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Iran's leader: End protests or risk bloodshed

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The whole fraudulent,odious theocracy - and Little Big Man A'jad in particular - claims its legitimacy comes from its dedication to the Mahdi, the Hiddden Imam, who been in occultation these last, oh, 1200 years or so but will come out of hiding to redeem the Shia and make Persia first among the nations of this world.

If so, why does he tarry?

Khomeini's Islamic revolution is only 30 years old and it is faltering.

Twitter has them on their heels.

"Hahahahahahaha - too funny ! "

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Rafsanjani’s opposition has raised speculation of possible rifts emerging in the ruling theocracy over the election. Rafsanjani heads a panel of clerics with the power to review the supreme leader’s performance and remove him—although that has never been used.

So much for a monolithic dictatorship.

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So much for a monolithic dictatorship.

The mullahs, like totalitarians everywhere, play Western Lefties so often and so easily it's as if they know fooling them is as easy as waiting one generation...

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Unfortunately to many people, Islam appears to stand for nothing more than jihads and voting fraud. These images coming out of Iran are very disturbing in that they look a lot like China during the Tianamen uprising. But, China is a communist country, so you expect the worst from them. For a supposedly "relgious" country -- an Islamic republic -- to be acting in this manner is very troubling.

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Rafsanjani is not exactly a democrat, he is a billionaire who got his money looting the oil ministry. He lost control of the oil ministry last year and wants it back, that is all.

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The mullahs, like totalitarians everywhere, play Western Lefties so often and so easily it's as if they know fooling them is as easy as waiting one generation...

So... Iran's botched election is all about Western Lefties? That's a reach even for wingnut conspiracy theorists.

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Level their nuclear facilities. Then we won't have to care what goes on in this silly country.

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Pay back is a bitch, just like he did it to the government of Mohamed Reza Palavi in 1979. Time for people's power in Iran to regain their freedom.

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Go Iran!! Good ol dictatorship just like in China. There will be posters come on here and defend your actions and somehow put the blame on the good ol US of A. I suspect.

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These headlines are ridiculous! Read the transcripts of what Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, there were no threats of violence. Tomorrow's headline will be "Hundreds of Millions March in Iran."

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For a supposedly "relgious" country -- an Islamic republic -- to be acting in this manner is very troubling.

Yeah, it's a well-known fact that religious countries are the most peaceful ones... Stupid!

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"So... Iran's botched election is all about Western Lefties? That's a reach even for wingnut conspiracy theorists."

Heh, they seem like their normal, breathless selves to me....

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" There will be posters come on here and defend your actions and somehow put the blame on the good ol US of A. I suspect."

I've yet to see one poster - even the shiekiest lefty - speak in defense of the Iranian regime in regards to this election.

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Khamenei, the stern "father," wept.

Bad, bad sign. Last time this happened he severely disciplined his "children."

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the un-elected are directing the elected!

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pawatan

So... Iran's botched election is all about Western Lefties? That's a reach even for wingnut conspiracy theorists.

Not at all. I was merely pointing out what everyone - other than sentimental Lefties - who reads up on the regime in Iran soon understands: they present the appearance of offering democratic elections but the mullahs handpick the candidates. Hence my earlier characterization - before the elections, I might add - of these elections in terms that people like yabits immediately objected to but still can't disprove or deny:

teleprompter at 02:42 PM JST - 12th June The mullahs have the last say in these Potemkin elections.

Yabits and or good Donkey (can't always tell em apart) also took immediate offense to the skepticism I offered on a thread about Obama's silly Cairo speech:

teleprompter at 07:38 PM JST - 7th June Obama has spoken. So let the Lebanese (June 7) and the Iranians (June 12) in their respective elections show the world that Mohammedans are ready to also try dialogue and diplomacy.

Now that the "elections" are over the mullahs are saying dialogue is out, bloodshed will follow if the people persist in their demands for more representation and though Lebanon retains a slim, ostensibly "pro-western" majority in its gov't Hezbollah and Hamas have bused hundreds of their Iranian-trained thugs into Teheran to help the regime crack as many skulls as it takes.

The silence and then waffling from our rookie president is shameful.

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Heh, you're now quoting yourself to back up your arguments bubba?

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Kahmenei is the predecessor of Khomeini, who had 6,000,000 (Million) supporters when he returned from exile in 1979, compared to the 100,000 that Mousavi has today. The population of Iran is 70,000,000 (Million). So Mousavi has less than 1% of the population in protest.

So why does the Western media make such a big deal out of this? Sounds like a conspiracy and corruption to me.

Why are there so many immature and ignorant comments on this board? Sounds like the conspiracy and corruption is working to me.

I hope Obama and everyday Americans aren't part of this, because the whole world is watching.

Who were the people in the administration that meddled with Twitter? And why was it so important to them? If they cared about other countries and people so much, why aren't they telling twitter to keep the lines open on the 26,000 children that are dying everyday, or the increasing unemployment rate, or the 1,000,000,000 BN that are estimated to be in poverty.

One of the biggest threats to Iran has always been factioning, which threatens the fabric, culture, and history of Iran and all that it has been preserving for more than 1,700 years. Iran is a cultural world heritage, untouched by Western culture and materialism.

So when some site like "twitter", (some start-up that began less than 1,700 days ago) that is being told what to do by the US government, becomes some temporary sensation, which is feeding the factioning process within Iran, it would bother me too.

How many more countries does the West want to mess up? Doesn't it have enough mess on its hands already?

Why do I have to waste my time worrying about the West trying to mess around with another country every year? How many countries do you need to mess around with?

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"end street protests"

Or, shut up and resign yourselves to tyranny.

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Heh, you're now quoting yourself to back up your arguments

A total embarrassment, for sure.

What President Obama is doing is denying the current corrupt Iranian leadership the kind of "enemy" that they can use to rally the people against. Obama is making difficult for them what his predecessor made so very easy. He has been playing this nearly perfectly, and even Bush's former Iran policy advisor agrees.

Of course, that won't stop a lot of Republicans from wanting Obama to fan more of the flames that could get hundreds or thousands of Iranians killed. What has started in Iran with Obama's approach and this election is the blueprint of a new Iranian Islamic Republic. As with Europe's former communist countries, there were not enough young people in pipeline who believed in the system. Iran is that trend on steroids.

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"compared to the 100,000 that Mousavi has today."

Either my maths is pretty bad, or you're talking rubbish. Even the contested results of the election have Mousavi thirty odd percent of the vote.

You've falled prey to thinking Mousavi is Iran's Obama, which he 'aint.

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Fallen prey. My typing is nearly as bad as your maths!

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Yabits,

It has zero credibility. Nothing "ver changes.

The hyenena's shrieking at Obama for not speaking out enough on the Iranian elections are the same that supported the old guy who lost out to Obama, who once joked about bombing Iran.

At least their views (even the flip-flop ones) provide a constant source of amusement for those of us without a radical agenda.

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Could 66% of of Iran's voters actually be dumb enough to vote for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

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If the poplar movement in Iran - who look like they are planning to protest futher risking exasperating the tensions, then I reckon bush will be relevant for the frothy conservatives here. Reagan too.

Suddenly they'll be "responsible" for over-turning the Islamic republic. If things don't work out well, it will be President Obama's fault. Same froth, different day - the radical Iranians operate in a similar manner, burning US flags and shrieking about "meddling".

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It's not inconceivable that Ahmadinejad could have been re-elected; he has sizable support in Iran. What is inconceivabe is that Ahmadinejad could have beaten Mousavi by such an absurdly huge margin, especially in Mousavi's home province and amongst his sizable ethnic group. It gets even fishier when you compare the pre-poll data, and Ahmadinejad's support levels from the previous election to the "result" hastily announced after voting ended this time around. Why are vote-riggers always so rediculously clumbsy and obvious about their vote-rigging?

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Very good points, Triumvere.

Add to them the fact that the last time an outright reformist was offered on the ballot (Khatami), he trounced his hardline opposition.

The motivation for the Iranian hardliners to rig the elections is easy to understand. The combination of a less belligerent United States with the disastrous economic policies of Ahmadinejad threatened a perfect storm that would bring about a new Iran.

There are those who look at the superficial aspects of the Iranian election and call it "Potemkin," but the reality is much more nuanced and complex.

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At least their views (even the flip-flop ones) provide a constant source of amusement...

Madverts, I keep getting the image that I'm witnessing a lecture on how to run a tight ship by Wilhelm Klink.

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Heh, but that was intentional humour, Yabits.

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teleprompter:

" Khomeini's Islamic revolution is only 30 years old and it is faltering. "

I don´t know why you think that. Can you think of any islamic regime that has allowed itself to be voted out of power? And there is no indication that the Iranian Imamate will be a historic first here.

" The silence and then waffling from our rookie president is shameful. "

That, alas, is true. And it was all too predictable. Some of us warned about this for a long time.

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Triumvere: Why are vote-riggers always so rediculously clumbsy and obvious about their vote-rigging?

Let's not forget these are the guys who release photoshopped pictures thinking they wouldn't get caught...heh.

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I think Obama is making the right move. He's not doing anything to distract the world from watching what Iran is doing. He's basically stepping out of the way and letting them implode all on their own. Does he support the protesters? Probably. Would he be helping them if he said so in public? Probably not. I think that inserting himself in the situation would actually work against the protesters.

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Some of us warned about [Obama's silence] for a long time.

Conservatives would be well advised to give silence a try.

Can you think of any islamic regime that has allowed itself to be voted out of power?

LOL!! Another conservative needing a history lesson. The real question is when has an Islamic regime made a peaceful transition to a more secular, more republican form of government. And the answer to that can be found in the demise of the Ottoman empire and the rise of modern Turkey.

The question about regimes "allowing" themselves to be voted out of power indicates one of the most malevolent strains of thought in all of human history. Conservatives after WWII were willing to blow the world up and end human history in the false belief that "once communist-always communist." Conservative dogma stressed that it was impossible for communist regimes to make a peaceful transition to non-communist rule.

We now see the same malignant strain of rationalization applied to the Islamic world.

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As he concluded his sermon, Khamenei invoked the names of Shiite saints and began weeping.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to; cry if I want to.

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The voices of 1,000,000,000 crying people in poverty might not be heard by some of us, but will be quickly swallowing up the rest of us, if we don't get this right.

Try not eating for one day, and let us know if makes you cry or not. And maybe you will understand a little bit more about the Islamic world.

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"LOL!! Another conservative needing a history lesson. The real question is when has an Islamic regime made a peaceful transition to a more secular, more republican form of government. And the answer to that can be found in the demise of the Ottoman empire and the rise of modern Turkey."

Woah there... Ataturk surpressed Islamism with an iron hand and forcibly pushed Turkey into modernity and Westernism. Peaceful in relative terms, yes - but not exactly democratic.

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So less than 1% of the population (You can't keep everyone happy I guess, in a population of 70M people) is on the streets. Where are the rest of these Mousavi supporters? It sounded to me like a few Mousavi supporters tried to run into the Police compound. If I was a police guard, I would consider defending myself. Or maybe we should storm some airports and tasered people to death instead.

How many riots occur in the West? Hockey riots, cricket riots, UK riots, LA riots. I guess that would mean we would need to change Democracy to something else (Based on the markets it looks like maybe we do).

Ahmadinejad, won his first presidential election with more than 60% of the people's votes. I haven't seen anything about fraud, or riots then, so why should it be any different now.

Sounds like Mousavi is quickly losing ground, and trying to kiss his way out of this by looking to the West, which obviously hates Ahmadinejad who cleary, fights for the poor and oppressed, something that is really annoying to Capitalists, who also love to kiss their bosses and fear for their own 9-5 jobs. Where else can they release their pent up anger towards themselves, they have already fired as many former "buddies" as they can to preserve the lifestyle that they've become accustomed to.

"Supporters of Ahmadinejad consider him a "simple man" that leads a "modest" life. Upon becoming president (in 2005), he wanted to continue living in his "modest" family home in Tehran, until his security advisers forced him to move. Ahmadinejad rolled up the antique Persian carpets in the Presidential palace and sent them to a carpet museum, and used low-cost carpets instead. There are stories that he refused the V.I.P. seat on the Presidential plane, and that he eventually replaced it with a cargo plane instead."

"After two years as mayor, Ahmadinejad was shortlisted in a list of 65 finalists for World Mayor in 2005 and was among 3 strong candidates for the top-10 list"

Sounds like Obama to me. No-one questions his win, although, I have read there have been convicted cases of voter fraud in California recently.

What's with all these news articles on Iran? Twitter. Maybe its not about Freedom and Democracy. Just advertising space, fads, annoying "LOLs", and entertainment (Reminds me of high school kids).

Try not eating for one day, I bet you couldn't do it, and I guarantee it will change your perspective on life, and Islam will mean a lot more to you than you could have ever imagined.

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