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redneckgaijin... the Iranian election.
I've been trying to follow developments since the election, but there's been precious little coverage. CNN has, until this evening, focused more on Washington playing games with healthcare and George H. W. Bush jumping out of planes again. FOX has been too focused on repeating conspiracy theories and trying to make the case that racism and Nazism are left-wing movements. And MSNBC, this being the weekend, is showing repeats of Dateline NBC.
In fact, pretty much the only coverage I've got is courtesy of Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish over at the Atlantic.
And what's coming through there is both suspenseful and terrifying. Basically, the whole of Iran is in a state of uproar, and the hardliners in the government are cracking down more and more violently. It is becoming clearer by the moment that the election was not so much fraudulent as wholly ficticious. Even quite a few prominent people in the Iranian government are coming forward to say that the election was rigged.
And despite this, tens of thousands are continuing to protest... and are paying the price. The Revolutionary Guard and police forces have stormed several universities and are beating- and killing- students indiscriminately. Foreign reporters are being attacked or driven out.
Tomorrow at 4 PM Tehran time- 4 AM our time, give or take- Mousavi, the candidate who most likely would have won the vote had the votes been counted, has called for his supporters to march en masse up the main drag of Tehran. Mousavi has called for the protests to remain nonviolent... which, I think, is what will doom them to ineffectiveness. The Revolutionary Guard, Ahmadinejad, Supreme Leader Khameni, and the police and militias they control will meet non-violence as they have done- with terror and murder- and at present there's no armed force to oppose them. (The word at present is that the professional Iranian military is staying neutral.)
And the most exasperating thing is... this is the most important news story of this year to date, if not longer. If Ahmadinejad and Khameni stay in power, we can expect a hardening of Iranian policy into an aggressive anti-American, anti-Israel stance. Ahmadinejad today gave a speech threatening any nation who dared to stand in Iran's way- the man WANTS a war. If we get into a war in Iran, it will wreck an already tottering global economy and bleed America dry... for little or no long-term gain. If a green revolution arises in Iran, and the hard-line electoral coup fails, then there is a hope for peace and reconciliation with Iran.
And yet, for the most part, our media is silent. CNN only began covering Iran a few HOURS ago. MSNBC- still on weekend programming. FOX - currently running propaganda against healthcare reform. Useless, all.
I think America has forgotten what news actually is.
I've been trying to follow developments since the election, but there's been precious little coverage. CNN has, until this evening, focused more on Washington playing games with healthcare and George H. W. Bush jumping out of planes again. FOX has been too focused on repeating conspiracy theories and trying to make the case that racism and Nazism are left-wing movements. And MSNBC, this being the weekend, is showing repeats of Dateline NBC.
In fact, pretty much the only coverage I've got is courtesy of Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish over at the Atlantic.
And what's coming through there is both suspenseful and terrifying. Basically, the whole of Iran is in a state of uproar, and the hardliners in the government are cracking down more and more violently. It is becoming clearer by the moment that the election was not so much fraudulent as wholly ficticious. Even quite a few prominent people in the Iranian government are coming forward to say that the election was rigged.
And despite this, tens of thousands are continuing to protest... and are paying the price. The Revolutionary Guard and police forces have stormed several universities and are beating- and killing- students indiscriminately. Foreign reporters are being attacked or driven out.
Tomorrow at 4 PM Tehran time- 4 AM our time, give or take- Mousavi, the candidate who most likely would have won the vote had the votes been counted, has called for his supporters to march en masse up the main drag of Tehran. Mousavi has called for the protests to remain nonviolent... which, I think, is what will doom them to ineffectiveness. The Revolutionary Guard, Ahmadinejad, Supreme Leader Khameni, and the police and militias they control will meet non-violence as they have done- with terror and murder- and at present there's no armed force to oppose them. (The word at present is that the professional Iranian military is staying neutral.)
And the most exasperating thing is... this is the most important news story of this year to date, if not longer. If Ahmadinejad and Khameni stay in power, we can expect a hardening of Iranian policy into an aggressive anti-American, anti-Israel stance. Ahmadinejad today gave a speech threatening any nation who dared to stand in Iran's way- the man WANTS a war. If we get into a war in Iran, it will wreck an already tottering global economy and bleed America dry... for little or no long-term gain. If a green revolution arises in Iran, and the hard-line electoral coup fails, then there is a hope for peace and reconciliation with Iran.
And yet, for the most part, our media is silent. CNN only began covering Iran a few HOURS ago. MSNBC- still on weekend programming. FOX - currently running propaganda against healthcare reform. Useless, all.
I think America has forgotten what news actually is.
