Comments on: WHY DID KHAMENEI DO IT?

By: Right Wing Nut House » DID AHMADINEJAD ACTUALLY WIN THE ELECTION?

Right Wing Nut House » DID AHMADINEJAD ACTUALLY WIN THE ELECTION? — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:24:17 +0000

[...] BLOG DID AHMADINEJAD ACTUALLY WIN THE ELECTION? A COUP OR A PURGE? ‘A GRAND OLD FLAG’ WHY DID KHAMENEI DO IT? WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT ‘APRIL’S MOM?’ OH FOR GOD’S SAKE, STOP IT ONLY THE [...]

By: Iran election results cooked… The proof « Katia the Conservative Dachshund

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:18:29 +0000

[...] 14, 2009 · No Comments There’s a great article here at Right Wing Nut House. Turns out that all the mullahs in Iran needed was a spreadsheet to [...]

By: RJL

RJL — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:58:16 +0000

Nate Silver’s analysis is itself flawed. Look at the comments where numerous problems with Silver’s analysis are pointed out (e.g., not taking into accout 85% vote count, using final state numbers, using the vote by states in alphabetical order, etc.) — all showing that his US election comparison doesn’t replicate the Iranian reporting being criticized.

By: Eddie

Eddie — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:51:26 +0000

Noted Iran expert and fmr NSC official Gary Sick joins you and others in calling it a probable military coup of sorts:

http://garysick.tumblr.com/post/123070238/irans-political-coup

Its amazing that they are essentially laying down the gauntlet daring an Israeli attack at some point. Had they let Mousavi win, policies would not have changed much but Obama would feel was dealing with a more amenable figure than Ahmadinejhad and this would have slowed any timetable down for an Israeli attack.

Where the pieces will fall in a few days is anyone’s guess, but it seems they have really chosen to become a hard authoritarian country with no pretenses at rights or freedoms.

By: Bill Arnold

Bill Arnold — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:47:25 +0000

Juan Cole (http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/stealing-iranian-election.html) isn’t liking the look of this election, likening it to a “crime scene”. There does seem to be a suspicious deficit of variation in the results. This election may play out in the streets.

By: funny man

funny man — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:32:20 +0000

I sneaked peaked at the comments at Pajamas Media and it never ceases to amaze me how Americans, left and right, are so fixated on their national politics that they really believe everything good or bad originates from here. Now it is true that the United States is a powerful country but just think about this scenario. A week before the election Angela Merkel comes to Washington and gives a speech at a university. Suddenly all the national politics are forgotten, jobs, the military, abortion don’t matter anymore and in a dramatic turnaround McCain wins the election. Sounds realistic? So please don’t see everything through the Obama speech in Cairo or do you think even the most brilliant speech in Merkel’s career would have even made a dent in the American election?
The Iranians have their battles to fight and we should support the people who want something else than their Islamic Republic and that is something I think we can all, liberals and conservatives alike, agree on.

By: funny man

funny man — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:25:48 +0000

Nobody really knows the extent of fraud in Iran except the rulers. I guess Ahmadinejad has some following in the poorer and rural areas. However, be that as it may, there is a significant portion of the Persian population that have had it with their regime. Those are the folks we should show solidarity with and help them any way we can. It also is very difficult to unseat a pretty ruthless government that controls thugs, police and the army. I admire their courage and I’m sad I can’t do more.

Here are some pics from the Spiegel:
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-43381-2.html#backToArticle=630328

By: michael reynolds

michael reynolds — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:22:11 +0000

I think Kahamenei’s probably too smart an old bird to pull something this ham-fisted. This has the look and taste and feel of crude manipulation by crude people. I’ll bet a box of cigars it’s the Revolutionary Guard.

I wonder if the Iranian military will tolerate this. This just moved Iran a big step closer to Israeli or American jets flying over Teheran, and that’s not something professional military would want to see.

By the way, Nate Silver has become indispensable, hasn’t he?

Yes, Nate is THE goto guy on technical stuff like this. And his polling analysis is scary good.

If it was the Rev Guards, that means that Khamenei is not in control - not good. He changed the leadership of the Guards two years ago for no apparent reason although in that Byzantine cuckoo land, no apparent reason is probably good enough.

It could be another faction also, don’t forget. Khamenei has been reported as sickly so it could be this election was a bid for the future by one of the other factions. And don’t believe anything Rafsanjani says. He may be with the “reformers” on this fraud charge but he is perfectly capable of carrying off a fraud like this using his own power sources.

ed.