Friday, July 17, 2009

Iran: Friday July 17

Links to Sullivan (well to his site, he's off on vacation this week) and to Pitney.

Rafsanjani's speech was today, rumors about how he would speak out against Khamenei's use of violence and vote fraud were rampant, and for the most part he did speak against the violence, he did speak for the release of those imprisoned over the past month back to their families, he did speak to the need for leaders in keeping the people's trust. He threw in a few comments on the violence Chinese gov't is inflicting on their Uyghur population, comparing/contrasting to the violence Khamenei and his thugs are inflicting on their fellow Iranians.

As Nico's liveblogging is reporting, there's violence at Tehran University where the speech was held, the basiji using knives now to stab people, tear gas everywhere. Rumors about the Basij calling for more volunteers (are they losing people?). It's still chaos in Iran. It's still violent. But the people aren't letting this go, Khamenei. And you've got to be asking yourself the question again: "Shall I let my fear push me to inflict more damage on my own nation?" For once, for the Love of God, answer "No."

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