Larry W: The lead story on PBS “Lehrer News Hour” yesterday (day of Mata’s post – Wednesday) was the current status of the goings on in Iran — it was in depth, extensive coverage, from the little video snippets posted

Sassy mouth today, eh Larry? LOL News bulletin… Oregon PBS does not air Lehrer’s first show until 7pm in the evening. I posted at 3:23pm, three and a half hours in advance.

And you will also note that I was not giving a pass to any of the major cable networks. I was unbiased in my disdain for their distraction.

But so you know, I happen to catch a little bit of everyone. I watch Lehrer’s prozac delivery of news almost daily, as well as Charlie Rose… who has some stellar guests and occasionally does a good job. I catch some of the ABC/NBC/CBS stuff, and have monitored all the big three cable networks plus BBC. Add my internet bookmarks of int’l papers I visit regularly, and I’d say I get a well rounded perspective of all sides.

Frankly, I’d rather stay parked on Fox Business News or int’l news, but those are in the wee hours. Catch them when I’ve got insomnia.

And in spite of the diplomacy, Ahmadinejad still blasts Obama as “no better than Bush”.

Of course. ‘dinejad desperately needs the US as the Great Satan. Having the USA as the Great Satan helps keep the Supreme Leader in power. But Obama is making it very difficult to maintain the “Death to America Culture.” This is very much behind the decision of a number of influential Mullahs, veterans of the 1979 revolution, to publicly oppose some of the actions of the Supreme Leader.

- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA

And in spite of the diplomacy, Ahmadinejad still blasts Obama as “no better than Bush”.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090625/ts_nm/us_iran_election_208

Where’s the UN???

http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/24/wheres-united-nations-iran-opinions-columnists-ban-ki-moon.html?feed=rss_popstories

It is simply not making the cable news anymore. No blood (or not enuf blood), no lead.

The lead story on PBS “Lehrer News Hour” yesterday (day of Mata’s post – Wednesday) was the current status of the goings on in Iran — it was in depth, extensive coverage, from the little video snippets posted online to in depth commentary.

So I’d suggest: less CNN and Fox; more PBS

- Larry Weisenthal/HB

“Neda Soltan’s family ‘forced out of home’ by Iranian authorities

Parents of young woman shot dead near protests are banned from mourning and funeral is cancelled, neighbours say. The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of Neda Agha Soltan out of their Tehran home after shocking images of her death were circulated around the world.

Neighbours said that her family no longer lives in the four-floor apartment building on Meshkini Street, in eastern Tehran, having been forced to move since she was killed. The police did not hand the body back to her family, her funeral was cancelled, she was buried without letting her family know and the government banned mourning ceremonies at mosques, the neighbours said.

“We just know that they [the family] were forced to leave their flat,” a neighbour said. The Guardian was unable to contact the family directly to confirm if they had been forced to leave.

The government is also accusing protesters of killing Soltan, describing her as a martyr of the Basij militia. Javan, a pro-government newspaper, has gone so far as to blame the recently expelled BBC correspondent, Jon Leyne, of hiring “thugs” to shoot her so he could make a documentary film.

Soltan was shot dead on Saturday evening near the scene of clashes between pro-government militias and demonstrators, turning her into a symbol of the Iranian protest movement. Barack Obama spoke of the “searing image” of Soltan’s dying moments at his press conference yesterday.

Amid scenes of grief in the Soltan household with her father and mother screaming, neighbours not only from their building but from others in the area streamed out to protest at her death. But the police moved in quickly to quell any public displays of grief. They arrived as soon as they found out that a friend of Soltan had come to the family flat.

In accordance with Persian tradition, the family had put up a mourning announcement and attached a black banner to the building.

But the police took them down, refusing to allow the family to show any signs of mourning. The next day they were ordered to move out. Since then, neighbours have received suspicious calls warning them not to discuss her death with anyone and not to make any protest.

A tearful middle-aged woman who was an immediate neighbour said her family had not slept for days because of the oppressive presence of the Basij militia, out in force in the area harassing people since Soltan’s death.

The area in front of Soltan’s house was empty today. There was no sign of black cloths, banners or mourning. Secret police patrolled the street.

“We are trembling,” one neighbour said. “We are still afraid. We haven’t had a peaceful time in the last days, let alone her family. Nobody was allowed to console her family, they were alone, they were under arrest and their daughter was just killed. I can’t imagine how painful it was for them. Her friends came to console her family but the police didn’t let them in and forced them to disperse and arrested some of them. Neda’s family were not even given a quiet moment to grieve.”

Another man said many would have turned up to show their sympathy had it not been for the police.

“In Iran, when someone dies, neighbours visit the family and will not let them stay alone for weeks but Neda’s family was forced to be alone, otherwise the whole of Iran would gather here,” he said. “The government is terrible, they are even accusing pro-Mousavi people of killing Neda and have just written in their websites that Neda is a Basiji (government militia) martyr. That’s ridiculous – if that’s true why don’t they let her family hold any funeral or ceremonies? Since the election, you are not able to trust one word from the government.” A shopkeeper said he had often met Soltan, who used to come to his store.

“She was a kind, innocent girl. She treated me well and I appreciated her behaviour. I was surprised when I found out that she was killed by the riot police. I knew she was a student as she mentioned that she was going to university. She always had a nice peaceful smile and now she has been sacrificed for the government’s vote-rigging in the presidential election.”
**********************************************************************

This is from a correspondent in Tehran. Not named for rather obvious reasons.
It should be abundantly clear at this point that the Militias, Police both Secret and otherwise and
the Revolutionary Guard Goon Squads are “cleaning up” the Dissident population and the body count will never be known. Expat Iranians throughout the world are justifiably outraged as are others of conscience, including me. When a Regime sponsors murder and mayhem of their citizenry presents propaganda on this scale, oppresses dissent in this manner and certified an obviously fraudulent election there are no honest brokers for diplomacy.

Our naive and cowardly Pretender in Chief waited to speak on this business because he did not desire to offend the Regime. He straddled the fence, not even voting present, until he felt forced by public opinion to issue a statement reminiscent of the Neville Chamberlain School of Diplomacy. I absolutely despise the Regime in Iran and our alleged Leader of the Free World.
There should be no doubt whatsoever on where Obama’s sympathies lie now. That cat is out of the bag now. His statement made Me ashamed that he is holding the highest office in the land.

He cannot lecture me on moral values as he seems to be lacking in moral values if he was not outraged by this event. If this any indicator of the direction of his Foreign Policy this Nation is no longer the Leader of the Free World and under his lack of leadership he is unfit for office. Anyone singing praises for Obama is void of principles as well, as far as I am concerned. He does not represent My Values and represents America very poorly if not incompetently at best.

The mere thought that Team Obama wants to conduct diplomacy on any level with Iran after this series of despicable actions is clearly not in the interest of Freedom or Integrity of any sense. His disingenuous statement on the sovereignty of Iran or meddling in their internal affairs
just does not wash as long as we are using Predator drones armed with Hellfire missiles in Pakistan. I am not fooled by anything that attempts to defend that notion.

Obama is just unfit for office. Period. Every day he spends in office should be viewed as an insult to the intelligence of the American voting populace. He does not Serve America. I question who he does serve besides himself. These are not rookie mistakes. They are deliberate acts that make him unfit for office.

The point is Iranians wanted “change”, voted for “change”, and the current regime cannot explain the irregularities that point to overt election fraud. It was then compounded with their police tactics on dissenters, arrests. From that moment on, for the protestors… and the world… it was no longer just about which candidate won.

From our perspective, it was always about whether it was a free and fair election… not who won or who lost. And then, when the oppressive violence, shutting down communications, and raids/arrests in the night happened, it was about human rights and a citizenry railing against tyranny.

The more you talk about Mousavi, the more you play into the hands of those who say America is “meddling”. To comment that any candidate is superior, or the winner, *is* meddling.

And oh, BTW… Mousavi is losing his charm since… like any other politician.. he’s nothing more than an opportunist.

Mir Hossein Mousavi is still nominally the guiding force of the fury over Iran’s disputed election. But there are ample signs his rebel stature is being eroded by his hesitation to shift from campaigner to street agitator as his supporters challenge security forces.

The questions over Mousavi’s standing are part of a larger debate over the direction of the unprecedented assault on Iran’s Islamic leadership.

~~~

But it’s still far too early to declare the opposition forces doomed. Protest organizers are appealing for another major rally, perhaps Thursday, in hopes of recapturing momentum and projecting their resolve. They also appear to be moving beyond Mousavi’s specific call for a new election and widening their rage against the entire Islamic power structure.

What’s still missing, however, are clear signals from Mousavi.

He left many followers bewildered with twin messages this week. He called on his backers to maintain the cries to annul the election results that showed a landslide victory for Ahmadinejad. But he also declared full respect for Iran’s Islamic system and even described as “our brothers” the pro-regime militias who have beaten demonstrators and been blamed by protesters for gunning down marchers last week.

Other indications point to a drift away from Mousavi. The ribbons and banners of his “green wave” election campaign are much less conspicuous at recent marches and clashes. The chants are less about Mousavi’s demand for a new election and more about general outrage toward the ruling establishment, including once unimaginable denunciations of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It raises the prospect of Mousavi’s movement fragmenting _ with more militant branches breaking away from those adhering to Mousavi’s call to fight within the system. Such a split could bring more confrontations, but leave the divided forces more vulnerable to crackdown and mass arrests.

“It’s not really about Mousavi any more,” said Ali Nader, an Iran specialist at the RAND Corp. “The population has expressed its unhappiness with the system. You could argue that Iran has reached the point where the population has said: `Enough is enough.’”

Regardless, Obama is still an idiot, and whatever he does WILL be wrong.

I know that you know, however, that there are two sides to this particular story, and that it is not only those “devoted” to the “idol” who agree with the way that he has handled the Iranian challenge, from the time of his inauguration right up to the present.

So we have one of these honest differences of opinion.

- Larry W/HB

Pretty hard to cover the news when none of your reporters are allowed anywhere near the news.

There is plenty of commentary to be found. In the absence of news, that’s all which is available. Commentary. Reading of tea leaves.

If you’ll note, you’re last praise be to Obama comment was on Curt’s post just before this, that had video news and Twitter reports. I’ve also provided links to the news getting out via the Iran Updates Tehran Bureau.

Also news from WaPo and NYTs, which I linked. None of this is making the talking heads circuit because they’re busy with other stuff.

This is news other than commentary. It is simply not making the cable news anymore. No blood (or not enuf blood), no lead.

Larry W: Point me to a true Iran expert — someone in the former Bush diplomatic corps, perhaps — who thinks that Obama has mishandled this whole affair.

Suffering from a reading problem today, Larry?

First: Commentary article noting how Obama has abandoned America’s support for democracy and human rights by Joshua Muravchick, broadly excerpted above in the post, is one of the founders of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran.

According the National Endowment for Democracy, “FDI acquires much of its information from sources inside Iran, including local Iranian news reports not normally available in the West.”

Second: Michael Ledeen, who said on the NRO blog:

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Obama Caught Meddling in Iran [Michael Ledeen]

So sayeth the Iranian regime:

The government summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, to complain about American interference. The two countries broke off diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. An English-language state-run channel quoted the government as calling Western interference “intolerable.”

There’s a useful lesson here for President Obama and those who think they can somehow be a little bit pregnant in a brothel: You’re going to be accused of meddling anyway, since out there in the real world you are believed to be the leader of the forces of freedom and democracy. So stop pretending to be a sweet innocent, and get in there and fight for people who are dying in the name of our values, and who want to be part of our world.

You can read about Ledeen here.

Then there’s the eldest son of the exiled Shah, Reza Pahlavi, at the National Press Corp:

6:06 minutes: Do *not* let them define what is respect for sovereignty…. what is intereference in other’s affairs.

Last but not least, there are the demonstrators themselves… one of who’s comments above says that Obama’s acceptance of Ahmadinejad is, as Nico Pitney’s proxy question to Obama at the press conference, a betrayal. A question that even Pitney at Huffpo (a staunch liberal, BTW) says Obama dodged.

Also reinterated below by the CNN reporter on the street

Tho I’m sure, since none of these share your devotion for your idol who you believe can do no wrong – Obama – you will label them not “true” experts. Yet any one of the above, and most certainly those on the streets of Iran, have more expertise in Iran than Obama possess in his pinkie.

And I have no idea why you specifically want someone from Bush’s “diplomatic corps”. Looking for partisan snipe material?

There is plenty of commentary to be found. In the absence of news, that’s all which is available. Commentary. Reading of tea leaves.

What’s important is that — to the extent that there is any sort of political movement going on — it’s being done by the Iranians, themselves.

You say:

So the battle for Iranian government reform continues by those brave enough to risk all by hitting the streets. And, in the glaring void of notable support by either the UN, or the US, they wonder… who in the free world will do commit more than lip service to help them? And will they doom them with the ultimate slap by accepting Ahmadinejad as the legitimate President, despite the blood on the regime’s hands?

Having the USA publicly cheerleading the “revolutionaries” won’t help them. It just gives the Supreme Ruler a pretext for killing them and locking them up. They are only agitators, doing the bidding of the great Satan.

Point me to a true Iran expert — someone in the former Bush diplomatic corps, perhaps — who thinks that Obama has mishandled this whole affair. In point of fact, Obama has greatly facilitated the ability of former Iranian, anti-American hard liners to have key roles in this ongoing “green revolution,” which never would have happened, had George W Bush been elected to a third term in office.

- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA