Bloodstar

The Stranglehold tightens just a little more on the already shattered reform movement:

Iranian media have been prohibited from mentioning opposition leaders, including former President Mohammad Khatami, under a purported media directive that would further strengthen the government’s grip over the remaining news outlets.

It’s ironic, but the Iranian revolution has evolved into a secular dictatorship with just enough theocratic underpinnings to keep the zealots from getting pissed off. In a way, it’s both comforting and disheartening, as that means Iran is probably more of a rational actor than people think, but it’s also disheartening because it means they’ll be much more effective and ruthless in maintaining control. I think Iran is going the Burma Route.

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Unfortunately, given enough force in place, it’s virtually impossible to organize any demonstrations against the junta in power when they’re willing to literally flood the street with tens of thousands troops and police. So no major spasms against the government, though scattered protests have taken place, there’s been no ability by the protesters to gather enough people to make an effective million person march that they’d hoped to make. This doesn’t mean the protesters have lost the war, just this battle.

Enduring America and niacINsight are both liveblogging events as they continue to unfold. Sullivan is also keeping up on the events as well so check in from time to time and I’ll update with anything new.

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I don’t know where this is headed but there’s every reason to suspect that it will be a critical to the resistance, both with what happens and what doesn’t happen.

What is important, in the meantime, is that there is a significant difference on the eve of this event compared to the political environment before Ashura (27 December). On that occasion, the only prominent opposition figure who made a move was former President Mohammad Khatami, and his memorial speech for Grand Ayatollah Montazeri was rudely broken up by pro-Government protesters. Mousavi, Karroubi, and other senior clerics were all muted about the demonstrations to come. And, after those protests, “conservative” figures such as Ali Larijani were unstinting in their criticism of the “violent” and “foreign-backed” Green movement.

Now all these figures are in play. Mousavi, Karroubi, Khatami have put down their political markers for a big opposition show on Thursday and promised more to come. Rafsanjani, for the first time since early December, may have made his manoeuvre to challenge the Government. And Larijani, joined by others within the establishment, is now targeting Ahmadinejad as much as any Green protester.

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Just to give you a heads up, I’ll report whatever I hear about protests or anything outlandish by the junta thugs that are in power in Iran.

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It looks like the opposition isn’t giving up despite the threats coming from the Iranian Junta

Iranian opposition groups flooded the Web on Monday with calls for a massive show of force during next month’s anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, openly taunting authorities who have warned of a punishing response to any disruptions of the most hallowed day in the Iranian political calendar.

The blitz of messages and videos on opposition sites and social networking forums highlighted the continued ability of anti-government forces to harness the Internet despite attempts by Iranian officials to cripple their Web outreach.

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From a Martin Fletcher article

One activist said: “Do Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and the elite of the Revolutionary Guards really think that I, or anyone else, after being beaten by the police, witnessing the murder of Iranians on the streets, hearing stories of rape and murder in the prisons, and knowing of electoral cheating, will ever remain passive and quiet? None of us will ever accept the rule of Ahmadinejad and Khamenei after what they have done.”

They probably do get it. and here’s hoping they don’t try to literally kill an entire generation in their desperate bid to keep power

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Of course, it could be disinformation, so make of it what you will

Iranian Supreme National Security Council has ordered a complete check-up of the jet which is on standby to fly Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family to Russia should the situation in Iran spiral out of control.

The order, to the Pasdaran Revolutionary Guard Corps, was dated on Sunday, 27 December, the second day of recent unrests in Iran.

The document containing the order was sent to Shahrzad News office in The Netherlands.

The letter has been signed by Said Jalili, the current secretary of the council and one of two representative of Iran’s religious leader Ali Khamenei.

(HT: Sullivan)

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You know, if you only get 1/10th the people to show up despite giving them the day off and helping bus them in, then maybe your support isn’t quite as strong as you’d hope.

Tens of thousands of hard-line government supporters turned out for state-sponsored rallies Wednesday, some of them calling for the execution of opposition leaders as Iran’s police chief threatened to show “no mercy” in crushing any new protests by the pro-reform movement.

Pro-government rallies were staged in Shiraz, Arak, Qom and Tehran, among other cities. Demonstrators at a rally in Tehran chanted “Death to Mousavi,” a reference to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. Some shouted “Rioter hypocrites must be executed” and held up a banner that read: “We sacrifice our blood for the supreme leader.”

The government gave all civil servants and employees a day off to attend the rallies and organized buses to transport groups of schoolchildren and supporters from outlying rural areas to the protests.

After all, they only had to endure a bad bus ride, and meanwhile the opposition is facing bullets, and your thugs shooting them, running them down with cars, beating them arresting them, and they’re still getting several hundred thousand people to show up. So, maybe the Iranian Junta will kill off an entire generation, it’s going to be the only way they hold on.

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Photo: An Iranian opposition protester holds stones as he stands opposite security forces during clashes in Tehran on December 27, 2009. ( -/AFP/Getty Images)

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But if you’re looking for timely information, both Andrew Sullivan and Little Green Footballs have posted a tremendous amount of information on the current round of uprisings.

So far today, things remain in turmoil with the uprisings continuing in several cities:

The BBC is reporting that clashes are continuing into Monday morning between protesters and the regime security forces in Tehran and perhaps other cities, marking the first decisive failure of the basij paramilitary to control the streets by early morning of the day of a big demonstration.

Another remarkable dimension of Sunday’s events was the sheer number of cities where significant rallies and clashes occurred. Some of those allegedly killed are said to have fallen in Tabriz, a northwestern metropolis near Turkey. Even conservative cities such as Isfahan and Mashhad joined in. Shiraz, Ardabil, the list goes on. The attempt of some analysts to paint the disturbances as a shi-shi North Tehran thing has clearly foundered.

The most ominous sign of all for the regime is the reports of security men refusing orders to fire into the crowd.

Evidently the demonstrations reached several hundred thousand in number.

I’m not an expert on Iran, but so far there isn’t any evidence that the current thug regime has the will or ability to really put down the uprising. The regime is still hoping to take the head of the opposition and hope the uprising will simmer and die. So far, despite the deaths so far, there isn’t the mass carnage and casualties that one would expect should the regime decide to go to wholesale slaughter in an effort to keep power.

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The protests simmer on and the Bajiv run bikers over

HT: Sullivan

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And more protests broke out today with thousands of people out in the streets, even as the Basij tried to break the protests up with violence and intimidation

Hard-line militiamen firing tear gas and throwing stones stormed a crowd of thousands of university students protesting for a second day Tuesday, as Iran threatened a tougher crackdown on the opposition after the biggest anti-government demonstrations in months.

of couse, things are ramping up from the protest monday to the December 12th 6 month anniversary of the initial protests. A few more signs of just how determined the protesters are

… Monday’s unrest showed how students have revitalized the movement. They showed an increased boldness, openly breaking the biggest taboo in Iran, burning pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and chanting slogans against him.

and second

Other marchers carried an Iranian flag from which the signature emblem of Allah — added after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution — had been removed. At Sharif University in Tehran, protesters could be seen on a video clip posted on YouTube chanting “death to the oppressor, whether shah or supreme leader.”

The pot continues to simmer.

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Enduring America and NIAC Insight has some very good coverage on the events of the last 24 hours.

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Typically when the Government comes out with multiple reasons why someone died, then won’t let the family see the body, there’s a problem.

An Iranian doctor who went public with reports of tortured protesters he treated at Tehran’s most feared detention facility dies, amid conflicting reports of a heart attack, a car accident or suicide — raising opposition accusations that the 26-year-old was killed.

Revelations that protesters detained in Iran’s postelection crackdown were tortured, some to death, were a deep embarrassment to the country’s clerical rulers. Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani was pressured to change the death certificate of one of the most well known victims and later spoke to a parliament commission investigating the abuse, opposition Web sites reported.

…

The opposition Web site Mowjcamp cited unidentified friends and family saying authorities carried out the washing and wrapping of Pourandarjani’s body before handing it over to his family — rituals usually carried out by relatives — suggesting that they wanted to hide the body.

Mowjcamp and other opposition sites reported that authorities barred the family from performing an autopsy on the body.

Thug regime continues thuggery.

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Lest we Forget, Iran still has a number of people who *haven’t* given up and continue their protests when the opportunity presents itself:

According to Parleman News, scattered clashes have taken place between the security forces and protestors in Seven Tir Square in Tehran. The security forces have reportedly used tear gas several times while the number of protesters is increasing.

Mowj Camp reports that Tehran University students have left the university to join the demonstrations. According to Mowj Camp, anti-riot police has attacked the protesters who were going from the university to Seven Tir Square and there have been clashes in other parts of Tehran. Bullets were also shot in the air around Seven Tir Square.

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