Month: February 2010

From reliable Twitter sources:

And Ahmadinejad’s Big Declaration? “The first batch of 20% uranium has been produced already.”

Ahmadinejad brags about #Iran's laser technology

"those who control the energy in the Middle East control the world"

Nejad: What's wrong if iran produce nuclear fuel and you [western govs] come and buy from us?

We're so brave that if we decide to build atomic bomb, we've no fear of the rest of the world!

People now chanting 'Marg bar Dictator' (Down with the Dictator) in Azadi Square

Josh Shahryar:

Here’s an impromptu translation of Ahmadinejad’s full speech in Tehran from today. As usual, he just blames the rest of the world for everything

(Updated with video via EA)

Enduring America:

0805 GMT: Urgent — Ali Karroubi, son of Mehdi Karroubi has been arrested. The news has been confirmed by his brother, Hossein Karroubi.

0757 GMT: And Khatami? Parleman News is reporting that former President Mohammad Khatami was present in marches between Zanjan St and Azadi Square, supported by loud chants, but he was soon forced to pull back and leave after pressure from pro-Government force.

IranNewsNow:

[W]e reported that Jaras had reported on the arrest of former president Khatami’s brother and his wife. We now have confirmation from multiple sources that they were let go, but told not to participate in the protests again.

IRIB is airing supposed footage from Ahmadi's rally in Azadi Square. Pedestrian has more:

Azadi is FILLED TIGHT. But the images are not live. (they claim it is this years). Lots of people are carrying green flags. But you can also make out people with green ribbon in their hand. IRIB will not air the sound from the square but has its own tune playing … which means something is going on there that they do not want us to hear! Here is a video of the night before, showing how Azadi Square has been sealed off with wire.

Josh Shahryar adds:

Apparently the government-run media in Iran is showing doctored from previous public gatherings in order to block out green protesters from the TV screen. Here’s a purported video from IRIB.

The BBC is also featuring some footage.

Enduring America is going strong:

0745 GMT: Attack on Karroubi.

The best report so far re the claimed assault on Mehdi Karroubi comes from a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist who talked to Karroubi’s son: “Karroubi and his car came under attack by hardliners, people being beaten up.” Parleman News and Fereshteh Ghazi are now reporting the attack as well.

As is IranNewsNow:

[10:49AM Tehran Time]

BREAKING NEWS: Multiple reliable sources report that Opposition Leader, Karroubi’s vehicle has been attacked, the windows broken. Karroubi left the scene!!

[10:46AM Tehran Time]

MikVerbrugge and several others have reported tear gas fired at north corner of Falekeh Sadeghiyeh. I consider this unconfirmed for now, but watching closely.

Josh Shahryar at Daily Nite Owl:

10:03 AM (Tehran Time)

There are reports that clashes have begun between security forces and protesters in Central Tehran – mainly in Sadeghie, where Mehdi Karroubi is expected to arrive within a short while. This could not be confirmed through other sources yet. There are now also reports that there have been clashes at Azadi Square in Central Tehran.

9:54 AM (Tehran Time) Balatarin.com reports that internet access in Tehran has become extremely slow. So far there are no videos, pictures or audio of protests inside Iran. There are new reports that people have started chanting at Azadi Square.

Pedestrian:

08:30 a.m. IRIB1 is showing Azadi St., leading to Sharif University of Technology. The area is surrounded with people carrying Iranian flags and photos of the leader. The reporter is saying: “despite official calls for the demonstrations to begin 9:30 a.m., people have been gathering since 7 a.m.”

Which means: knowing that protesters would arrive early (on the blogistan, they had planned to arrive around 8), they’ve taken in their people from early in the morning (some reports indicate from the night before).

NIAC is planning to live-blog soon. Masoud and Babylon & Beyond will have coverage as well.

(Image from here. Likely translation: "I have a dream and one day i will get that dream")

On the eve of the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, Scott Lucas set the scene, Tehran Bureau presented the plan against the protesters, the NYT reported the crackdown on journalists, FP chronicled the people who want to bomb Iran, Trita Parsi said to let the US take care of the situation, Robert Wright discussed the nuclear program, and a beefcake used his body to protest the regime.

In other news, the Binyam Mohammed case took a dramatic turn, Gingrich tried to feed us falsities, and a new Fox clone launched a congressional campaign. The Dish kept tabs on the Christianism of Palin and Bachmann, Nate Silver considered a Palin victory in the primaries, TNC gave props to the First Lady, Steve Chapman showed the tolerance of militaries with gay members, and we highlighted the fact that climate change created more snow. Cool ad here.

Andrew crafted a lengthy response to Wieseltier. Frum, Chait, Greenwald, Larison, and a reader commented on the controversy.

— C.B.

Frum sounds off:

Like all Jews, I’m alert to anti-semitism, and well aware that it has spread into new and more respectable purlieus over the past generation. The New Republic has been a valiant voice against this  moral vice for as long as I’ve been reading it, and I am glad they are there to challenge it where it exists. But the challenge must begin with the proof. Cite the chapter and verse. Show the context.  Get the goods. The New Republic has not done that in its critique of Sullivan’s Israel writing, and as a regular reader of his blog, I know why: Those particular goods aren’t there to be got. Lots of other goods, yes. Not these.

A veteran of the uprising tweets:

People Chanting “Death to the Dictator” on the Roofs in West Tehran.

Tehran: The Whole City Shouthing: Death to the Dictator, Azadi (Freedom), Stronger than Ever

North, Centeral Tehran People Shouting “Death to the Dictator,…Tomorrow We Will Come!”

A reader writes:

You know, the View from Your Window feature is way less enjoyable when you use it to flack the book every single time. Every once in a while, I get. But the beauty of the feature is rather compromised by the endless commercial.

We are in the process of featuring the book in the sidebar along with the others.

Chait writes that I am not an anti-semite – thanks! – but criticizes my coverage of the Middle East:

[O]n the Middle East, Andrew falls prey to a habitual tendency to see the world divided between children of darkness and children of light. This is not a problem for a writer who is describing conflicts between Democrats and Republicans. When the parties involve happen to correspond with ethnic groups, then it’s going to be impossible to avoid language that appears racialistic. I don’t think that Andrew’s transformation from overwrought hawk to overwrought dove is driven by, or has brought about, a different view of Jews. It seems instead to be the shattering of a brittle worldview and its replacement by a new worldview, equally brittle.

I have no different view of “Jews” than I have ever had.

Having any view of “Jews” is silly. I do think Israel has become more intransigent over the last few years, and because the dangers of this in the current climate are global, I am more than a little impatient with the lack of much movement in Washington on understanding this. And I think the Gaza war was horrifying not just for the suffering it created and compounded but by the fact that large majorities in Israel supported it and would do it again. Across the world, opinion of Obama, for example, is pretty high. In Israel? It has been as low as 6 percent. Does Chait think this is the same old Israel? Just because Obama wanted to reach out to the Muslim world in Cairo and wanted a freeze on settlements?

Why is Israel such an outlier? I think my assessment is not a function of my own sudden change but a reflection of the world as it has changed. Reihan adds his two cents. So does James Joyner.