cnn is on in the background. i can hear the newly elected president of iran speaking via translator doing exactly what all politicians do when asked a question that they have no intention of answering. he gave the answer he wanted to give which for regular people means, he lied/obfuscated/flimflamed an answer:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today dismissed street protests against his surprise re-election. "It doesn't matter," he said of the protesters and complaints from his defeated rivals. "Some people are sentimental and become excited," he said, comparing the protests to a soccer match. "Their team has not won in the match." (from cnn online)
democracy at its best.
as in all police states, when the dictators want to make sure democracy is working, the first things that gets shut down are the communication systems: no texting, cellphones are jammed, facebook and twitter have been shut down. what's next for the iranian people? there will be no recount, no opportunity for a runoff, nothing. the rumor mill has started about the opposition party being under house arrest, fined, jailed, who knows.
we'll see. today i'll be following the news.
we're gonna have a good life.
Wow, hair-raising, I know.
ReplyDeleteHedgehog has asked about it, which challenged me to explain the situation in Iran, and the elections and outcome (no easy task, to translate it in all its nuance for an, albeit intelligent, 8-year-old) and now she is following it with great interest.
The first job I had out of university had two Iranian engineering co-op interns working there. Both returned to Iran when they finished their degrees. This before the revolution. I have always wondered what happened to them.
ReplyDeleteHow depressing.
ReplyDeleteWe can now say goodbye to any thoughts of peace in Iran.
Yea.Those Protesters are Brave.I wish them well but.............
ReplyDeleteI've heard that even journalists wanting to cover the election struggled to get visas for Iran for much longer than a few days.
ReplyDeleteTell you what; it's been a rotten decade hasn't it.
Once again the West has been blamed for 'sticking its nose' into another country's affairs.
ReplyDeleteI'm sick of hearing that same oul warcry.
Send in the SAS.
Iran makes me feel miserable just thinking about it. But then, it's the joy of democracy. Power to the right people. Not the other people who may disagree with you.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. We are lucky to be here. We complain about a lot of things, but that's just it: We can complain about it without worrying about the gov't hunting us down and taking us out (well, at least I hope so).
ReplyDeleteJimmy's got the right idea! I was just stunned at the statistics of the voting population - surely, so many young (i.e. under 30) are sick of all the restrictions they had under the current government - what makes Ahmadinejad think they'd want even MORE? The arrogance of the man is astounding!
ReplyDeleteYet another country putting the "mock" in "democracy."
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what happens here in the UK, if elections don't go as planned the media goes unexplainably "tits up"
ReplyDeleteStrange, what?