OK, who didn't see this coming?

[Foster]

Clashes erupt in Iran over disputed election

TEHRAN, Iran, Sat Jun 13, 12:43 PM

Supporters of the main election challenger to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tires Saturday as authorities claimed the hard-line president was re-elected in a landslide. The rival candidate said the vote was tainted by widespread fraud and his followers responded with the most serious unrest in the capital in a decade.

(http://www.optimum.net/News/AP/Article?articleId=572100&categoryId=2)

[lleeder]

This would all be solved if they had nuclear capabilities.

[styckx]

David Letterman probably had something to do with this.

[WampusCrandle]

David Letterman probably had something to do with this.

he is a rapist, so who knows what he would do next?

[underdog]

Iran is such a weird country. The people have this government forced on them, but they're basically begging for freedom. And all anyone sees is the crazy government.

[Fez4PrezN2008]

Do you think to gov threw the vote count or do 63% of everyday man on the street Iranians really want 4 more years of death to the American/Israeli/Anyone infedels ?

[underdog]

Do you think to gov threw the vote count or do 63% of everyday man on the street Iranians really want 4 more years of death to the American/Israeli/Anyone infedels ?

There's no way that was an actual election.

[SatCam]

I hear the opposing side wants to let women show their faces in public so it's easier to eliminate the ugly ones

[HBox]

This is such a huge important event and our media is barely covering it, if at all. CNN apparently can't be bothered to do anything more than occasionally and briefly break in between there Saturday full of meaningless human interest stories. MSNBC can't be bothered to report anything at all and is just playing it's block of cop shows. Yeah, why would anyone in this country be concerned with Iran unless it's Ahmadinejad saying some overtly inflammatory comments? Why would anyone be interested that Iran is full of people who want democracy and freedom and their votes to be counted.

I didn't think they were this bad.

[pennington]

Burning tires can't be good for global warming.

[TheMojoPin]

Actually, not too many people saw this coming. This is pretty unexpected and significant and could be a major turning point.

[spankyfrank]

This is my total blowharded opinion but probably our own government doesn't want to rub any of those countries the wrong way because they hold the oil and we are better trying to keep peace with them as best we can. The media follows suit with the goverment because they have the power to push peoples opinions one way or another.

[Foster]

Actually, not too many people saw this coming. This is pretty unexpected and significant and could be a major turning point.

I glanced at an article yesterday about the Iranian elections taking place, and maybe I'm just a pessimist, but the first thought that popped into my head was this ending in riots.

[TheMojoPin]

I glanced at an article yesterday about the Iranian elections taking place, and maybe I'm just a pessimist, but the first thought that popped into my head was this ending in riots.

Normally a safe bet in that region but not in Iran for almost three decades.

[HBox]

Ahmadinejad had enough support that if Mousavi won there probably would be demonstrations too.

[EliSnow]

This is my total blowharded opinion but probably our own government doesn't want to rub any of those countries the wrong way because they hold the oil and we are better trying to keep peace with them as best we can. The media follows suit with the goverment because they have the power to push peoples opinions one way or another.

Little to no oil is exported by Iran to the US. As for the other Muslim countries we import oil from, I think they would prefer a more moderate Iran as much or more than we would.

I see no reason not to cover this election. If anything, showing the protests, etc. demonstrate that there is a huge bloc of people in Iran who are moderate and want better ties with the West and the US.

Broadcasting that would be very helpful to our country's perception of Iran and other Muslim countries.

[underdog]

Every time Iran comes up, I realize how little everyone actually knows about Iran.

I also enjoy how everyone treats every country in the middle east like they are all Iraq and/or Saudi Arabia.

[styckx]

This is getting very interesting

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/followup-on-earlier-posts.html


Yes, the president of Iran's own election monitoring commission has declared the result invalid and called for a do-over. That is huge news: when a regime's own electoral monitors beak ranks, what chance does the regime have of persuading anyone in the world or Iran that it has democratic legitimacy?

[Suspect Chin]

Who else here can say that they have seen Mahmoud live in person? Not that that's something to be proud of...

[Fez4PrezN2008]

There's no way that was an actual election.
I kind of laugh to myself thinking that those ballot boxes they we using mayber were just office paper shredders
http://www.payvand.com/news/09/may/voting-box-Iran.jpg

=
http://www.urbanjunkie.co.uk/shopimages/products/extras/electronic%20fulll%20page%20paper%20shredder450.jp g

[TheMojoPin]

This is getting very interesting

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/followup-on-earlier-posts.html

This could be huge.