Sheldon makes some good points about the u.s. and Iran here. It would be interesting to know how much involvement the u.s. already has in what’s going on there. The Iranian government says that foreign influences are involved – but you’d expect it to say that. The relevant foreign influences deny that they’re involved, but you’d expect them to say that too. The u.s. government certainly has an incentive to intervene covertly – though they’re also so incompetent and clueless that they actually might not have.
That Twitter delayed its downtime until nighttime in Iran in order to avoid interfering with coordination among the protesters is great, but the fact that the u.s. govt. asked them for the delay makes me wonder what else the u.s. govt. is doing? That the u.s. govt. could simply have created this situation out of whole cloth as the Iranian govt. would have us believe is ludicrous; but to what extent did the u.s. actually promote this situation and to what extent are they simply trying to exploit an independently arising situation?
The protests also seem to be coinciding with a power struggle within the Iranian leadership. (I mean the actual leadership, not the presidency.) So the same question can be posed there: to what extent did dissident factions within the ruling council actually promote this situation and to what extent are they simply trying to exploit an independently arising situation?
According to Twitter: “It’s humbling to think that our two-year old company could be playing such a globally meaningful role that state officials find their way toward highlighting our significance. However, it’s important to note that the State Department does not have access to our decision making process.”
From that vague statement, it’s hard to ascertain exactly what level of involvement the U.S. govt. had in the Twitter decision.
Which was presumably the intention.
That quote is another example, incidentally, to illustrate my thesis that the word “humble” has become a synonym for its onetime antonym, “proud.” Given what “humble” originally meant, it would make more sense for a sentence beginning “It’s humbling to think that our company” to end with “has no influence or importance on the world stage whatsoever.”
“Inflammable means flammable?!”
A…a…are you deliberately disrespecting your beloved country by not using capitals?, ie. referring to it as u.s. instead of U.S.?
Don’t you understand that the founding fathers died in horribly painful ways so you could have the freedom to diss them?
Don’t you mean the Founding Fathers?
Hahaha!
This is from an Iranian-American:
Tomorrow is Saturday. Tomorrow is a day of destiny.
Tonight, the cries of Allah-o Akbar are heard louder and louder than the nights before.
Where is this place? Where is this place where every door is closed? Where is this place where people are simply calling God? Where is this place where the sound of Allah-o Akbar gets louder and louder?
I wait every night to see if the sounds will get louder and whether the number increases. It shakes me. I wonder if God is shaken.
Where is this place that where so many innocent people are entrapped? Where is this place where no one comes to our aid? Where is this place that only with our silence we are sending our voices to the world? Where is this place that the young shed blood and then people go and pray — standing on that same blood and pray. Where is this place where the citizens are called vagrants?
Where is this place? You want me to tell you? This place is Iran. The homeland of you and me.
This place is Iran.
This is from an Iranian student:
I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed. I’m listening to all my favorite music. I even want to dance to a few songs. I always wanted to have very narrow eyebrows. Yes, maybe I will go to the salon before I go tomorrow! There are a few great movie scenes that I also have to see. I should drop by the library, too. It’s worth to read the poems of Forough and Shamloo again. All family pictures have to be reviewed, too. I have to call my friends as well to say goodbye. All I have are two bookshelves which I told my family who should receive them. I’m two units away from getting my bachelors degree but who cares about that. My mind is very chaotic. I wrote these random sentences for the next generation so they know we were not just emotional and under peer pressure. So they know that we did everything we could to create a better future for them. So they know that our ancestors surrendered to Arabs and Mongols but did not surrender to despotism. This note is dedicated to tomorrow’s children…
Only intermittent Internet access, so I’m largely limited to the cable news channels. But I look forward to being able to find out more about whether the Soros Foundation and NED have been involved to the same extent as in other “color revolutions.” I’d hate to see Moussaoui used like Mandela and Havel, as a branding icon for a regime whose suits take marching orders from the IMF.