Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Threatens Protesters (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened to crush any protesters and warns there will be a “revolutionary confrontation” if they take to the streets again:
“The country’s most powerful military force ordered demonstrators to “end the sabotage and rioting activities” and said their resistance is a “conspiracy” against Iran.
A statement posted Monday on the Guard’s Web site warned protesters to “be prepared for a resolution and revolutionary confrontation with the Guards, Basij and other security forces and disciplinary forces.””
The opponents say they will persist:
“The country belongs to you … protesting lies and fraud is your right,” Mousavi, who claims hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won re-election through fraud, said in a statement on his Web site.
***
Echoing Mousavi, former president Mohammad Khatami said in a statement that “protest in a civil manner and avoiding disturbances in the definite right of the people and all must respect that.”
The article notes both sides are courting the Iranian mullahs in an effort to garner support.
Finally, I think this is a photo of Neda, the martyr of Iran.
UPDATE: An early report indicates a massive police presence is dispersing all protesters in Tehran.
Meanwhile, the governing council acknowledged voting irregularities, including that over 100% voted in 50 cities.
— DRJ
Apparently “Hopeandchange” is not a concept applicable to the Iranians fighting tyranny.
The “good news” is that the Iranians can hand-count millions of votes in a matter of hours while we still dither in Minnesota.
Give me a break!
vet66 (9d1bb3) — 6/22/2009 @ 6:17 amThe photo of Neda comes straight out of a photoshop program. I’m not sure why they felt the need to remove the background but it shows the propagandist nature of all these people.
I watched the video of the girl before she was shot and the guy with the camera was tracking her. One guy walks by and looks at the camera and is grinning as he makes motions like he’s measuring someone for a casket. They guy with the camera was there for the purpose of recording the young lady’s “martyrdom”.
I think the “good guys” decided she would make a damn fine martyr and made it happen. I don’t think the government would choose to make the beautiful girl a martyr.
jcurtis (d67fef) — 6/22/2009 @ 6:22 amjcurtis,
Cameras always follow pretty girls. Iran’s thugs are killing lots of people.
This truther crap always sounds the same.
Juan (c34e61) — 6/22/2009 @ 6:47 amSupport from the mullahs? It’s so ironic their support is being sought.
Apparently Khatami knows how young Neda’s murder and martyrdom has the power to inspire and as such all mosques are banned from holding any memorial services for her.
Dana (8d88ef) — 6/22/2009 @ 7:25 am2, JCurtis, I marvel at your attempt at logic. Governments don’t think or have feelings. If the Government goons opened fire, a bullet does not care if your are good looking, sexy or ugly.
Only Liberals like you give disproportionate and wrong empathsis upon the application of human traits to inanimate objects.
PCD (02f8c1) — 6/22/2009 @ 7:25 amAfter watching the video of the crowd on Saturday throwing the tear-gas grenades back at the police, and routing them (H/T Instapundit), I sent this message on the Neda Revolution:
AD - RtR/OS! (7cda43) — 6/22/2009 @ 7:49 am“It will enter its’ decisive phase when the crowd stops throwing rocks, and starts throwing Molotov Cocktails. The regime has already lost, they’re just trying to define the terms of the victory.”
I never took jcurtis for a conspiracy theorist but maybe he sees a threat to Obama somehow. That’s enough for any Obambot to go into action.
Mike K (90939b) — 6/22/2009 @ 7:51 amI am dumbfounded by your statement, J. Curtis, you
narciso (dab149) — 6/22/2009 @ 7:56 amare so coldblooded than apparently just being at a rally, makes one liable to be struck down by the nameless Basij, and you’re alright with that. How long have had to deal with the National Guard shooting Powell, or the ‘iconic’ Eddie Adams of the dispatching of the Viet Cong minion, or Kent State, which was an accident
I admit when I saw the video of Nada I did think of a setup. Callous, Cynical, maybe. But it takes minutes for myth to go around the world and years for the myth to be disproved, and then the damage has been done.
davod (bce08f) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:00 amI’ve updated the post with a report on today’s protests and more on the election fraud.
DRJ (cdbef5) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:04 amThere are wheels within wheels.
That is why we should stfo.
wheeler's cat (0cf7e1) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:05 amIt is not about us.
Like jcurtis (or maybe not), I am reserving judgment. The first casualty of war is truth. Horst Wessel, too.
nk who can stream songs and movies on his blackberry (cf618d) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:07 amBut wheeler’s pussy really needs to get a life.
nk who can stream songs and movies on his blackberry (cf618d) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:08 amHey, nishi, if you are really a Sufi, tell us a Nazreddin Hodja story that cannot be found on the Internet.
nk who can stream songs and movies on his blackberry (cf618d) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:10 amHere is another reason Obama is staying out.
wheeler's cat (0cf7e1) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:10 amHistory.
My god you really are crazy.
wheeler's cat (0cf7e1) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:12 amNeda Soltani’s death was staged?
Im caching these comments.
wheeler’s cat:
And yet Rafsanjani is using Obama’s latest statement and other Western leaders’ condemnation to argue Ahmadinejad should be replaced:
Do you still think Obama should shut up, or will you now argue that it was his last statement that made the difference?
DRJ (cdbef5) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:17 amRe: jcurtis’ comment:
I don’t think he was making a point about Obama. I think he’s concerned about trusting the protesters and the Iranian government. Hopefully he can clear up what he meant.
DRJ (cdbef5) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:17 amThe story about Khamenei wanting his son to succeed him has finally caused the whole thing to make sense.
I mean, the underlying question in my mind all week has been: why steal the election? We know from previous presidents that reformer Presidents can’t accomplish their agenda when frustrated by the Supreme Leader; we know that all of the candidates were picked by the Mullahs as safe people who wouldn’t threaten the established order. So what’s the point in stealing the election?
It’s been pretty clear for a week now that many, many people in Iran think the election was stolen; it’s pretty clear now that there were serious irregularities at the very least. I believe it was stolen. But … the act of stealing this election has never made sense.
Now at least there’s a plausible theory in which stealing the election is rational behavior.
That said, this isn’t going to be finished this week; it will play out for months. The twitter feed last night was talking about general strikes and warning people to stock up on supplies.
It’s an amazing thing to watch: a repressed people standing up and saying ‘no more’ is a powerful thing to see.
aphrael (9e8ccd) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:19 amAmir Taheri says that the protests will not stop until after the 40 days of mourning that Shia hold for the dead. I still think there is a 50% chance the regime will fall. Obama has little he can do now but his persistent hope that he can negotiate and his reticence about criticizing obvious fraud in favor of Ahmadinejad dishonors this country’s history of support for freedom. He really is a third world president.
MIke K (90939b) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:19 amYes DRJ.
wheeler's cat (0cf7e1) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:31 amIt is not our bidness.
Anything Rafsanjani can squeeze out of Obama’s statements is non-cost-viable in the face of the legacy of Operation Ajax, in this situ.
Obama IS speaking support to the greens…you just can’t hear it.
He is talking about freedom and justice, not democracy. He is comparing Musavi’s religious non-violent protest to MLK’s religious non-violent protest.
Braying about democracy is not cost-viable, given the history of Operation Ajax.
Jcurtis is one of yours, nishi.
It would be nice if we had strong leadership standing behind our ideals of freedom, liberty, and democracy.
JD (355e34) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:31 amjd, Bush made democracy a dirty word in MENA. It doesn’t mean the same thing to you that it does to them.
wheeler's cat (0cf7e1) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:34 amTo muslims, “democracy” means Operation Ajax, triumphalist colonialism, the War on al-Islam, and western meddling.
The meaning is corrupted, and that is why Obama doesn’t use it much.
and jd is a regular commenter here…..so is nk.
wheeler's cat (0cf7e1) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:41 amDoes anyone believe that by sitting this out, that we are going to be better situated to bring an end to Iran’s nuclear program. No matter who winds up in control, both sides hav e indicated they will continue with their nuclear program. But the Sufi sycophant will continue to babble and babble and babble and babble and babble.
JD (355e34) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:41 amMike K: I also think there’s a good chance the regime will fall. The protestors’ mood is determined, from what I can tell; it would be easy to despair under the circumstances, but they don’t seem to be.
I don’t think we should downplay the role religion plays in making Iranians willing to be martyrs, either.
aphrael (9e8ccd) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:41 amjcurtis is a regular commenter here……so is nk.
wheeler's cat (0cf7e1) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:41 amBlow me, nishi. I am not on your side, you disgusting little troll. We discuss, we disagree. You spew.
nk who can stream songs and movies on his blackberry (cf618d) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:48 amBut, we’re all waiting to know what the Wisest Sufi Eugenicist’s thoughts on the matter are.
Techie (482700) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:52 amwheeler’s cat:
Obama is still a man, isn’t he? Or is he speaking in tongues now?
DRJ (cdbef5) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:53 am“Truther”, “liberal”, blah blah blah. Am I a “truther” because I would automatically presume upon hearing the story about the bombing of Khomeini’s tomb the other day that the Iranian government was behind it and they did it for the purpose of creating resentment against the uprisers? Is it a “liberal” presumption?
If Zapruder had been tracking one common person in the crowd with his video camera for several minutes and that person’s head suddenly blew up, I’d want to question Zapruder.
jcurtis (022e61) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:53 amRiddle me this, if “Democracy” is such a dirty word in Iran, why the need for sham elections?
Can’t the Supreme Leader simply appoint whom Allah tells him to outright, without the need to be validated by the trembling masses?
Techie (482700) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:54 amDoes anyone believe that by sitting this out, that we are going to be better situated to bring an end to Iran’s nuclear program.
No.
But that’s not the question we should be asking.
The question we should be asking is: what is the best thing for us to do to help the Iranian people take control of their own destiny? Reasonable people can differ on the answer; but I think this is a case where we need to put our concerns to the side and figure out how to help the Iranian people become more free.
aphrael (9e8ccd) — 6/22/2009 @ 8:55 amCome on, nishi, tell us the punchline of Hodja on a boat in a storm.
nk who can stream songs and movies on his blackberry (cf618d) — 6/22/2009 @ 9:01 amTechie – the Islamic Republic has always had a bifurcated political system in which one arm of government is responsible to the people and the other arm of government is responsible to the Mullahs. How this was supposed to work is unclear, but in practice it has meant that the democratic arm of government has been inferior to the theocratic arm, which has maintained most of the power.
That said, I think the claim that ‘democracy’ is a dirty word in Iran is bizarre. The rhetoric of the 1979 revolution was that it was both an Islamic revolution and a democratic revolution.
aphrael (9e8ccd) — 6/22/2009 @ 9:01 amIf the US had done nothing about Iraq, there would be two regimes next to each other which merrily murder their own citizens, and attack and threaten the neighboring countries, ally with terrorists, and ignore the UN.
So, who’s better off today–Iraqis or the Iranians? The Iranians are slaves.
I marvel at the deluded commenters who oppose at least a strong, Sarkozy-like condemnation of the Iranian thugocracy.
Official Internet Data Office (624a0b) — 6/22/2009 @ 9:01 amObama is staying out of it for fear that people will look at the voting irregularities that led to his own election.
Patrick (d1311f) — 6/22/2009 @ 9:06 amwhat would Ron Regan do ? the lack of any sort of real action to positivly influence events in Iran right now just shows how lame OHB is. Merely parking a couple dozen of our tanks on the Iraq/Iran border would make the revolutionary guards stop supressing their people and reposition themselvs to counter something that will never come. Any leader with a tiny bit of skill could use the potential of our forces to great effect without ever having to use them. Did you ever hear of the concept of a”fleet in being” if not maybe you ought to read some Mahon and quit thinking you know all about history because you know the name of one planned operation that went wrong 30 years ago
andyg (68d9e4) — 6/22/2009 @ 9:15 amDemocracy is a dirty word in MENA.
wheeler's cat (0cf7e1) — 6/22/2009 @ 9:20 amBecause of Operation Ajax and the Bush Doctine…aka the Epic Fail of the Manifest Destiny of Judeoxian Democracy in MENA.
Iraq is an Islamic state….they have sharia law in their constitution.
The true meaning of democracy, in the 30 years since the 1979 revolution text quoted, has become convolved with western aggression and meddling.
WC, your comments are getting more incoherent.
SPQR (72771e) — 6/22/2009 @ 9:24 amSee? It’s always the West’s fault. Poor benighted natives just can’t be responsible for their own actions.
Eric Blair (5a226d) — 6/22/2009 @ 9:31 amEB & SPQR – The sycophantic Sufi is inbested heavily in these memes. It will not be deterred.
JD (355e34) — 6/22/2009 @ 9:47 am“what would Ron Regan do ?”
Sell them missiles.
francis (3a110b) — 6/22/2009 @ 10:00 amAphrael brings up a good point regarding the latest Twitter feeds – if a general strike in the country is called and observed, this regime is effectively over, although it will take some time. The Revolutionary Guards can murder anyone they wish, but they cannot force the entire country to go back to work if they decided not to – the reality of this protest is more about the economy being in shambles and the massive population cohort of young people under 25 years of age having no prospects for their futures. Who cares at this point if the economy’s brought to a standstill? It already is a disaster, no downside to such an action.
Dmac (f7884d) — 6/22/2009 @ 10:02 amThe sycophantic Sufi is inbested heavily in these memes. It will not be deterred.
Sell them missiles.
I love it when the Trolls come in and do their Tourette’s – Sydrome acts that reflexively prove our points. Take a bow, francis – you’re truly one of our most special little guys! Care to post any more memes from your latest edition of Highlights for Children?
Dmac (f7884d) — 6/22/2009 @ 10:07 amI don’t think we should downplay the role religion plays in making Iranians willing to be martyrs, either.
Comment by aphrael
I agree but there is a large secular component in the university students who seem just as determined. If the mullahs’ government falls, Rafsanjani will still be in trouble because he made millions as a mullah. A lot of this is about corruption.
I also think that this would not happen if Saddam were still in power. Bush shook the tessellated pavement of the middle east and the changes are just beginning to be seen. Since I don’t think the current situation could be worse, I am cautiously hopeful.
Mike K (90939b) — 6/22/2009 @ 10:20 am“I agree but there is a large secular component in the university students who seem just as determined.”
Are they the ones chanting “allahu akbar” ?
francis (3a110b) — 6/22/2009 @ 10:47 amfrancis – where in his comment did he not acknowledge that there is a religious component?
JD (355e34) — 6/22/2009 @ 11:04 amFrancis: actually, yes, I bet the secular component are out shouting allahu akbar … because they know what’s going to move their fellow Iranians, and they seem to be quite skilled at framing the fight in terms which will win them allies rather than enemies.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 6/22/2009 @ 11:14 amFrancis’ comment was just silly useless snark. It had no substance.
SPQR (72771e) — 6/22/2009 @ 11:29 amMilwaukee stands in solidarity with Iran!
Philadelphia stands in solidarity with Iran!
Indianapolis stands in solidarity with Iran!
carlitos (84409d) — 6/22/2009 @ 12:19 pm“Francis: actually, yes, I bet the secular component are out shouting allahu akbar … b”
I think obama should eschew nuance and start chanting allahu akbar too. That would make the wingnuts wild, no?
francis (ae41b0) — 6/22/2009 @ 12:51 pmGoodness, but you’re an even bigger asshat than previously thought, frankie. How’s that tinfoil hat looking these days?
Dmac (f7884d) — 6/22/2009 @ 1:34 pmDmac, as I’ve mentioned here before, the correct material is aluminum foil, not tinfoil.
SPQR (72771e) — 6/22/2009 @ 1:36 pmI stand corrected – as for frances the Talking Mule…
Dmac (f7884d) — 6/22/2009 @ 4:52 pmHow dare you! You damn infidel loving protestors! We will show you the power of our side
Californio (6657ce) — 6/22/2009 @ 10:25 pm! Um, just a point of order…you will not be armed, right? I mean we are fine shooting unarmed women….but you better not try anything, you know, dangerous! Someone (well, ok, meaning us) could get hurt!
I’ll bet francis knows that Allah akbar ! predates Islam. After all, he seems to know everything.
Yes, it is being shouted as a protest by secular people. They are also shouting “death to dictators” the past few days.
MIke K (2cf494) — 6/22/2009 @ 11:42 pmMike K – francis is just spitting out nonsense.
JD (1cc534) — 6/23/2009 @ 5:06 amOh, I know, JD. The trolls seem to be thick on the ground these days.
What is interesting is that, if you go to a left wing blog like Washington Monthly and post a comment that disagrees, even politely, with the party line, the comment is quickly deleted. I used to be a regular commenter there when Kevin Drum first ran it. When they first began to delete my comments, I complained to Kevin by e-mail and he replied that he had no control of it anymore. The left prefers an echo chamber, which is why they hate Fox News so much.
He left for Mother Jones but they are just as bad about deleting opposing comments.
MIke K (2cf494) — 6/23/2009 @ 9:28 am