Image Over Substance

This time it’s Obama, not Blair or Brown. In fact it appears that Brown deserves some rare praise, for disagreeing with Obama over the announcement of an Iranian nuclear facility discovered by French, British and US intelligence.

The story suggests that Obama delayed the announcement in order not to “spoil the image of success” of UN disarmament talks he was chairing. You know, spoil the image of success by admitting abject failure. By actually giving an accurate assessment. By being realistic and facing the truth.

What on Earth is the point of the image of success? Are the people of Israel going to be comforted by being told that there aren’t any nuclear weapons targeted at them, if later someone admits that there are and Obama knew all along? Are they going to be comforted if they have the image of safety as those nuclear weapons fly towards them?

Sarkozy’s comments on Obama’s naivety make a lot more sense now, although I have always considered him both naïve and more interested in perception than reality. I have described him as an American Tony Blair, and that is not a compliment.

Iranians Still Protesting

I am sorry that i have not blogged the Iranian Protests recently, but I have seen little except the brief mentions in the national press. The recent Al-Quds day anti-Israel marches were seen by Ahmadinijad’s regime as a time the opposition might use to protest. That does seem to have been the case, although you might have missed it in the news media.

I cannot confirm that this video is from that protest, although I think it is and the date is correct for that.

It also seems that on al-Quds day some Iranians think that It was less important to protest against Israel than another rather more powerful country. I have to say that they seem to have far more sense than the whole political leadership of the UK, USA, EU and the UN.

Posters made to honour the disputed Iranian government were carried, although not necessarily with the respect that was intended by the distributor.

Big hat tip to Gateway Pundit, on whose post I have based this entire story. Thanks!

Ongoing Iranian Protests

It seems that on one level the Iranian government succeeded. Although I knew that protesters had not simply accepted the corrupted election results the government restrictions mean that a lot less information reaches the outside world, so the international profile is lower.

Display at the protest outside the Iranians embassy in London

The Twitter feed that put together a lot of information during the original protests is still very active, but chaotic as always. I haven’t seen anyone interpreting it, and that is what it needs unless you are prepared to watch it for a while and know a lot about the country. It is good for an impression though, and to see that the protest is still alive.

Fortunately former President and relatively moderate politician Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani made his contribution yesterday at Friday prayers. All protests and most gatherings (even funerals of some killed in the violence) have been banned, but the Islamic Republic can hardly ban Friday prayers; this was used for Rafsanjani to say his piece about the election. That speech and the subsequent street protests have given welcome international publicity (welcome to those who love freedom that is, not to George Galloway, Yvonne Ridley, Lauren Booth and Andrew Gilligan, amongst other less well-known colleagues at Press TV).

My only contribution is to say that Rafsanjani, like Mousavi, appears to be trying to save the Islamic Republic, not to destroy it. However both also appear to want to save the regime by moderating the oppressive side of the government. They also are currently siding with the protesters, even though many of them appear to want true democracy. It is slightly confused, and of course there are probably many protesters who support Mousavi and Rafsanjani’s wish for the regime to survive.

Overall I think that this new flare up of protests that have been smouldering for a few weeks (and started over a month ago now) is positive. Yes there are dangers. People will be hurt, people will be imprisoned and ill-treated, people will die. People are already being hurt, imprisoned, maltreated and killed. That is an ongoing process, so the sooner it is stopped the better. It is easy to forget the long and painful road that led to our freedom, and the millions of dead that litter the roadside. Freedom isn’t free.

The LA Times has a more comprehensive story, they talked to more protesters and report the activity in the street in more detail.

For more on what has been leading up to today’s events Berman Post had a roundup a couple of days ago.

If any recent visitors to this blog, welcome and feel free to scan through my previous comments on the issue of Iran, and my photo post on the protest I joined outside the Iranian Embassy in London. I think the most important thing I have put up so far is the video I have reposted below, from the London protest.

Hat tip to Instapundit for the LA Times and Berman Post links.

Update: Huffinton Post has live blogging of the situation. I understand HuffPo was good last month for that. This is a case where the left's blogs did some fine work, as did their political organisations supporting the protesters; there was broad agreement in the free world across the political divides, even if some political leaders were not sure how to respond.

Update: A more recent roundup from Berman Post, again thanks to Instapundit

Update: Again via Instapundit (what would we do for news of reality without Glen Reynolds?) a blog specifically about democracy in Iran, which has been running since 2005.

Iranian Without Doubts

On the odd occasion I see a story that makes me certain I chose the right name for this blog. Harry’s Place has one such story, connected with the ongoing protests in Iran. A classic tale, like the Greek comedy Lysistrata, of a woman using her charms to try to stop unnecessary violence. The reason it failed on this occasion is that the man appears unable to conceive of the idea that he might be wrong. He is so certain that Ahmadinejad and Khamenei are right that the opposition must have fooled his fiancée. It seems not to enter his head that he might be the fool.

Of course he is a member of the Basij, part morality police, part volunteer paramilitary thugs for the revolution, but all Islamist. It is that oldest of reasons not to doubt, that most insidious of institutions, religion. The Faithful, as if blind faith was something to boast about, rather than the last refuge of the determinedly ignorant. Faith allows no doubts.

OK, I see the irony that the woman in question is of a conservative religious family; their folly does not alter my point.

I am pleased about the ongoing protest and defiance of Khamenei in Iran (sorry for the lack of posts – little is coming through in the news, and I have had no novel insight). Anyone of a libertarian political view can but hope that some real change comes of them. People will die, but we must remember how many more died for our freedom, and how much some of us value that sacrifice.

Update: I am uncertain about posting this link. Persians in general are such great people, I don't want readers to hate them. The Islamic revolution has twisted so much there, that is the target of my ire. I am not certain it even shows Iran, I am trusting the unknown source, although the point I make here holds whoever these people are, and I am fairly sure they are trying to follow Islamic law, Shariah.

Warning, do NOT look at this link if you have any faith in human nature, any respect for Islam or are at all sqeamish. It is truly horrible. Believers dispense justice in Iran to an eight-year-old thief. This would be impossible for any group of people with the capacity to doubt their own rectitude. Please doubt yourself.

More Support for Iran’s Protesters

It is the classic U2 protest song, dedicated to the protesters in Iran.

Additional support, albeit I suspect for Mousavi as a reformer rather than deeper political change that most protesters seem to want, comes from an important and perhaps unexpected quarter. the New York Times reports that an important group of Iranian clerics has described the election and government as illegitimate.

Hat tip to Instapundit for both these snippets, although Divas for Geeks has an eloquent comment on the NYT story, contrasting Obama’s fence sitting.

Update: young Iranians are still defiant.

Hat tip Harry’s Place.

Stand By Iran

I wasn't intending to post music again so soon.

Hat tip to Clive Davis of the Spectator.

Protest at The Iranian Embassy, London

I heard a few days ago that there was an ongoing protest outside the Iranian Embassy in London. It so happens that I left my west-country lair to visit London for family reasons – an excellent opportunity to support the protest, both with my presence and with my first photo-blog.

I would estimate that for the hour or so I was with them there were about one hundred protesters. There were signs of previous, larger protests.

Sam, an extravagant, passionate Persian was directing the proceedings. With that protester’s friend, the bullhorn, he brought various people forward to speak.

Some spoke in generalities, albeit with passion. Some told individual stories of the terrors being visited upon those that are daring to stand up for their democratic rights. Most spoke in English, others in Farsi, with Iranians in the crowd giving a rough translation. Sam had a story to tell of a girl who only wanted freedom.

There was a heart-felt, touching shrine to Neda Sultan, who was killed with a single, targeted shot from long range, while offering no violence or threat.

Most people there were either Iranian, or British of Iranian extraction. Of course the Persian women were as enthusiastic as any. This was a protest against the Islamic Republic, chauvinism, sharia and all that entails. In fact Mousavi was criticised, and obviously only seen as better than Ahmadinejad and not himself a solution. They were protesting for true freedom, and a secular government.

One thing that both heartened and disappointed me was the political tone. The protest that day had been arranged by various left-wing groups, including the TUC. This was a good sign, that George Galloway’s disgraceful attitude does not seem to have wide support on the left. In fact when I was offered a socialist newspaper (had I known the organiser I would not have worn my red t-shirt with the yellow star; purely coincidence that I did, I had forgotten the green one I intended wearing) I had a discussion with the chap distributing it, who had a healthy disdain for Gorgeous George. He even felt that Galloway’s attitude to Iraq was simply because he would support any opponent of the USA.

On the other hand it did make it seem as if support was only from the left; I think I was the only one there who would be happy to be described as right wing. It was a Friday, and for obvious reasons left tend to be more likely to be free on a week day; I hope that today’s planned march had more libertarian and right-wing attendees.

However there was nothing said about Iran that I could disagree with. Workers in the UK were out to support workers in Iran.

After one member of the RMT had passed on her support and that of the workers’ collective, and a little plug for their cause of course, I felt I should express the solidarity of the libertarian right. When Sam offered my the microphone he did call me comrade; I had to point out that I was not a socialist despite the t-shirt, I was probably the only one not of the left there, but they had my support. My contribution was taken with friendly applause, and Sam graciously offered that if I was not comrade then perhaps colleague or friend. I accepted as friend.

Overall I saw the very best side of international socialism.

It was an enthusiastic and moving protest which still had some momentum many days after the suspect election result. It was small, but ongoing protests on a weekday cannot be expected to keep many hundreds of supporters. We are showing British support, but I would like to see more of non-Persian extraction and more from the libertarian right.

[Sorry about the slightly sloppy editing. Am just learning to use LiveWriter, and I’m not sure it’s any good. Either it isn’t, or I am crap]

Update: I have noticed a couple of people have come here from image searches. Of course I took these photos, so I have the copyright. Use them freely as long as you don't make a profit and credit this blog, linking to this post if convenient.

Helping Iran with a Proxy Server

Harry's Place has a link to a site with clear instructions on how to set up a proxy server to help Iranians access the internet without interference.

Update: More here thanks to Instapundit.

Free Persia

I have just worked out how to make my background green. Hoping for freedom and democracy in Iran.

Hacking the Iranian Government

There is little we can do to support the Persian uprising. Even official western support can backfire, as the propaganda uses it to suggest that the protests are instigated by the USA and Europe. However I understand that some protesters have asked, through the internet, for help in attacking government websites. This website has been set up to make repeated requests to ten different Iranian government sites (a distributed denial of service attack, DDOS). If enough people use it then those sites will crash. Government IT specialists helping to keep their sites running are not attacking the sources of information and communication for the protests.

My best wishes to the Persian people. I hate to be racist, but all the Persians I have ever met have been lovely. It is so sad that their homeland is suffering so much from the insane theocracy. Good luck!

Update: Oh, and check out this person's Twitter feed (you don't need to be a Twit to do it, I am not a member) for continuous information. This is Twitter's finest hour.

Further update: Iranian protesters have now asked that we stop attacking Iranian government sites, as this is now going so far as to slow traffic to all websites. Hence I have changed the link.

Yet another update: this is a confused situation. It appears to be that the Iranian government is itself capping the private internet bandwidth, but leaving itself unrestricted. This would mean that we should go back to the DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks I was giving earlier. I think this is probably correct: the government servers cannot possibly cope with traffic that would slow down the rest of the internet traffic in a country with the high internet coverage in Iran. The original link is here.

Another plea: please join Twitter and set your location to Tehran, your time zone to GMT +3:30. Members of Twitter, please for now set the time and location. The Iranian security forces are looking for Iranian members. They are searching on this information, and we can help a little to hide the genuine Iranian Twitterers. I have joined just for this purpose, as randomxnp. so say hi, but don't expect me to have any idea what Twitter is about or how to reply! Good luck to the people of Iran.

Another way of helping: the Iranian government is blocking sites, so the protest groups are using proxy servers. If any of you know how to set up your own proxy server, please do so and Tweet the IP address to @gr88 or @stopAhmadi. Don't Twitter it more widely, as the security forces are blocking any proxy they know about, which is why they need a continuing supply. I think I have set one up, but don't know enough to give advice to others. There are some links here.

Update: we can't do much, but it can be a great comfort in adversity to know that real people all over the world are thinking of you. The Stand With Iran website is uploading pictures of supporters.

A Picture of Iran

This picture says everything that needs to be said about why we should support the protestors in Iran. Good luck to them.

[Found about half way down this page with the caption "A backer of Mir Hossein Mousavi helps evacuate an injured riot-police officer during riots in Tehran on June 13, 2009"]