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“Total Chaos” in Iran
Obama, if you screw this one up, history will never forgive you. Think about that. You will never be forgiven by history. You’re the president of the United States of America. Swallow your pride. Get rid of that clown Clapper, get rid of all the incompetents advising you, and get an experienced A-team in the White House, now.
Here’s the key Twitter hashtag: #25Bahman.
acarvin BBC producer: central Tehran in “total chaos,” “severe clashes” taking place. Mousavi under house arrest. http://bbc.in/gB0crJ #25bahman
amouly@CNN please cover Iran protest in Tehran #iran #25bahman
fariba_98 Shame on #AJEnglish. How much did it cost not to cover Iran. You left us alone but we will prevail. #Iran #25Bahman #tehran media4iran
2 journalists in Turkish Prez’s delegation went to Azadi Street. One was beaten by Basij #iranelection #25Bahman v@homylafayette
Goftaniha Ladies & Gents, what is happening in #Tehran is BIG!!! this is SERIOUS business!! #25Bahman #Iran ladyallein1 GEsfandiar young man in
Tehran: we are ready to die for freedom, last night we said good bye to each other #Iranelection #25Bahman
Newmakos TO Shirin Ebadi … please speak up and show up in support of Iranians NOW. #iranelection #tehran #iran #25bahman
How to Control Bleeding from a Wound – Dari Persian http://bit.ly/dqbl35 #firstaid #greensafe #iranelection #4Neda #Afghan10 #25Bahman
DputamadreHelp To SPREED THE INFO. FROM #IRAN – Check Out The HASTAGS #25Bahman or #Iran or #Iranelection or #Tehran – Journalists r not allowd there
By the way, this is what the president of Turkey is up to today. I advise him also to think about how history will remember him.
With Iran and Turkey determined to boost their political and economic ties, more than 100 Turkish businessmen have accompanied the president on a visit to Iran that began Sunday evening and is scheduled to last until Wednesday. Turkey aims to increase its trade with Iran from $10 billion to $30 billion, Gül said without giving a timeframe.
The Turkish president told a joint press conference Monday with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that the two countries held detailed discussions on key issues of mutual interest and that important decisions have been made, Agence France-Presse reported.
“We have decided to give orders to our respective parties to remove all obstacles” identified in the talks as hindering cooperation between Turkey and Iran, Gül said without elaborating. The president is heading a delegation of business leaders and ministers, including Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, on the four-day official visit.
Gül also urged governments in the Middle East to listen to the demands of their people, saying he hoped transformation processes would have an honorable and happy ending for all nations in the region, the Anatolia news agency reported.
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More By Claire Berlinski:
Turkey: Showing Them Who’s the Boss
What the Turkish Military is Thinking
Published in General
Let’s go visit Iran during the demonstrations, what could possibly go wrong. Brings to mind the New Year’s Eve scene from Godfather II.
Obama has virtually no influence on the Iranian demonstrations. Iranian dissidents often say they just want us to shut the hell up and stay the hell out of their business. Shirin Ebadi, for instance, the Nobel Prize-winning activist cited in the above Twitter feed, is no friend of either the US or Israel.
The MSM’s take on this later today will be interesting. That is, compared to their take on the Egyptian overthrow.
Nickolas: Provide covert material aid and support to the protesters and the opposition, wherever possible.
I could be wrong, but I think the region is a rat’s nest of black and covert markets, underground supply networks, and illicit financing. I wouldn’t sell the CIA short yet. Obama can do only so much harm in two years. I think the CIA probably has contacts in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the Gulf States who know of them and how to use them. I think many of these people could be easily motivated to support and supply armed opposition in Iran, maybe even without our help.
Cas Balicki
Nickolas: Provide covert material aid and support to the protesters and the opposition, wherever possible.
From your keys to God’s ear.
Wait until we hear a statement that the State Department has recommended lifting a ban on sales on riot gear to the Qods.
The Iranian demonstrations of 2009 were Obama’s chance to live up to his peace prize, and he booted it – didn’t want to “meddle,” and all that.
Now he and his administration has meddled plenty (and amateurishly) as far as Egypt goes and Iran is coming back to bite him again. He has to either show some wisdom and courage to support freedom or keep mum and prove again to be of no importance.
I’m betting the latter.
If Obama air drops riot gear and tear gas to the embattled Iran government, it will be time for that bill of impeachment.
The demonstrators are going massive, hard, and fast, leaving little time to re-import Hamas hit squads and other niceties. Best of luck to the insurrection, give the Muslim Brotherhood some things to think about.
Sisyphus These poor guys are up against the hometown thugs, the Basij . Brutality is their logo, they shot Neda at random . They carry axes and ride motorcycles into crowds. Head crackers. Openly funded by the govt. Several of their headquarter/clubhouses were burned last time around. Probably country bumpkins and local lowlifes. Hamas hit-teams would be deployed to whack-a-mole duty in Palestine. Don’t you think. Repressive regimes spend a lot of this kind of stuff, but this time we get to finance it . Rather than dig up the oil here at home, so I think their refusal to do that is the same as lining the pockets of the recent camel drivers and caravanserai riffraff that now have countries ( so well drawn by Brit clerks). These Bedouin ( and other tribal pashas) were empowered by clerical colonial pencil pushers and confused oil companies back in the 20s, typically big bloody error !
Rob Long: This is exactly right, Claire. Egypt represented a rather thorny problem — Mubarak was an ally, after all, and the Muslim Brotherhood is, in the most generous terms, a mystery.
With Iran, there are no such subtleties.
This is his fork in the road. ·Feb 14 at 11:52am
“When you get to this level, half of this game is ninety percent mental.”
Other than a firm expression of support for this Iranian uprising, what can the US do? Yes! it is time to call a spade a spade, but what else? Is it enough to declare the mullahs in Iran an “evil empire”? anything covert would have had to have been set up already, and that setup would have had to have started after the last Iranian election. My guess is that the CIA is totally incapable of that, especially given that it can’t keep secrets. Any other suggestions or speculations?
I was speaking with an Iranian pal this past weekend. He is an engineer by training so this analogy is apt and imminently understandable. He likened the Middle East to a stress fracture in metal. Initially the crack may be a millimeter then it grows to two millimeters and then given any added stress it grows exponentially until the the structure ruptures completely. He called the political stress in Iran the weight of “accumulated hate”, a term I wish I’d thought up as it is elegant in its brevity and apt in its description of conditions in Iran among other places.
Provide covert material aid and support to the protesters and the opposition, wherever possible.
Just one example… Maybe they’d like some instruction on how to build IEDs. Maybe they need some explosives, triggers, etc. Maybe we know some motivated Iraqis who have that knowledge and access to the needed materials. After all, Iran has been doing the same thing in Iraq.
Just one example… Maybe they’d like some instruction on how to build IEDs. Maybe they need some explosives, triggers, etc. Maybe we know some motivated Iraqis who have that knowledge and access to the needed materials. After all, Iran has been doing the same thing in Iraq. ·Feb 14 at 11:29am
I agree, but the infrastructure for this sort of support would have had to have been set up months ago, something I doubt that Obama would have authorized. Don’t get me wrong, Nickolas, I want to see the US firmly on the revolution’s side; but I strongly suspect that it is in no position to do much, especially if the CIA is the vector of support. Sadly, that sector of the US government is badly compromised.
This is exactly right, Claire. Egypt represented a rather thorny problem — Mubarak was an ally, after all, and the Muslim Brotherhood is, in the most generous terms, a mystery.
With Iran, there are no such subtleties.
This is his fork in the road.
With Iran, there are no such subtleties.
This is his fork in the road. ·Feb 14 at 11:52am
In the immortal words of Yogi Berra: : “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”