Iran and its enablers

Ottowa Citizen ^ | February 13, 2010 | David Warren

[nuconvert]

My intention today is to write about Iran, but I'm not sure that is possible. However, explaining why it might be impossible is a good way to write about Iran.

Almost all non-official electronic traffic from and within Iran began shutting down in preparation for Thursday, the 31st anniversary of the Iranian revolution. "Opposition protesters clashed with security forces" (in the current media jargon), around Tehran and elsewhere, but almost entirely "off camera."

We had reason to believe, going into the anniversary, that the regime was prepared to pour a bloodbath -- to execute the equivalent of a Tiananmen, should the "opposition protesters" continue their clamour on the streets of Iran's major cities. The regime certainly uttered every kind of verbal warning that it was prepared for massacre on its "holy day," and was mobilizing those "security forces" for the event. Then basic services such as e-mail began ominously shutting down.

It was the best-organized effort, so far, on the part of the regime, to deprive the people of Iran of the capacity to organize so much as a dinner date.

That opposition is not so easily shut down, and my impression is that such old-fashioned means of communication as messenger and word-of-mouth are being employed more and more efficiently. Nevertheless, the knowledge that shouting anti-government slogans would be far more likely to get one killed, on Thursday, than on any other day, must have had some dampening effect on crowd numbers.

It is always difficult, for those outside, to understand what is happening inside a sealed totalitarian order. In addition to overt measures, there are subtle measures to control a population.

[familyop]

People’s Republic of China – Iran relations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_China_%E2%80%93_Iran_relations

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation