Thanks Spencer

this is truly amazing to see

thanks for keeping us updated on what is going on over there. scary.

Go, @PersianKiwi, go. And watch yer topknot.

there’s an amazing amount of people in the streets

Proud of these demonstrators because they are willing to put it on the line for their country. Wish we could get Americans to take to the streets to demand our rights but we are lazy and poorly informed.

The only way to stop Twitter is to shut off the entire web, since you can post Twitter updates via any web browser. Obviously the Iranian government has blocked access to twitter.com, which is why there’s a need to use proxies. Twitter is such a simple service that I bet one could implement some really low-level way of sending updates using some of the basic network components. Could become the ultimate anti-censorship tool.

It’s incredible

Here’s a BBC video

agreed!
It’s hard to imagine the same thing happening here.

Assuming the existing power structure emerges from this fracas intact, I suspect there will not be another reform candidate allowed on a presidential ballot any time soon.

Video from Tehran – amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..r_embedded

source – Nico Pitney at Huffpo who is doing a superb job of liveblogging
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..15189.html

As I wrote last night – http://tinyurl.com/kryha7, we can show our support for democracy today by joining the effort to defeat the War Supplemental and helping the progressive caucus hold firm. Today is critical since the vote will be tomorrow …

http://campaignsilo.firedoglak…..unch-time/

This whole thing is giving me Tiananman Square flashbacks. Hoping for a different resolution this time.

MODS – Could someone tell the web-people that (using Opera on XP) right now when I go to FDL’s ‘home’, the ads that usually sit on the right side of the page are in the center of the screen blocking the right hand side of the content text. When I click through to Oxdown, e.g., they’re in their proper place.

I just checked all of the other ‘home’ pages and their ads are all in the right place, so FDL home is the only munged page.

Thanks.

seems to be fine here, have you emptied your cache and tried restarting?

Suppose the NSA/CIA is taking notes?

thanks for the HuffPo link

surprisingly little on al Jazeera English – gonna try their arabic sites using google translator

fyi – via Google News:

Reaction was also more favourable among Iran’s neighbours. Congratulations came from Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Afghanistan’s leader Hamid Karzai, who called Ahmadinejad’s re-election “a suitable selection.”

and oh yes, been dialing congresscritters all morning – it’s the least we can do in light of the risks Iranians are taking

Hope but don’t bet on it.

Just emptied entire cache and closed/restarted Opera. FDL’s homepage’s ads are still misaligned, while all the other homepages’ are fine, as are the ‘long form’ pages I checked on my way by.

When you say your system is fine, what OS/browser are you using?

Curious that it’s just FDL’s homepage that is giving the trouble, which makes me think that someone inadvertently changed a number or broke a tag.

Read just a while ago that the Ayatollah Ali Khamnei has stated that a fraud investigation by the leadership would take place. A quick 180 from yesterday when this same leader said that Ahmadinejad had won. The revolution has begun. Last week the police stated that colors used by political parties could cause trouble and that the use of these colors should be banned. They were looking at the various countries in the former USSR block who had defeated the ruling(corrupt) parties ie the Green rev. The Rose rev etc etc. As if banning a color would stop the action. Can’t decide if these people actually listen to what they say or if their brains somehow are in a different world.
The current regime is very corrupt, the revolution happened 30 years ago and now the majority of adults in Iran are under 30. They are disconnected from the religious fervor that ruled in the begining. The 8 year war with Iraq managed to kill off a very large number of the fanatics,now the current young generation wants the same thing that all other young people want, the religious police are fanatics and are keeping the pressure underground. Meanwhile the Ayatollahs in charge-the real rulers-are scared. That is why the flip flop from yesterday. BTW, I thought that the govt would surpress the masses, appears that I was wrong. The entire situation is spiraling out of control, the promise to look into the cry of fraud might be too little too late. The situation reminds me a lot of what happened back when the Shah was booted out despite his having the entire police state behind him. Maybe the Ayatollahs feel the hot breath of history on their necks.

Mac OX 10.5.7 Firefox 30.11 no problems.

Sky News footage via Big Orange

as the correspondent points out – there are thousands of middle class Iranians in the street – can’t help but think that’s why Khameni reversed and made his statement about opening an inquiry -

I’m all for it I just think a cornered rat will fight. Depends on the troops.

MODS – Just restarted the box. Started Opera with no tabs. _Still_ have misaligned ads on FDL’s homepage but nowhere else on the site.

Since Khamenei would appoint the people conducting the inquiry it is a sham. What I have read suggests that those Iranians unhappy with the election result see right through it.

I use Firefox, and it’s OK. I started up Opera and it’s just as you say, ads in the middle.

I recognize that Twitter may be the technology of choice for disseminating information from Iran right now, but I don’t see how open proxies can’t let traffic through for any other number of sites as well. Any low-bandwidth web-based messaging or email system would presumably be just as accessible through these various proxies. Folks looking at Twitter today as an outlet for information while some network links are out of commission due to chaos might be interested to look at the use of IRC (internet relay chat) in 1991 during the first gulf war. The more things change, the more they stay the same…

(Also, per behindthefall, the Opera problem pervades for me with v9.64 on a mac)

Hah! Thanks for the confirmation! Please don’t tell me I’m going to have to use FF. (Not that I have anything against FF, but Opera just is friendlier all around for me.)

I’m also using Opera and it appears misaligned on both my laptop and desktop computers. Yesterday all was fine. Today is when it started to appear that way.

we agree.

conflicting reports right now as to whether Security Forces are standing down or not

fyi – I was actually in Tehran the week preceeding the Shah’s departure 30 years ago – even in my clueless youthful state, I urged our company to get us the hell out of there despite US Embassy assurances of “all is well” – when the middle class Manager and other employees of our hotel called in sick to attend protests

Denouncing foreign media and banning peaceful protest is always a great way to show your election victory was legitimate.

Ain’t it funny how technologically adept the Ayatolla has become all the sudden?

Well, if our man, the Iraqi PM thinks Ahmadinejad is a good pick, I guess all is well. What’s a good puppet to do? Make waves?

Just visited (at 9:30 AM, PST on 15 June 2009) the self-professed expert on the MidEast Juan Cole, and his lead story claimed that the protest rally by Mousavi had been shut down. Wrong. Juan Cole should check with Huffingtonpost for up-to-the-second information.

The anti-Ahmad protesters seem to be gathering strength. One of the head religious rulers has ordered an investigation into possible election fraud. This should be very interesting. Imagine if we Americans had held a complete election recount after the Bush-GOP electronic election theft in 2004…

Twitter Breaking News Feed:

Press TV reporter says the shooting in Tehran happened in Azadi Square, killing at least 1 person and causing panic.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the inquiry. Ahmadinejad is his anointed candidate. The inquiry announcement is an attempt to tamp down unrest, don’t think for a minute it will change the result.

I’ve been thinking about the Brooks Brothers riot all morning. And the Christianist protestors that Republicans likewise dispatched to Canada to help assure Harper’s victory.

Ayatollah’s just letting a little air out of the bag.

And here I thought he was just blowing more hot air into it.

PersianKiwi reporting gunfire, wounded protesters and panic in the streets in the last 6-8 minutes.

That’s the other bag. Either bag metaphor has its application. g

No matter who gets the office this is going to have long-range consequences. Doodad will never have the clout he has had before and no trust from a large segment of the population. The unrest will continue, I think, perhaps more underground than overt. Iran wants cred and has now lost it all since they appear to have to beat their citizens into submission. The game has changed a lot, IMO.

Hard to say Iran has cred when they hang children from tow trucks in public. That said, Iran has more cred than the IDF, who shoot children playing in schoolyards then lie about it.

I’ve lost count, but I think you’re the 3rd or 4th one reporting the problem.

I wonder if anyone is listening to us …

Well, I guess so, because it just “fixed itself”!

cbl2 – Mr. Gnome was also in Tehran 30 years ago, just before the Shah fell! There was a lot of American contracting going on back then.

Three of the Sha’s C-130’s are sitting on the tarmac at Dobbins.

the tech people are looking into it

Just sitting there rotting? I remember an old air field in Alexandria VA where some B-17s just sat until they fell into dust. Fun to play in, though.

Whadja catch in yer new boat?

My understanding is that they keep them in tip-top shape.

Man, I don’t know if I’d wanna fly in something that’s been “kept up” but not flown for 30+ years.

PersianKiwi linked to an image, and I noticed that it was an AFP picture. At first I was suspicious (some images said to be from after the election showed rallies from before the election), but I checked out afp.com. Agence France Press has reporters and photographers on the ground, and some of the best coverage.

You don’t need to rely on rumors from Twitter about where Mousavi is, AFP has pictures..