Saturday, June 20, 2009

Photos From the Crackdown



The latest photos from my favorite Iranian photographer. These are the brutal thugs who are now terrorizing the Iranian people, the Basij. As I watch these events unfold, my mind goes back to the rigged election from last week. The fix was in. This was always a power grab. Perhaps someone can explain exactly to me why this is, because I remain puzzled. Trying to understand the inner workings of the Islamic Republic is always so difficult.

One positive observation is that there doesn't appear to be nearly as many people in the streets today. There certainly aren't hundreds of thousands as we've seen in the peaceful demonstrations. But it was well understood that today would see a brutal crackdown. We shall soon see just how many people braved the streets today, and whether more demonstrations will be allowed in the future. I don't see this dying down without more blood being spilt.

One thing is sure to me, however. The world has passively ignored Iran for too long. We must actively find ways to bring down the Khomenist criminal gang of thugs. There is a certain cynical complicity with tyrannical regimes these days that is troubling (of course, the neoconservative solution to bomb everything is even more disturbing). It's the lack of available solutions that worries me.

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