the situation, and Canada is calling on Iranian authorities to conduct fair and transparent counting of all ballots. […]

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Iran boils over by Lee Sustar

Dandelion Salad

Lee Sustar looks at the dynamics driving mass protests and repression in Iran following the rigged presidential election.
SocialistWorker.org
June 15, 2009

IRAN WAS in uncharted political territory following mass protests against what was almost certainly a rigged presidential election victory for incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The long-festering divisions in the Iranian ruling class have become wide-open splits as the result of mass support for the reformist presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Mousavi.

A vicious police crackdown on demonstrations in the capital city of Tehran was accompanied by the arrest of more than 130 prominent Mousavi supporters–including Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of former President Mahmoud Khatami, a former speaker of the parliament, and the son-in-law of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a leader of the 1979 Islamist revolution.

Other figures rounded up by police include Mostafa Tajzadeh, a minister of the interior under Khatami; Behzad Nabavi, a former minister of industry; and Mohsen Mirdamadi, organizer of the 1979 occupation of the U.S. Embassy.

Pepe Escobar: Struggle within Iranian elite

Dandelion Salad

Updated: June 17, 2009; added Part 2

TheRealNews

Pepe Escobar: Two camps locked in fierce struggle, as Revolutionary Guard stages a successful “coup”

US Media Campaign to Discredit Iranian Election By Charting Stock

Dandelion Salad

By Charting Stock
ICH
June 13, 2009 “Charting Stocks”

See also:- Lights turned off on media after elections: The AFP news agency reported that Iran’s wireless telephone network was shut down at 5:30pm GMT (10:00pm in Tehran), just as incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was making a television appearance to congratulate himself on a “great victory”.

See also:- Landslide or Fraud? The Debate Online Over Iran’s Election Results: We will bring you updates throughout the day and encourage Iranian readers to share their thoughts and experiences with us.

Was the Iranian election a fraud? That’s what our great western media sources want us to believe. While scanning through the coverage, I could not find one mainstream news article which covered the election results in an objective, unbiased manner. Either prominently displayed  in the title or first paragraph, each of the articles suggest the election was a fraud. The obvious question arises – If their electoral system can’t be trusted, why were they watching the results so “closely” in the first place?  I’d probably  find better things to do then obsess over the results of a rigged game, but hey that’s just me.

[…]

Was the election stolen? According to the Iranian Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli, there has been no ‘written complaint’ about voter fraud. He declared that the presidential elections were conducted in a manner that ruled out the possibility of voter fraud. “No violations that may have influenced the vote have been reported, and we have received no written complaint,” he said in response to a question posed by an Italian reporter.

[…]

via: Information Clearing House

see

Some observations on the Iranian presidential election and its aftermath by Phil Wilayto

Presidential election in Iran: selected items from the British press

Pepe Escobar: Ahmadi Big Bang + Police Attack Protesters

Some observations on the Iranian presidential election and its aftermath by Phil Wilayto

Dandelion Salad

by Phil Wilayto
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/
June 13, 2009

Sunday Times, 14 June 2009

As this is being written, official announcements in Iran today of a landslide victory by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are being met with cries of “fraud” by supporters of his principal challenger, former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

Presidential election in Iran: selected items from the British press

Propaganda Alert

compiled by Cem Ertür
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
14 June 2009

Times, 13 June 2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article648934 1.ece

Lifting the veil

A generation of young women voters is rejecting Iran’s repressive regime and challenging the patriarchal orthodoxy of the Muslim world

leading article, Times, 13 June 2009

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http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-ira ns-old-guard-are-poised-to-crush-any-hope-of-revolution-1703225.html

Iran’s old guard are poised to crush any hope of revolution

by Robert Fisk, Independent, 12 June 2009

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Pepe Escobar: Ahmadi Big Bang

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews

Fishy vote count + Guile + Tactics: Why Ahmadinejad won

Iran Presidential debate: Mousavi vs Ahmadinejad

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews

Key section in last 15 minutes of debate – Mousavi accuses Ahmadinejad of creating conditions that lead to dictatorship – Courtesy of Iran Negah.com