Posted on 06/15/2009 6:37:42 AM PDT by SE Mom
Time for a live thread to keep track of all the news in Iran- it's getting tough to keep up!
Each of the thousands of cellphones in Iran is a beam of light shining on the cockroaches of oppression. They cannot hide what is happening. There is no rock under which they can scurry.
God bless and protect the people of Iran!
Don't know, so far the one tweet(what a dumb word:))is all I have seen on it.
RT @iranbaan: Students are being surrounded in Shiraz Uni civil police (Basij) is in fight with people. #Shiraz #Iranelectionabout 1 hour ago from Twitterfall
New word coined from the people watching the Iran tweets "Looking at the tweeterfall" (analogous to waterfall, or that waterfall-like display they would watch in The Matrix)
BoomGen RT @BreakingNews -An AP photographer says at least 1 person dead after pro-government militia open fire on protesters #IranElection
Good pics at: http://tehranlive.org/2009/06/14/iranian-protest-election-results-2/
Interesting article from Newsmax:
June 14, 2009: Mousavi protests election results; Rafsanjani in Qom. Mir Hossein Mousavi, reportedly under house arrest in Tehran, has issued a formal protest to the Guardians’ council, asking them to annul the election results. Iranian filmaker Mohsen Maqhmalbaf, speaking on behalf of Mousavi, released a statement on Facebook (the unofficial Mousavi site) saying that Interior Ministry officials came to Mousavi headquarters on the evening of the election, telling them that Mousavi had won a clear victory and that they soon would announce the results. Two hours later, the Interior Ministry announced that Ahmadinejad had won by 62.6% - exactly the same percentage they had announced when the first partial results came in early in the evening.
On Sunday, sources reported to FDI that Rafsanjani has traveled to Qom to convene an emergency meeting of the Majles Khobregan, the Assembly of Experts, to debate the legitimacy of Khamenei’s decision to certify the election results. If this report is confirmed, it signifies an open rift between Khamenei and Rafsanjani. FDI has been told that Rafsanjani is “counting the votes” among fellow Majles Khobregan members to remove Khamenei as Supreme Leader - a dramatic move with unpredictable results.
All eyes are now on Mohsen Rezai, the former Revolutionary Guards chief and bit player in the presidential election. Rezai commands enormous respect and allegiance among senior Revolutionary Guards officers. Initially, he accepted the official results giving the election to Ahmadinejad. But late on Saturday, he sent a letter to the Interior Ministry, demanding that they release detailed election results, ballot box by ballot box. If Rezai puts his formidable influence firmly behind Rafsanjani and Mousavi, then all bets are off and Iran could be headed for armed clashes, with rival factions within the IRGC supporting Ahmadinejad and Mousavi.
One unconfirmed report we have seen allegedly from “reliable sources from inside the Ministry of Interior” in Tehran gave Mousavi 57.2% of ballots counted, and Ahmadinejad 28%. Rezai won 2.7 million votes, or 7.2%, and Karubi got 2.2 million votes, or 6%, with 1.6% of the 37.4 million votes cast indicating no vote.
Rafsanjani went to Qom yesterday (although he was supposedly under house arrest) to call an emergency meeting of the Assembly of Experts to rule on whether there should be a re-vote. He already criticized Khamenei last week, and had they ruled against him that would’ve really opened up a rift. Khamenei’s most recent move may also be to keep Rafsanjani quiet as well.
So far Musavi, Rafsanjani, Karubi, and Khatami (maybe Abtahi as well) and 100 other “reformers” are under house arrest.
TEHRAN, June 15 (Reuters) - Iranian state television said shots were fired during a mass rally in support of defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi in Tehran on Monday and that people were running away.
"There has been sporadic shooting out there ... I can see people running here," a reporter of Iran's English-language Press TV said in a live call from Tehran's Azadi Square.
"A number of people who are armed, I don't know exactly who they are, but they have started to fire on people causing havoc in Azadi Square," he said.
Many tens of thousands of people had gathered in the square and a nearby thoroughfare to show support for Mousavi's call for the election to be cancelled. (Reporting by Dominic Evans and Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Yep- it’s true- he’s being brought back to D.C. and given a “different post in the administration”...
It was discussed on FOX early this morning..
http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/follow_the_developments_in_iran_like_a_cia_analyst.php
Follow The Developments In Iran Like A CIA Analyst
Marc Ambinder-
I’ve overdone this metaphor, but I really do see the panoply of sources we have about Iran as an intelligence service to the masses.
We’ve got reliable Humint — on the ground sources. We’ve got open-source reports from broadcast and newspaper media. We’ve got analysis, in the form of great aggregation by smart observers. We lack, um, signals intelligence, but Twitter is really a form of SIGINT, isn’t it? There’s plenty of misinformation out there, like rumors that Ahmadinejad is going to stage an assassination attempt, so we need to be careful about how we judge the information. If we’re a savvy analyst, we need to be careful about the weight we attach to photographs and video accounts. They’re the most immediate and emotionally powerful, but they can distort our understanding of the situation, particularly of about the importance of specific developments.
To start with, here’s the raw data stream from Twitter, with the hashtag of the Iranian election. Remember, this data is unfiltered. There are some nuggets surrounded by garbage. Follow the debates: “(I hear that NPR is claiming that it is false news that Mousavi is in crowd now. IT’S NOT! Tell them pp, we have pics!)” — that’s a real tweet. How would you evaluate it if you were on the Iran desk?
Watch for disinformation. There’s a temptation to equate the size of one’s twitter follower universe with authority, but that’s not logical. This source seems to have good information about Tehran’s universities. I’d judge it as reliable because none of the other twitterers are arguing with its conclusions, and there is some independent corroboration for some of what it has to say.
Look for patterns in geography. But don’t assume that everything that has the qualities of a pattern is actually a pattern.
Don’t assume. Everyone assumes that Mousavi really won. But there is reason to think that the election was very close — and that Ahmadinejad might have actually prevailed (although the evidence appears solid that his totals were significantly inflated.) Don’t assume that Ayatollahs who appear at protests necessarily support the protesters. Don’t assume that the Khamenei speaks for the rest of the council of guardians. Don’t assume that Iran’s government had a plan to contain the protests — or has a plan for tomorrow, ten days from now, or next month.
Look for sources that disprove your thesis. Go outside the country and outside your comfort zone. See what, say, China’s news agency reports about the protests. (”Iran’s defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi on Monday appeared in a car at a mass rally in Tehran that has been declared “illegal” by authorities, local Press TV reported.’”)
latest tweets I have:
persiankiwi Bassej are out in force in darkness. this is when they operate best. Streets are dangerous now for young people. #Iranelection
oxfordgirl BBC putting numbers at rally ‘in millions’. Rally for Ahmadi was ‘a fraction of today’s rally’. #iranelection #iranelections
persiankiwi We have heard what sounds like gunshots in distance. still have people on streets we have not heard from. #iranelection
oxfordgirl CNN also reporting shots fired at demonstration. We don’t know who is shooting. #iranelection #iranelections
IranRiggedElect Conf: 119 faculty members of Tehran university resigned in protest to the way students were treated by militia #iranelection
IranElection09 Fellow Iranians avoid being in the street right now, secret police out in full force picking people off, it’s dangerous, RELAY #iranelection
iran09 GET ON THE ROOF NOW!!! @iranelection
StopAhmadi News: Gunfire in Tehran are confirmed #iranelection
Breaking News banner on FOX:
Pro-Government Militia Reportedly Fire at Opposition Protesters in Iran
Based on multiple reports, shall we update the thread title, appending [Shots Fired] ?
I think that’s true. I think they relieved him because he’s Jewish. I believe I read that this morning my time.
Agreed - Mods- would you be kind enough to add “shots fired at crowds” to title?
Personally, due to the facts of how many people are against him in the "protests" to how many are actually for him, I think he lost.
However, none of us can say for sure.
Addressing your other issue, tweets, I don't take anything on twitter as gospel until I know who is actually posting. Just like any internet service it could be some American kid in his basement giving out BS news. I look for verification in the news, which is very slow in coming. However, what I really base things on are the videos and still pictures being sent out, they are slowing down however as the crack down on news continues
You also have to ask yourself, if this was a legitimate election why were most of the Journalists thrown out of Iran and the ones who are there are forbidden to take pictures?
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