Iranian Alert -- DAY 33 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST [Breaking News... Jamming Source Identified]

The world media has all but ignored this week's dramatic events in Iran. The regime has masterfully handled the world media. The regime appears to have a new ally in their efforts to silent the media, Cuba.

Several days ago we reported the jamming of LA based Iranian broadcasters, the key link of communication of the Iranian protest movement. The regime had been jamming the signals in the past within Iran using equipment purchased from France.

But days before the July 9th protests were to begin the broadcaster began reporting that their uplink signal was being jammed as well. This would require jamming equipment either in the US or nearby. We have been seeking confirmation of this story. We now have it.

Loral Skynet, hired a firm to investigate the source of the jamming. The result was that they have narrowed the probable source of the jamming to be in the vicinity of Havana Cuba.

The following is the text of a letter from Loral Skynet to Atlanta Direct-to-Home, the service providing satellite broadcast services to several Los Angeles based Iranian broadcasters. The matter is now in the hands of the FCC.

Peggy A Courter Director , Client Services Tel:(908) 470-2362 Fax:(908) 470-2459 Email: pcourter@loralskynet.com

Mr. Michael Day President Atlanta Direct-to-Home (ADTH) 5388 New Peachtree Rd. Chamblee, GA 30341

As reported in the news media, it appears that an unknown entity is blocking certain signals into Loral Skynet's Telstar 12 satellite, which signals carry Farsi language and Iranian programming. Skynet is taking all appropriate actions to resolve the interference, and regrets any inconvenience to Atlanta DTH ("ADTH") and its customers caused by the interference. This letter summaries our understanding of the source of the interference and our efforts to resolve it.

Interference into Transponder 10 on Telstar 12 was first reported to Skynet by one of ADTH's uplinkers on July 5, 2003 at approximately 5:35 p.m. EST, and ADTH spoke with Skynet operations personnel within minutes thereafter to discuss the problem. Skynet immediately instituted its standard procedures for detecting the cause of the interference, including investigating any cross-pole carrier or adjacent operator issues and any recent uplinking activity that may have adversely affected the carrier. Skynet determined that none of those factors contributed to the interference, and that the Telstar 12 satellite and Transponder 10 were, and had been, operating properly (and, in fact, continue to operate properly). As a result, Skynet concluded that the interference was caused by a third party.

Similarly, ADTH instituted several procedures to attempt to resolve the interference, including reducing its bandwidth and splitting capacity among three carriers. Despite these procedures, intermittent interference continued.

Accordingly, Skynet contacted a transmitter geo-location service, TLS, Inc., to attempt to locate the transmit source of the interference. TLS was able to provide an ellipse of the most probable location of the source of the interference, which it identified as being in the vicinity of Havana, Cuba. As the services being interfered with are licensed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the probable source of the interference is not within United States boundaries, on July 9 Skynet forwarded the information concerning the interference and TLS's investigation to FCC personnel. The FCC has contacted TLS for further technical discussions.

As Skynet continues its efforts to eliminate the interference into Telstar 12, I want to reassure you that Skynet understands ADTH's concerns and those of its customers regarding their broadcasting integrity, and Skynet remains full committed to resolving the issue as quickly as possible.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss this matter further.

This story has national security implications. We need to write the media and ensure they cover this breaking story. We need to contact our elected officials and demand they investigate this immediately.

These efforts by the regime, while successful in the short term, do not resolve the fundamental reasons why this regime is crumbling from within.

As Michael Ledeen posted recently, "...we can already say that the regime's intimidation was not successful. And you have to admire the courage of these young Iranians..."

Iran is a country ready for a regime change. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary.

Please continue to join us here, post your news stories and comments to this thread.

President underscores restructuring of taxation system


 Tehran, July 12, IRNA -- President Mohammad Khatami said on Saturday  
that restructuring the taxation system is the main part of the        
economic reform program and called for promoting the culture of paying
tax and accurate appraisal of the tax revenues for social welfare.    
    Speaking a ceremony to award exemplary tax payers and taxation    
officials with certificate of merit, President Khatami said that      
paying tax should be regarded as a value.                             
    He regretted that tax evasion had been existed so far as an art of
management in the private sector and said that the community is       
responsible to pay tax, and in return, has the right to question the  
government where the taxes have been spent.                           
    Elsewhere in his speech, the president called for transparency of 
the government revenues and expenditure and said that everyone who    
enjoys the most from the government services and social benefits      
should pay high as tax.                                               
    Prior to the president's address, Minister of Economy and Finance 
Tahmasb Mazaheri gave a report about restructuring the taxation system
and the progress made in this sector.                                 
SS/AH/AR                                                              
End

BACK

source http://www.irna.ir/en/head/030712170316.ehe.shtml

Is Khatami really such a puppet? Was this ceremony hastily put together to try to publicize the buy off of the population (bread and crcuses routine?) Is Khatami still running a near regular schedule?

Iran's frustrated generation

Frances Harrison
BBC correspondent in Tehran

Clothing rules have been relaxed, but the young want more freedoms

"Things have improved here but there are so many things I want to do and I just can't stop thinking about them," says 20-year-old Parisa - not her real name.

Born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution she is part of the baby boom generation encouraged by high rates of population growth at the time of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Parisa has just finished doing her university entrance exams. She has a one in five chance of admission.

An estimated 70% of Iran's population is under 30 years of age.

Opportunities for the young are thin on the ground with unemployment as high as 28% for those under 30.

For us life now is like heaven, but the young think it's hell

Nassim, 34-year-old Iranian
"Absolutely all of my friends would like to go abroad," says Parisa.

She sports the latest Tehran fashion - bleached blonde long hair sticking out of her see-through headscarf, and tight drainpipe jeans with the skimpiest of short overcoats that does little to hide her figure.

"At the parties I go to I see girls wearing very open clothes - short skirts and low-cut evening tops," Parisa says.

Boredom

She adds that her greatest wish is to be able to go to a party and not have to worry if she is going to end up in jail as a result, or to have a meal in a restaurant and not have to bother about her headscarf slipping off.

It is sheer boredom that seems to be the greatest problem.

Young voters played a key role in bringing Khatami to power
"There's nothing for us to do here," she explains.

"The most we can do is go from one coffee shop to another... there are sports clubs but they're all indoors. They're hot and not nice and anyway they're expensive to join."

But the generation that experienced the pre-reform era believes young Iranians simply do not know how lucky they are.

"It was an awful and closed society," says Surreya, explaining that the first years of the revolution saw debate as to whether women could even work.

Surreya is a gym instructor and says inspectors used to come and check what music they were playing.

"If we used this kind of rock and pop they didn't like it - they suggested we use monotone music without lyrics. But nowadays I don't see them around... we are free to do whatever we want," she says.

Reformists' dilemma

Women in their 30s describe going to weddings shrouded from head to toe and without any make-up or nail polish for fear of being stopped at a checkpoint and scrutinised.

"When you compare the young people now with us they have all this freedom and they're so ungrateful and don't appreciate what they've got," says 34-year-old Nassim.

Frustrated students have taken to the streets
"For us life now is like heaven, but the young think it's hell and they constantly moan and groan about everything," she says, pointing out that in the early years of the revolution there was no music at all but now there are Iranian rock bands who give concerts.

The dilemma for the reformists is whether giving concessions to young people allows them more room for expression and thus protects the Islamic system of government - or whether it just whets their appetites for more freedoms that may ultimately undermine the system.

"The older generation is not able to communicate properly with the young," says journalist Minda Badiyi, who specialises in youth issues and teaches communications at university level.

"Today's young people want freedoms in line with what the young have everywhere else in the world. Because they are denied that we are a society in crisis," she says.

'Calm and patient'

Mrs Badiyi says the recent student unrest was a manifestation of this sense of discontent that officials have failed to address.

In particular she says two decades after the revolution the state has failed to convince young girls of the need to wear headscarves and modest dress.

Older women say the young do not know how lucky they are
"The government says we are an Islamic state and everyone must cover up, but the resistance of young girls is a big problem for them," she says.

She argues that women should choose Islamic dress voluntarily based on their belief and not as a dictate from above.

"We must try to balance the capacity for change and the demands of the younger generation," says reformist MP Dr Elaheh Koolaee.

"It's very, very difficult, I know, but we must try," she says explaining the need for "dialogue with the younger generation to convince them to be calm, to be patient".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3053383.stm

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