By Andrew L. Jaffee

“It’s 2009. Is it so much to ask for freedom and democracy in Iran?” So said Iranian singer Mamak Khadem during an interlude between songs at her performance this weekend at the “¡Globalquerque!” annual international music festival. She spoke sincerely, calmly, and eloquently, yet with a hint of urgency. “We must honor those brave Iranians who peacefully filled the streets of Tehran in June to plead for democracy,” said Khadem. She received a standing ovation.

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By Phyllis Chesler

We live at a moment in history when tyrants hold forth with none to stop them. Ahmadinejad-the-Monster held forth in all his western-suited glory at the UN and so did the terrorist, Gaddafi. No one at the UN stopped the Libyan madman from speaking well beyond his allotted 15 minutes. If the UN can’t even do this, can you imagine them actually stopping a genocide or a terrorist plot in process?

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by Michael Rubin*

The Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, and Washington Post have dubbed it a “Twitter Revolution,” speculating about whether new technology will enable Iranian protesters to overcome government forces. The role of technology in the current unrest is well-covered elsewhere. What is lacking in much of the coverage, however, is a sense of context.

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by Daniel Pipes*

In a striking coincidence, two very different expressions of Iranian dissent took place exactly simultaneously on two continents on Saturday, June 20. Between them, the Islamic Republic of Iran faces an unprecedented challenge.

One protest took place on the streets of Iran, where thousands of Iranians fed up with living under a religious tyranny defied Supreme Leader Ali Khamene’i’s diktat that they accept the results of the June 12 presidential election, whereby President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad supposedly defeated his main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi by a lopsided margin.

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by Michael Rubin*

Over the weekend, both conservative columnist George Will and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan argued that conservative criticism of President Obama’s rhetorical restraint amidst the Iranian protests was unwarranted.

“The president is being roundly criticized for insufficient rhetorical support for what’s going on over there. It seems foolish criticism,” Will said.

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By Jonathan Spyer

One would need a heart of stone not to be moved by the scenes currently emerging from Iran: Hundreds of thousands of youthful demonstrators, taking to the streets to express their frustration at the restrictions of life under a theocratic oligarchy — with the communications revolution enlisted to bypass the heavy hand of the regime’s censors.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

… Protesters have openly defied his orders to leave the streets and witnesses said some shouted “Death to [Supreme Leader] Khamenei!” at Saturday’s demonstrations — a once unthinkable challenge. …

Protests against Iran’s leadership — Islamist mullahs — seem to be causing cracks in that same dictatorial regime. The arrests and later release of, “the daughter and four other relatives of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani,” are certainly not a sign of unity, rather that of indecision and worry. And protesters chanting, “Death to Khamenei!,” are a far cry from the usual state-organized “demonstrators” crying, “Death to America!” Of course, the Islamist regime is showing its true colors when push comes to shove:

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by Michael Rubin*

Street protests in Iran are important but are themselves not enough to force change. The supreme leader will not be swayed because he considers himself accountable to God, not to the people. Indeed, even the Islamic Republic’s clerical establishment is irrelevant in this calculus. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s invocation of folk religion — his appeals to the messianic Hidden Imam, for example — is a way to bypass senior religious figures who, according to Shiite theology, will be among the greatest obstacles to the Hidden Imam’s return. Nor does the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pay too much heed to his fellow clerics in Qom. They have always refused to bestow on Khamenei a level of religious legitimacy to match his ambition. Today, the majority of Iran’s grand ayatollahs oppose the concept of theological rule. Not by coincidence, the majority are now in prison or under house arrest.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

North Korean “fearless leader” Kim Jong-il seems to be planning another missile “test” — aka a plan for harassment and/or extortion against the West — this time taking aim at Hawaii. Kim will probably get away with it again… and be offered some kind of concessions to placate his lunacy (see below). From the AP:

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

How do you count almost 40 million handwritten paper ballots in a matter of hours and declare a winner? That’s a key question in Iran’s disputed presidential election. International polling experts and Iran analysts said the speed of the vote count, coupled with a lack of detailed election data normally released by officials, was fueling suspicion around President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s landslide victory. …

AP, 6/15/2009

Doi… Good question with an obvious answer: Dictatorial election fraud perpetrated once again by Iran’s Islamist theocracy. Remember that Iran’s Orwellian “Supreme Leader” can disregard/override/cancel anything parliament or the president decides. But the country’s population isn’t swallowing this ugly exercise in pretend democracy. According to the AFP:

Hundreds of thousands of Iranian opposition demonstrators fill the squares between Revolution and Freedom (background) in support of defeated reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, in Tehran. A protestor was reportedly shot dead by police in Tehran as massive crowds of people defied a ban to stage a rally against the disputed re-election of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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By Barry Rubin

Many Western analysts and journalists are treating the stolen election in Iran as something of no international significance. After all, they say, it is only an internal matter. Why should it affect Western attempts to engage with the Islamist regime?

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police in the heart of Iran’s capital Saturday, pelting them with rocks and setting fires in the worst unrest in Tehran in a decade. They accused the hard-line president of using fraud to steal election victory from his reformist rival. …

AP, 6/13/09

A “2-to-1 landslide for Ahmadinejad?” I doubt it, and obviously many Iranians do to, as they are willing to go up against the notorious Islamist security apparatus, which has kept the mullah’s in power since 1979’s “revolution.” Here’s how the “authorities” dealt with protesters today:

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by Daniel Pipes*

The heart and the head sometimes go in different directions, and they do for me today as Iranians go to the polls to vote in their country’s semi-legitimate presidential elections.

Many problems afflict those elections – including restrictions on who may run for president, what issues may be discussed, and the accuracy of electoral results – but the most important limitation concerns the powers of the president, who is conspicuously not the country’s most powerful politician.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

… Who didn’t tell the president that the United States does not bow, especially not to the rulers of countries where women are less valuable than sheep? …

- Washington Post, 4/12/2009

Why would an American president bow before a dictator whose country is well-known for its human rights abuses? President Obama did just that: he bowed before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, sending the absolute wrong message to the Arab/Muslim World, that of submission to a part of humanity, “20, 30, 40 and even 50%,” is hostile to the United States and its allies. Not only is Obama kowtowing to a thug, but sweeping the misdeeds of that thug — incitement to violence against the West and massive human rights abuses — under the carpet. Has Obama forgotten that our great nation was founded on the concepts of equal rights for all humans and the rejection of official caste systems?

What happened to Michael Moore’s conspiracy theories about President Bush being too cozy with the Saudis? What has become of Noam Chomsky’s incoherent babbling about invading Afghanistan to build an uber oil pipeline? Why should Mr. Obama receive a free pass for snuggling up to supporters of terrorism like the Saudis?

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by Michael Rubin*

Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami will speak at La Trobe University’s Centre for Dialogue tomorrow. According to centre director Joseph Camilleri, Khatami’s legacy was significant because he “articulated a powerful and coherent message in defence of democracy and human freedom”.

“Just as significant though generally ignored by the Bush administration, was Khatami’s opening to the West,” Camilleri argues. “He pursued an active diplomacy with western Europe, visited the US, strongly condemned terrorism, mended fences with Arab neighbours and seemed prepared to curb Iran’s uranium enrichment program.”

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