Monday, June 22, 2009

This is for Neda, Monday, June 22, 2009 - Revised & Updated Tuesday, June 23, 2009

This is for Neda.

We were shocked and horrified to see the video of this beautiful young woman being shot down in the name of democracy. We mention CNN as the first source as this is where we believe we first saw the video of the shooting. You may not wish to link to it as it as graphic as it is disturbing.

We believe this was a heinous crime perpetrated upon a young woman who was merely present at a protest in defense of freedom. She has joined the hall of martyrs.

We did not know Neda nor her family. We offer our grief in support of her grieving family, friends and associates. We have never even been to Iran, only having traveled as far as Great Britain.

Like somebody recently said, "We're all Iranians now.". We believe that is mostly true seeing the protests around many parts of the world. We wonder, however, if reporting on these events may have been suppressed in other non-democratic nations such as China and the like.

We found out about some very sophisticated technology from ABC News called Freegate software. This is a very interesting piece of software secretly controlled and operated by engineers who are using it to bypass censorship in these parts of the world. We haven't had time to check into it ourselves, you may want to try it however. Or, you yourself may wish to use it (secretly) to "strike a blow for freedom". Like Jefferson wrote/said, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”. (Watch and follow this website to see if it mysteriously and suddenly disappears...).

Like a recent guest (Clay Shirky, 6/21/09) said on Fareed Zakaria's GPS, perhaps we should be dropping cell phones and other communication devices to the protestors. A counterpoint to that might be that the Iranian government has been dropping boiling water and/or acid on the protestors providing skin burns. A simple test for the presence of acid would be to use a little baking soda. The acid should bubble in the presence of baking soda. At any rate, the use of baking soda (use liberally and make sure it is fresh out of the package) should help relieve some effects of the acid. Perhaps some free-thinking advocates might care to drop weapons to the protestors, as well as aid packages. It is a little difficult fighting off guns and billy clubs with purses and sign-sticks. Of course, somebody might wish to airlift some kevlar armor to the protestors. At least the Iran military has not called in the tanks, reminiscent of Tiannamen Square. There is a strange synchrocity to the events then and the protests now in Iran.

Getting back to the issue of "running guns" to the protestors. Of course, gun running is illegal but it still appears to be an unstoppable phenomenon. We think George Washington would argue that you cannot have a revolution without the use of firepower and a citizen militia or army. Of course, kevlar armor without weapons is little protection against arrest, detention, prosecution and punishment. But, the scholar - Simon Schama - has predicted a French Revolution scenario in Iran. That is, he did predict it to be bloody, violent and with "heads rolling". He said this on The Colbert Report last night, Monday, June 22, 2009. With this chilling prediction, we do expect more violence, bloodshed and a full-scale revolution happening in Iran - again. Of course, the urge is to protect these folks - as bloodshed is irreversible. That is to say, some things are irreversible in this life. We sometimes wish it weren't so.

Perhaps a great one, a great leader and military strategist - like our own George Washington - will come to life in Iran and lead them (eventually) to a peaceful resolution and a stable society. Perhaps more so than here in America. We pick Iran to be just such a model or a cloudpoint in the Mideast.



The desire to declaim the apparently rigged election seems to have resulted in a revelation. See the link: More votes than voters in 50 constituencies: Iran election probe. We can't assume it was a happy error. The protestors appear to be in the right...and they are paying a heavy toll. As so many have said - the original source of the quotation may be lost - that the "Price of freedom is blood". [Which may have evolved from a phrase turned by Kipling, "If blood be the price of admiralty, Lord God, we ha' paid in full..." 'The Song of the Dead' (1896)]. Perhaps Keith Olbermann and his fact-checkers will find the source.

It is unfortunate (?) that the unrest has grown out of a failure to decide the election in favor of Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh. It has been reported - not widely - that the man is not an advocate of democracy. Indeed, he was political secretary of the Islamic Republican Party during the Revolution of 1979 and 1980/81, when the Iran Hostage Crisis took place. Our senior editor is old enough to vividly remember some of the taking of hostages from the American Embassy. This is a sight he does not want repeated...

But apparently the Revolt has turned into a cry for a freedom, not so much an outpouring of support for Mousavi.

As the apparently level-headed Benjamin Netanyahu has said recently in an episode of "Meet the Press" 'democracies do not shoot their people and take violent steps against them and suppress the freedom of speech' (or to that effect...). He revealed that he recently invited some Druze protestors into his office(s) to address their issues and have a reasonable conversation with them. This is what should be happening in Iran. The leaders, the politicians should be addressing their citizens with their concerns in reasonable conversations. This is what should happen in a true democracy (though it doesn't always work that way...).

Not so much here in America. The GOP may have been right to point out: "Republicans call Obama timid on Iran ". To be fair, Mr. Obama has defended himself on this topic. Yes, we believe in a democratic Iran. We think it is absolutely essential that freedom in Iran be defended. Iran and the Strait of Hormuz is strategic and could potentially be a world threat if the current regime gets the nuclear weapons and armaments it so desperately wants. It is absolutely vital to support a free-standing Iranian democracy in the nuclear arms question. The world must have a more tolerant government if it is to be free from this shadow. This is where - for once - we mostly agree with the dissenting Republicans. Not to mention the dissenting Iranians calling upon the rest of the world.

Almost last, of course, this is just a blog. It does little to sway world political influence - if at all. Its most happy hope is to take these various strings of communication and package them together into one cohesive unit. A cohesive unit that hopes to make all of the issues (real and perceived) more sensible and more usable to the reader(s). Presenting a (hopefully) rational and effective argument for the use of reason in these flashpoint issues. And of course, as a tribute to and a way of making sense out of the deaths of the innocents - the martyrs - like Neda.

(At the risk of offending: Are the great religions a factor in this? Is a belief in one's God and/or religious belief systems part of the answer? Should some of us hope and pray for a sign from above - some protecting angel to save and guide the protestors and those they protest against? Is atheism the answer, after all? We do believe that religions, their charities and works do bring a lot of good to the world. But, with no belief system there seems to be no conflict. Atheism works? Tolerance, also, works, to some degree).



The power of Neda

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/06/21/intv.nasr.neda.cnn

Neda Soltani (Entry from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neda_Soltani

One of the video links from LiveLeak

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0db_1245519048

Basij Militia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basij_militia

Freedom craving 'fuelling unrest'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8111695.stm

Police break up new Tehran rally

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8112812.stm

Hundreds protest in Iran, despite new warning

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/22/iran.election/index.html

Tear Gas, Bullets as Iran Police Make Good on Threats

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7896156&page=1

Protester pleads for U.S., world to intervene

http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/22/iranian-protestor-plea/

'Neda' becomes rallying cry

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/21/iran.woman.twitter/index.html

'Neda,' dad before shooting

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/06/21/iran.neda.before.amateur

More votes than voters in 50 constituencies: Iran election probe

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/06/22/iran-election-results-protest452.html

Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_Hussein_Mousavi

Islamic Republican Party

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Republican_Party

Iran expels and detains some foreign journalists, including Canadian

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/06/21/iran-journalists.html

Jeremy Bowen

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8112550.stm

Jeremy Bowen (Entry from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bowen

Getting Around Iran's Online Censors

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7894399&page=1

Freegate

http://www.dit-inc.us/freegate

Freegate (Entry from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeGate

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”

http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/2283

How Iran eavesdrops on mobiles

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8112550.stm

Bahrain closes paper in Iran row

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8112993.stm

Video: Americans caught in Iran chaos share photos

javascript:vPlayer('31487534','434eba41-414c-4917-b229-b18bdb140c03')

Newsweek analysis: A blow to Iran's theocracy

http://www.newsweek.com/id/202979

Netanyahu: Iran has been ‘unmasked’

javascript:vPlayer('31472770','33007505-cbad-4491-bf6e-da9575dc541a')

Benjamin Netanyahu

http://www.netanyahu.org.il/

Republicans call Obama timid on Iran

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31487261/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

Obama: Can't Let U.S. Be "Foil" For Tehran

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/22/earlyshow/main5102053.shtml


North Korea accuses U.S. of plotting nuclear war

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/06/21/nkorea-us-nuclear536.html

Obama: U.S. ready for any threat from NKorea

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31485132/ns/politics-white_house/

Obama to sign anti-smoking bill in Rose Garden

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_tobacco;_ylt=AmGrN_ApWv411Dme9S9w.vus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFoMHVhaDd0BHBvcwMxMwRzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNvYmFtYXRvc2lnbmE-

US seeks to stop Geronimo lawsuit

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8112051.stm

Geronimo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo

Skull and Bones

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones

Work starts on New Mexico spaceport

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8111243.stm

Spaceport America

http://www.spaceportamerica.com/

Whaling talks target compromise

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8112055.stm
Revised & Updated: Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)