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  • #46
    They want a recount, and they'll get a recount:

    Iran's powerful Guardian Council says it is ready to recount disputed votes from Friday's presidential poll.

    Moderate candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has contested President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, alleging widespread fraud.

    The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says the council's announcement is a complete U-turn. The official results sparked three days of huge protests.

    Iranian radio says seven people were killed during demonstrations on Monday.

    The Guardian Council said the votes would be recounted in areas contested by the losing candidates.

    Our correspondent says this could effectively allow the defeated candidates to challenge all the votes.
    rest of the art. (about protests etc): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8102400.stm
    Blah

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    • #47
      Originally posted by Sirotnikov View Post
      Excellent picture coverage:


      http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/200..._election.html



      Interesting post about the media





      Do you agree?
      Sort of yeah, but this applies especially to the 24-hour networks. I hardly see the relevance of 90% of their news reporting. Alas they need to broadcast around the clock so obviously they have to report on nonsensical topics.

      I mainly keep to the written media, that is newspapers and weekly (monthly) news magazines with the occasional article on the internet. They bring the most reliable news, with the most background and the best quality news in general. Tv pretty much... sucks if you want news
      "An archaeologist is the best husband a women can have; the older she gets, the more interested he is in her." - Agatha Christie
      "Non mortem timemus, sed cogitationem mortis." - Seneca

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      • #48
        Strangelove has the idea. I just don't see how these riots and rallies will effect a change in the Iranian political system, or what the riot is *about*. If the elections are rigged, then is the riot about scrutiny of the results? A recount? A new election? If so the system may remain unchanged.
        "You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."--General Sir Charles James Napier

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        • #49
          Originally posted by DanS View Post
          What do y'all make of this...



          http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...d=opinionsbox1
          Dunno really. I have no sympathies for Ahmadinejad, but what we mostly got here in the media during the recent days was about the situation in Tehran, and not from the countryside where probably most of his supporters are. So if there's hard proof of fraud and they get rid of him I'd certainly like it, but it's difficult to tell what really happened without further info.
          Blah

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          • #50
            Juan Cole is a total asshat, and Ramo is a boob for quoting him. But a sub-50% victory by Ahmadinejad, which would have required a run-off seems plausible to me.
            I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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            • #51
              If they can fix the regular election, why couldn't they fix a run-off.
              It's said they were worried about extra scrutiny in a run-off election, but if they had not stacked the regular election there wouldn't be talk of extra scrutiny, so this just seemed like bad stratagy.
              It's almost as if all his overconfident, absolutist assertions were spoonfed to him by a trusted website or subreddit. Sheeple
              RIP Tony Bogey & Baron O

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              • #52
                Originally posted by DanS View Post
                Juan Cole is a total asshat, and Ramo is a boob for quoting him. But a sub-50% victory by Ahmadinejad, which would have required a run-off seems plausible to me.
                Proof that Cole is a total asshat: he's agreeing with you.

                One important point that Cole neglected to make: the Iranian campaign season is very short. It started after this poll went out. Mousavi didn't have a lot of name recognition (70% of the population is under 30, and his stint as PM was in the 80's) and the Reformists didn't appear particularly energized (and plausibly could've sat out the election, i.e. four years ago). Most observers agreed that Ahmedinejad would pull out a plurality victory three weeks ago. That consensus rapidly changed, and this change is quantified in leaked government polls (showing Mousavi up 10-20%) and the clearly massive turnout.
                "Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. "
                -Bokonon

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                • #53
                  Here's Kagan's take on the US response.

                  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/16/AR2009061601753.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
                  I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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                  • #54
                    I'm not sure where you're going with this. "I see your asshat, and I'll raise you a douchenozzle?"

                    The bald assertions in that article are precious. Here are my favorites:
                    His extremely guarded response to the outburst of popular anger at the regime has been widely misinterpreted as reflecting concern that too overt an American embrace of the opposition will hurt it[...]

                    His goal must be to deflate the opposition, not to encourage it. And that, by and large, is what he has been doing.
                    "Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. "
                    -Bokonon

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                    • #55
                      Seriously, can you offer one shred of evidence that the Reformists want anything resembling solidarity with the US government?
                      "Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. "
                      -Bokonon

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                      • #56
                        Originally posted by Traianvs View Post
                        Sort of yeah, but this applies especially to the 24-hour networks. I hardly see the relevance of 90% of their news reporting. Alas they need to broadcast around the clock so obviously they have to report on nonsensical topics.

                        I mainly keep to the written media, that is newspapers and weekly (monthly) news magazines with the occasional article on the internet. They bring the most reliable news, with the most background and the best quality news in general. Tv pretty much... sucks if you want news
                        Yeah, I agree that newspapers have been doing well, but the cable news has been doing a really poor job covering this story. And while 90% (or whatever) may necessarily be unimportant junk, that they've done such a poor job of this is inexcusable. Teh Intertubes (blogs, twitter, etc) has actually done a good role in this - and this comes from someone skeptical of them - though I'm still skeptical of them (in terms of accountability, resources, bias, etc) that I dont think they can replace traditional news sources.
                        "I read a book twice as fast as anybody else. First, I read the beginning, and then I read the ending, and then I start in the middle and read toward whatever end I like best." - Gracie Allen

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                        • #57
                          From what I get from teh twitter and various blogs, the casualties are heavily under-reported, and mostly hidden from site.

                          The govt. uses nightfall to storm major protestor concentrations and arrests and hurts people then.

                          Also they use such tactics as phone, sms and e-mail intimidation against protestors.

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                          • #58
                            Do you agree?
                            Yeah, today's news media carries anything and everything BUT the news. BBC isn't too bad, but American's news shows are a joke.

                            Comment

                            • #59
                              Originally posted by Ramo View Post
                              That's incorrect. The Council of Experts is an elected body. Khamenei opponent, former Pres Rafsanjani, won key elections in 2006, and took control of the Council. It's even possible that he has the votes to depose Khamenei (some reporting suggests that he has been trying to whip up opposition - but I doubt he'll be successful).
                              The Supreme Leader selects who may be elected to the Guardian Council. The Supreme Leader in turn is monitored by the Council of Experts, who potentially could depose the Supreme Leader. Candidates for the Council of Experts however are vetted by the Guardian Council, candidates for which are vetted by the Supreme Leader.
                              "I say shoot'em all and let God sort it out in the end!

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                              • #60
                                Originally posted by Zkribbler View Post
                                Yeah, today's news media carries anything and everything BUT the news. BBC isn't too bad, but American's news shows are a joke.
                                From what I've heard on NPR they're tossing out all foreign reporters. They've been confined to their hotels and have 24 to 48 hours to leave the country.

                                I wonder what happens then?
                                "I say shoot'em all and let God sort it out in the end!

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