Iran
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The Counter-Revolution Will Not be Tweeted By George Ciccariello-Maher
Zelaya, a former centrist who has recently made leftward moves, raised the ire of the entrenched Honduran oligarchy by, among other things, joining the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), a radical counterpoint to U.S.-promoted free trade agreements. His overthrow has been followed by a press blackout, military curfew, and repression in the streets, as… Continue reading
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Media Disinformation: “Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran” by F. William Engdahl
The world-renowned Times newspaper of London published a report in its July 5th edition titled, ‘Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran.’ The story, were it true, would imply a dramatic change in Saudi foreign and military policy whose consequences potentially could lead to a World War III. A more serious investigation reveals that… Continue reading
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An Open Letter to the Anti-War Movement: How Should We React to the Events in Iran? by Phil Wilayto
In the West, we have been conditioned to think of President Ahmadinejad as a kind of crackpot dictator who is now the target of an angry and aroused citizenry. Mousavi supporters are projected as “the Iranian people,” while Ahmadinejad is seen as being supported by little more than the military, the Revolutionary Guards, and the… Continue reading
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Azmi Bishara, "Iran: The Game of Nations"
The West’s stated desire for dialogue with Tehran to persuade it to rein in its nuclear ambitions while simultaneously conspiring against Iran both inside the country and externally is part and parcel of the ‘game of nations’. The idea is to weaken Iran in negotiations. If the regime in Iran collapses in the process, no… Continue reading
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Video: Alireza Ronaghi, "Al Jazeera Returns to Streets of Tehran"
1 July, 2009 – MRZine – Monthly Review “About 4 kilometers behind me, there is a square in Tehran called Enqelab Square, which means revolution. A couple of hundreds of meters that way is the famous monument of Azadi Square, which means freedom. The road between Revolution and Freedom Squares has been the scene of… Continue reading
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Western Exceptionalism and the Iran Election Fraud Stunt BY NOTSILVIA NIGHT
Western support and the extremely violent behavior of some armed post-election demonstrators have probably had a damaging effect on the efforts of Iranian women-rights- and other reform-movements. Their efforts might have been discredited so much, that a backslide of Iran into earlier hard-line positions in the matters of women´s rights might occur. Hopefully it won´t. Continue reading
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Mark Weisbrot, "Was the Iranian Election Stolen? Does It Matter?"
Does it matter if the election was stolen? Certainly there are grounds for challenging the overall legitimacy of the electoral process, in which the government determines which candidates can compete, and the press and other institutions are constrained. Continue reading
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Tehran, June 2009 By Kaveh Ehsani, Arang Keshavarzian and Norma Claire Moruzzi
Whatever history’s verdict on the desiderata of Fars News, neither the institutional structure nor the political culture of the Islamic Republic will emerge unchanged from the crisis following the 2009 election. The stakes are nothing less than these: Should the protesters persevere, the limited traditions of political and civil rights and citizen participation in the… Continue reading
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Rostam Pourzal, "Iran's Business Elite, Too, Is a "Dissident""
The opposition insists that Ahmadinejad unfairly buys voter loyalty with consumer subsidies, low interest loans, and similar ‘handouts.’ The president has especially enraged the managerial class with his wildly popular monthly rallies in the provinces, where he orders funding on the spot for the infrastructure needs of common folks. A special flashpoint is the pace… Continue reading
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Azmi Bishara, "Iran: An Alternative Reading"
Political competition is systematised in the form of regularly held elections in which rivals espouse different platforms within the framework of the agreed upon rules of the game, just as do political parties within capitalist frameworks. The difference between Democrats and Republicans in the US is not much greater than that between reformists and conservatives… Continue reading
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Obama Moves to Fund Iranian Dissidents By Jason Ditz
Despite President Barack Obama’s persistent claims that the United States is not meddling in the post-election furore in Iran, the administration is moving forward with plans to subsidize Iranian dissident groups to the tune of $20 million in the form of USAID grants. Continue reading
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Iran’s Coming Revolution: For Civil Rights Or Beyond?
Playing with revolution, however, is a lot like playing with fire — both can quickly get out of control. In the case of Iran this means that the abstract demand for democracy — coming from the Iranian opposition — can soon be overrun by more concrete, ‘radical’ demands. Continue reading
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Iran's identity crisis By Abbas Barzegar
Iran is having an identity crisis. Since the Iranian revolution turned into an Islamic Republic few voices other than the party line have been accepted in the public realm. Nonetheless, the vacuum left by the flight of the wealthy elite after the revolution (now mostly in Los Angeles) has led to the rise of an… Continue reading
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Illusion, Reality & Courage in Iran By Carl Bloice
Obama has said openly that what he wanted to avoid was making himself and the U.S. the subject of the Iranian political struggle. Good thinking. What has happened, however, is that Iran has become the subject of political struggle in the U.S. – or, rather a weapon in the hand of those sought to destroy… Continue reading
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Iran: This Is Not a Revolution by Arshin Adib-Moghaddam
The current situation in Iran is profoundly different from the situation in 1978 and 1979. First, the Islamic Republic has proven to be rather responsive to societal demands and rather flexible ideologically. I don’t mean to argue that the Iranian state is entirely reflective of the will of the people. I am saying that is… Continue reading
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Muhammad al-Arabi – A realist’s view of the protests in Iran
The ruling theocratic establishment is deeply divided, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i and President Ahmadinejad on one side, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mir Hussein Mousavi on the other. But there are also others occupying various positions in between, posturing, manoeuvring, politicking and hoping to ease themselves into power, one way or another Continue reading
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Iran: Friday Address, 19 June 2009 by Ali Khamenei
“The amateurish behavior of some people inside the country made them [the Western powers] greedy. They have mistaken Iran for Georgia. (Crowd laughing.) . . . The enemy’s problem is that they do not yet understand the Iranian nation.” Continue reading
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Iran: What Can the Opposition Win? by Richard Seymour
The idea that Mousavi could be a Nelson Mandela or a Martin Luther King beggars belief. In fact, the more one learns about Mousavi, the more unsavory he seems, and the more it becomes clear that his candidacy is essentially an enterprise of the plutocratic Rafsanjani family. Continue reading
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Kaveh L Afrasiabi, "Iran: Mousavi States His Case"
The protest, which seeks fresh elections, is short on specifics and long on extraneous, election-unrelated complaints. The first two items relate to the televised debates that were held between the candidates, rather than anything germane to the vote count. Continue reading
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Beijing cautions US over Iran By M K Bhadrakumar
Beijing fears a confrontation looming and counsels Obama to keep the pledge in his Cairo speech not to repeat such errors in the US’s Middle East policy as the overthrow of the elected government of Mohammed Mosaddeq in Iran in 1953. Beijing also warns about letting the genie of popular unrest get out of the… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 