4 posts tagged “iran”

During the Iranian protest against the allegedly fraudulent Iranian Presidential election, the death of an a beautiful young music student, Neda Agha-Soltan outraged the world as a focal point for the violence the Iranian regime was using to quell free speech and right to assembly in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Neda was a stunningly beautiful young woman.

The protests in Iran were due to an unprecedented turn-around time in calling the results of a presidential election in Iran; the ballots in Iran must be hand-counted, and the process usually takes three day.  The challenged result of the election was the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Since the protests and the death of Neda, Get Real has tried to find a silver lining in the dark cloud.  It is obvious that reform in Iran, including the expansion of human rights, will require reform from within.   Yet there were times, during the Bush administration, when the Neocons, who succeeded in getting the US on the warpath to Iraq, were beating the war drums for a war on Iran.

The advent of social communication via the internet and cells phone brought the protests, and the Iranian government's violent actions, into the intimate digital lives of Americans.  We have seen and heard from people statements such as "Tell the World We Are Not Terrorists!"

This young lady, this beautiful human being, has become an international symbol for the illogic of suppression of the human will.  Any one of the tens of thousands of Iranian protestors, or innocent by-standers, could have been struck down by the government's bullet.    Neda died to put a face on the Iranian people.  Much more of the rest of the world can see Iranian life through a human lens.  She was beautiful  She was engaged.  She had a family.  Near and dear to my own heart, she was a musician.

The Iranian government open fired on a number of occasions on peaceful protestors, with paramilitary Basij and police rooftop snipers shooting at random into the crowds below.

Even the most hardened conservative in the US, or the most outraged Israeli hardliner should be able to see the utter senselessness in the loss of this beautiful human life.

What does Neda represent to the west?  To many, there is just plain sadness.  To others, Neda's death is revolting.  To Get Real, Neda represents a hope for the reform movement in Iran to move forward smartly, carefully, informed, with help from the outside.  But most of all, Neda had forced the people of the world to see the Iranian people in a new light.  Should a Neocon selected president acquire the office in the US anytime soon, a war on Iran will be a hard sell.   Neda's death has touched too many people.  We will not tolerate a war in which Iranian civilian deaths are likely.  Some of us did not tolerate civilian deaths in Iraq, and we still mourn the toll of war.  Every innocent Iraqi civilian death was a Neda.

We realize that the Iranian government is not the same as the Iranian people.  The protests show us that Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader have detractors.  We should be galvanized to support the citizens in Iran with good will and support of many kinds as they try to find ways to join the ranks of freedom-loving people around the world.

We won't tolerate another illegal, unnecessary war.

My condolences to Neda' friends, family & fiance.

Iran today condemned the US for "intolerable" meddling in internal Iranian affairs and for fostering a groundswell of protest against the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Get Real, "Iran", and Get Real, CNN!!!

I'm tired of news agencies identifying an entire country by the present ruling party.  CNN's headlines should have read "Ahmadinejad's government accuses US of meddling".

"Iran" is no more synonymous with "Ahmadinejad" than the "US" was synonymous with "Bush".  Lazy copy editors lay the blame of both of these caricatures of presidents at the feet of the entire country they hold power in.

Now, Iran, please listen.  And I don't mean "Ahmadinejad".

An open society is a good thing.  For the same reason that families with abusive husbands and fathers and brothers should speak out against their controlling, oppressive, damaging ways.   Keep the call for an open society going!

(Um, Ahmadinejad, before you accuse me of meddling in Iranian affairs, please recall: I live in a free and open society, and I can say pretty much whatever I want, to whomever I want.  Except, of course, about Sarah Palin's daughter.)

The sad truth is that Ahmadinejad almost certainly stole the election; there has never been a same-day call of an election in Iran.  They need a minimum of three days to count ballots.  So everyone already knows that Ahmadinejad made up the results.

But it's not his fault.

He had a great role model.

When Bush sued to stop counting ballots in Florida, he killed Democracy in America.  For a while.

Let's not get too snooty about stolen elections.  We may not see the election results turned over; we might even see something like a bloody crackdown.

Everyone in the US should get a penpal in Iran.  We should inundate Iranian society with good will for those would be receptive.  We should send aid and support to people in that society who love a free society.

Because I recall what it's like to live in a society where the ruling party was in place illegally; with a stolen election; where that party's best interest was put above the best interest of the rest of the country's best interest.

And we see the result.

Despots breed poverty.

Check your bank account, and thank Bush & Co.

Here's to a free and open Iran.

When Russia invaded Georgia, the world was surprised.  Surprised, but not stunned.  Bush II's unilateral cowboy-posse doctrine has informed the world that, in fact, might makes right.  When Bush II invaded Iraq, he was ignoring - blatantly - the advice of his father's cabinet members, the advice of the UN security council, and the advice of a vast majority of nations and people around the world.

When Putin came forward last week with his theory that the US orchestrated the Russian-Georgian war - and he called it a war - to manipulate the outcome of the US presidential election, he sounded a bit wacky, but something sounded about right.  Putin invaded Georgia because Georgia was cracking down on the breakaway of of the Georgian republic of Ossetia.  Putin sounded wacky because the US supports and recognizes Georgia, so why would the US support a break of the country?

But something about his comments sounded about right.

Today, in thinking of world events, it hit me.  Russia invaded Georgia and ignored the UN with impunity befitting Bush II.  I knew this would be a consequence of Bush's war in Iraq.  He has handed the major powers, indeed each nation, a permission slip to act according to their own national interest, regardless of the consequences to other countries and people.  In this way, Bush has given US foreign policy sociopathic tendancies, and he has isolated and distanced all people from all nations and lessened the moral standard for resolving international conflict.

Questions about the ultimate outcome of the Russian-Georgia war linger, but the question I am asking is: what is the next war?  Which country will be the next country to use their permission slip to invade which country?  Here are some possibile headlines that Bush II has made more likely:

China invades Taiwan
Russia invades Pakistan
US invades Iran

Personally, I believe that US will bomb but not invade Iran.  Why do you think McCain was chosen by the PNAC to succeed Bush?

Wake up, America!  Let's get real.  We prefer to live under so many delusions.  We sop up the lies, fabrications, justification, palliative comments.  We are willingly mislead when the truth is too hard to bear.  We ignore the truth even when it's right in front of our faces.

Without analysis, we consume positions as facts, adopt perspectives from leaders on how they make us feel, without any understanding of the long-term consequences of those perspectives to ourselves, our families, and our local and global neighbors.

Check back here for refreshing, in-depth, informed analysis of events & people.  Get Real will publish on issues that are important to us... even when many fail to realize their importance.