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POPSDeath Toll Rises to 10 as Clashes in Iran Intensify of the protests so far. The Shah’s forces never fired on protesters during Ashura, wary of violating the day’s sanctity. Obama Silent as Iranians Die for Freedom Iranian youth no longer chant “death to America.” Now they shout “death to the dictators” as they trample photos of Iran’s Supreme Leader. They also chant “Obama are you with us or with them ?” The reaction from the White House to the latest violence and the calls for recognition of the freedom movement? Silence. Once again, Obama doesn’t want to rock the boat with his hopes for a deal with the mad Mullahs who hold the Iranian people hostage to their warped ideology. Why won’t Obama adopt Reagan’s successful Cold War winning strategy? Because he was raised by a cadre of leftists who despised Reagan and resented the application of U.S. power especially when it was aimed at the Soviet Union with which many of Obama’s mentors and family had great sympathy.
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POPSBreathtaking Courage in Iran fight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (as always, Pamela Geller is THE BEST source for news, photos and updates from Iran)
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POPSTime To Man Up, Barry
The sentence for Kian Tajbakhsh was the longest prison term yet in a mass trial of more than 100 opposition figures, activists and journalists in the post election turmoil. The longest sentence so far, yet news accounts offer no explanation as to what Mr. Tajbakhsh did to deserve arrest, let alone a 12 year sentence. Apparently he was arrested at his home, not at a demonstration. News of his sentence was coupled with reports of lenient treatment given to a Canadian citizen: At the same time, Iran allowed another defendant to leave the country--Canadian-Iranian Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek journalist arrested in the same crackdown who had been freed on bail over the weekend. Bahari joined his British wife, who is in the last days of her pregnancy, in London, Newsweek said on its Web site Tuesday. It could be a coincidence. But news accounts certainly raise a question whether the mullahs are publicly sticking their finger in the Obama administration's eye, letting a Canadian go . .
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POPSMass Trial of Iranian Protesters Deepens Nation's Divides possibly more, in prison. Among the defendants are several prominent reformist opposition activists including former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, former vice speaker of parliament Behzad Nabavi, former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh and leader of the biggest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Mohsen Mirdamadi. Pictures from the courtroom showed a thin-looking Mr. Abtahi and a grim Mr. Mirdamadi, both in prison uniforms, sitting in the front row. More than a hundred defendants could be seen sitting in the packed courtroom, many of them handcuffed but without prison uniforms. State media didn't provide further details about the trial, and there was no information on when it would end or when a verdict would be expected. Iran's former reformist President Mohammad Khatami criticized the country's first trial of activists and protesters following the disputed presidential election as a sham.
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POPSNeda's Murder Was Not Staged
But, according to Iran's Press TV, police chief Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moqadam declared Wednesday that the shooting was a "prearranged scenario" — a "premeditated act of murder" that could not have been committed by Iranian police. The White House called that allegation part of Iran's "ongoing campaign of misinformation" about the country's widely-disputed June 12 presidential elections, which returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to office and sent hundreds of thousands into the streets in fury over what they claim was a stolen election. "I think the notion that the death of an innocent woman would be staged is — even with them — it's shocking," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday. Moqadam led the investigation following an order from Ahmadinejad inquiring about the "suspicious" nature of the shooting. The Iranian president said even before the investigation that anti-government "elements" were behind the killing — presumably fingering either foreign agents or even the
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POPSHard-Line Force Extends Grip Over a Splintered Iran “It is not a theocracy anymore,” said Rasool Nafisi, an expert in Iranian affairs and a co-author of an exhaustive study of the corps for the RAND Corporation. “It is a regular military security government with a facade of a Shiite clerical system.” The corps has become a vast military-based conglomerate, with control of Iran’s missile batteries, oversight of its nuclear program and a multibillion-dollar business empire reaching into nearly every sector of the economy. It runs laser eye-surgery clinics, manufactures cars, builds roads and bridges, develops gas and oil fields and controls black-market smuggling, experts say. Its fortune and its sense of entitlement have reportedly grown under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Since 2005, when he took office, companies affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards have been awarded more than 750 government contracts in construction and oil and gas projects, Iranian press reports document.
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POPSClinton Warns Iran Neither the president nor I have any illusions that dialogue with the Islamic republic will guarantee success of any kind. And the prospects have certainly shifted in the weeks following the election," she said.
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POPSDeath Toll Apparently Far Exceeds Government Claims The three hospitals are located along the routes of the major demonstrations where government forces opened fire on demonstrators. There are also several other major hospitals along the routes that could have received the dead and injured on that day. “Despite official obfuscation and denials, reliable information is accumulating suggesting that hundreds of protesters were slaughtered during the demonstrations,” stated Aaron Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Campaign. “It thus appears that large numbers of those assumed to have been held in undisclosed locations and in incommunicado detention may be dead. “ “If this is the case, history will judge these events not as ‘excessive use of force’, but as a massacre,” he said. Families seeking information about missing relatives have reported being shown collections containing “hundreds” of photographs of the dead that have been assembled by the authorities for identification purposes, and some have reported
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POPSIran Opposition Finds New Ways to Protest Khamenei ordered Iran election fraud, says ex-president VIENNA,AUSTRIA Jul 07 2009 Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is personally behind the alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election, former Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr claimed in Vienna late on Monday. "The regime is edging closer to the abyss and is holding on to power solely by means of violence and terror," said Banisadr, who was Iran's first elected president following the 1979 Islamic revolution. The regime wanted to keep the population in a permanent state of uncertainty and fear and so systematic terror was institutionally organised and controlled by the regime and Khamenei, he added. "They don't want Iranians to be able to even think about protests in their own homes." Intellectuals and students were the main targets since they were regarded as the driving force behind the resistance, Banisadr continued. "Reformers and liberal pragmatists are to be wiped out."
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POPSAhmadinejad Says He Wants Public Talks With Obama.... Report: Ahmadinejad says he wants public talks with Obama TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he wants to engage President Obama in "negotiations" before international media, a semi-official Iranian news outlet reported on Saturday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election last month sparked global protests and unrest in Iran. Speaking at a meeting of medical school deans, Ahmadinejad said Iran "will soon pursue a new round of diplomatic activity" amid a new position of strength for the Iranian government, the Iranian Student News Agency quotes him as saying. "I will go to the United Nations and will invite Obama to negotiations," Ahmadinejad said, adding that such talks would be "in front of the international media, not a sit-down behind closed doors in order to talk about matters." The Obama administration has sought dialogue with Iran but also criticized the government for its handling of unrest
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POPSMAJOR MULLAH GROUP CALLS ELECTION ILLEGITIMATE at Stanford University. “Remember they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.” The announcement came on a day when Mr. Moussavi released documents detailing a campaign of fraud by the current president’s supporters, and as a close associate of the supreme leader called Mr. Moussavi and former President Mohammad Khatami “foreign agents,” saying they should be treated as criminals. The specific charges of fraud included the printing of millions of extra ballots before the vote. Since the election, the bulk of the clerical establishment in the holy city of Qum, an important religious and political center of power, has remained largely silent, leaving many to wonder when, or if, the nation’s most senior religious leaders would jump into the controversy that has posed the most significant challenge to the country’s leadership since the Islamic Revolution. With its statement Saturday, the association of clerics " formed under the leadership of
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POPSNewsweek Reporter Faces Iran Trial: Lawyer "Any kind of interview and confession by these people who are being held in prison is invalid under the law and the Iranian constitution," Nikbakht added. Less than a week ago, the Fars news agency reported an "interview" with Bahari, in which he said that he had filed "unreal and biased reports from Iran which were driven by greed." On Wednesday Newsweek repeated a call on Iran to release its correspondent immediately and rejected charges made against him. The US news weekly said that Bahari has been detained in Iran since June 21 without access to a lawyer. It quoted an Iranian state news agency as saying that Bahari "has said he participated in a Western media effort to promote irresponsible reporting in Iran." Scores of journalists and reformist politicians were arrested following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election, which triggered mass protests in Iran and charges of voter fraud.
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POPSFree the United States A person (with an IQ you can't double) said I was mad when I suggested this on a clip. It is reassuring when others agree, though not a necessity. Need to visit the source for a fuller appreciation.
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POPSIran Uprising Live-Blogging Sunday June 28 5:31 PM ET -- Mousavi calls into today's protest. Several readers have passed along this video posted on Facebook. Reader Kia offers a description (slightly edited for clarity): "Dr. Beheshti (son of the Ayatollah Beheshti, who was a founder of the revolution and assassinated some 30 years ago -- the event today was held in his memory), who is a supporter of Mousavi, is first talking to people telling them that Mr. Mousavi is stuck in traffic and is not able to join them. 5:39 PM ET -- Senior cleric calls for separation of powers. The NIAC translates a story today about Ayatollah Javadi Amoli calling for separation of powers in Iran. 5:43 PM ET -- Iranian state TV tries to spin Neda's death. An Iranian-American friend sends along some new propaganda from state media making the case for why Neda's death wasn't caused by government forces.
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POPSIran Government TV: Local British Embassy Staffers Arrested At the time, the British foreign office said it was looking into the claims. It said it was aware that one of the arrested nationals was Washington Times reporter Iason Athanasiadis, who also goes by Jason Fowden. Athanasiadis holds dual British and Greek passports. “We understand Greek officials are providing consular assistance as he also holds a Greek passport. We are ready to assist if need be,” the foreign office said. Posted: 04:04 AM ET
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POPSThey Only Know The Languages of Menace and Violence Iran envoy says tough stance by G-8 over violence 'a mistake' Iranian Ambassador to Japan Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Friday that the Group of Eight industrialized countries will make "the biggest mistake" if their foreign ministers send a message of condemnation over Iran's post-election violence during their ongoing meeting in Italy."How have the G-8 countries proved that the Iranian presidential election had irregularities? How can they interfere in the domestic affairs of Iran?" the ambassador said, while stressing that there is "no legal problem" in the police authorities' move to repress demonstrators who have turned violent. "We will adopt a particularly tough and clear position," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said ahead of the three-day foreign ministers' conference, which started Thursday in Italy, according to the Italian ANSA news agency.
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POPSWho Really Killed Neda of Iran? Ballistics Suspicious Another possibility, besides the CIA, is Israel's Mossad and it's "shadow wars" . He suggested that the CIA or another intelligence service may have been responsible. Interesting how CNN only mentions the CIA in their title, and its denial in the article, instead of "another intelligence service". The details of her murder, and the ballistics of the bullet used by "a sniper", and away from the crowd of protestors are inconsistent with that of Iranian "militia" in both use of weaponry and motive. Killing a harmless unarmed girl, away from the crowd, would serve no one's purpose except the purpose for which her death is now being employed , quickly, by western media. It is no secret that covert operations are being employed against Iran by both the US and Israel for "destabilization".
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