When things go wrong - blame the West!

The youth of Iran (now 30% 0f the population) want more freedom. The present regime offers them no way forward and they do not like Ahmadinejads constant ranting against the western democracies - all they want is peace, harmony with the rest of the world and democracy. I really hope that the
many unnecessary painful and public deaths of young Iranian people will not be in vain.

The West, especially the media certainly does have a hand to play in this crisis.

The fact is, that the most voiceferous supporters of Mousavi have been primarily the urban middle class and some of the urban westernised youth, and they are now protesting in frustration because they were led to believe by the biased western media coverage (especially the BBC, which decided to set up it's Farsi service only this January) and by Mousavi that they had won even before the votes had been counted fully!...but the majority of the Iranian people are poor and conservative and are natural supporters of Ahmadinejad,so it is not surprising that he won the vote by a considerable margin.....as for Ahmadinejads 'ranting' well let us not forget that the U.S. has been trying to strangle Iran for the past 30 years through sanctions, subterfuge, war (Iran-Iraq war), and attempts to deny it nuclear power
, and Iran's stance on independent nuclear power is strongly supported by all Iranians, including the 'reformists'....so effectively what we are seeing is a significant minority of the Iranian population unhappy with the polls, egged on by western media trying to challenge the results for which there is no evidence of rigging that they have presented in any concrete form.

The West has been trying to destabilise the Iranian regime for a long time. In fact, the West has been so murky in the affairs of the Middle East that when Iran and Iraq were at war in the 1980's the US, among others, sold arms to BOTH sides!!!

It's funny that there are so many post-election banners in this Farsi language country with the same English-worded message: 'Where is my vote ?' This plays directly at the Western media audience who have been subjected to anti-Ahmedinejad propaganda for years. This is why the mere suggestion that the vote was rigged was always going to be believed by a Western audience.

Mousavi is just another pro-West stooge like the Shah of Iran.

Read what Syemour Hersh has to say about the subject.

See also: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4BE2B612EB4A77AD

It is quite clear that the results of the election were fixed.

The stupid thing is Almodinnerjad and his thugs probably did win the election but they have been so stupid and arrogant that no-one believes them in Iran.

I love the say that the idiots announced the election results a mere four hours after the polls closed - no democracy manages to count results with that rapidity! Obviously a fix

And the fact that Old Alma-dinnerplate won in areas where he couldn't possibly have won, even in the heartlands of the oppostion leaders! LOL, what a joke!

And also what kind of regime bans the foreign media from reporting and cuts off the internet etc, if they have nothing to fear??

As for you muppets who think that the West has forced all these people out onto the streets, well come on get a life! The West would be possessed of superhuman abilities if it managed that! LOL

The regime is running scared and is now shooting its own people dead on the streets.

May it fall quickly and proper elections be held and I hope not too many more kids get shot and killed, and others dragged into dungeons to be tortured.

Ahmedinejad won fair and square! There is no evidence of fraud! The lies of the BBC and their support for a coup is shocking they were so quiet during the Gaza war because they wanted to be "balanced" Now they are openly trying to lead a coup of a democratically elected government with John Simpson in Tehran!

Gordon Brown isnt even elected! Bush won by fraud in Florida! This is nothing more than a coup by Irans enemies! Which western government with dare overturn thier own election results due to a small and vocal manipulated violent minority???

To the excited Western Media this is not a rejection of Islam the people are not going to reject Islam just like they didnt reject Islam in Afghanistan or Iraq no matter how much you wish they would or you try to twist your reports!

"They only desire your ruin: Rank hatred has already appeared from their mouths: What their hearts conceal is far worse. We have made plain to you the Signs, if ye have wisdom"

It would be very wise for everybody to find out about the British-American coup that came to fruition in Iran in 1953 which toppled the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mosaddeq and which replaced him with the secular and dictatorial Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (the Shah). In my opinion, there would probably not have been an Iranian and anti-imperialist revolution in 1979 if there was no coup in 1953. By the way, this 1953 coup took place mainly for economic and geo-political reasons and lets not forget that Britain and America were the primary forces behind this coup. LET US NOT FORGET THIS FACT!

@TE Samad:

Mosaddeq's Government was not democratically elected, it was established by Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in the first place!

What we are seeing today on the streets of Tehran and elsewhere is the collective and spontaneous release of unbridled anger against the despotic and fascist ruling elite of Iran . Whether or not the elections were a sham is wholly irrelevant. The educated middle classes are rebelling against the strictures placed upon them . They are effectively attempting to cast off their shackles and question by what right do so called religious police be allowed to intimidate people for modesty violations or holding hands in public. They are asking what sort of regiem allows homosexuals and those guilty of theft ,adultery etc to be hoisted up by the neck from cranes in town squares including children as young as 12 . They are reclaiming the rights of females who are deemed second class citizens in the eyes of the law. They are angered by the knowledge that their country sponsors and empowers global terrorism which in turn has led them to be regarded as a pariah nation and has resulted in sanctions. Suppression of political activists and reformists including torture and incarceration. Suppression of religious minorities including Salfis ,Bahai and Sunnis and allowing a Holocaust cartoon competion to take place.

Iran under the Mullahs is a totalitarian fascist regieme . The speech on Friday by Ayotollah Khamane was reminiscent of the Nazi rallys in 30s Germany replete with stooges in the audience primed to heap their derision and hatred of Britain and 'Zionists 'at the right time. Another classic comparison is the use of a proverbial scapegoat in order to distract and divert and to refocus the anger of the masses away from the criminality of the leadership.

You will note I have made no mention of religion .This actually transcends religion .It is pure fascism plain and simple . The Iranian people are desperate to throw off this yoke of oppression and carve out a place for themselves in the community of nations.

The spark of freedom has been lit but without the support of the army will soon die out.

My sincere thoughts are with the Iranian people and my sadness is for those who have lost their lives in the struggle for freedom and dignity.

@Haseeb

Yes, Ahmadinejad probably did win but the Guardian Council has now announced that in at least fifty cities there were too many votes for the number of voters registered. They were probably so scared of Mousavi winning that they rigged the vote and then when they realise that Ahmadinejan was actually winning anyway it was too late - they had to admit to fraud!! Hung by their own petards!!

As for Ahmadinejad ranting - his denial of the Holocaust and threats against Israel may be supported by many Iranians but in a lot of western countries it just makes him look like an ignorant war monger. He probably believes the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is actually factual.

@saj:-

Like you, I don't think it is a rejection of Islam, but perhaps an Islam that does not stone adulterers, hang gays, have religious police etc. - I think the educated youth think this is probably too barbaric in 2009 and they want to be seen as more civilised in the eyes of the world. Other Islamic countries are successful with their versions of a softer Islam.

We saw Communism fall because of its totalitarionism and terror, you cannot suppress intelligent thinking people forever - at some stage they will turn against those that control them.

This is a power struggle in Iran between the old faction and the newer one that has evolved under Ahmedinejad, and the desire among the urban young for more freedom. Of course there will be all sorts of allegations that UK or USA or Zionists, or any one of a number of traditional foes are trying to destabilise Iran. It's all part of the propoganda war.
Do UK & US want to destabilise Iran. Probably not as they need Iranian oil to fuel their economies, especially at present. Are the Zionists seeking to destablise Iran.. not really Ahmedinejad is doing exactly what the hardline Zionists want and every time he speaks they get more support.
Press TV's pathetic attempts to spread the idea that UK based covert ops are the cause of the current problems, are just that pathetic and absurd.

@ Kiwi

One musn't forget that Mousavi also declared victory before the votes were even counted fully!..so his western backed media campaign was almost willing the election to go in his favour just by giving it more coverage..that is effectively an attempt at a populist coup...

The discontent is more so ,with the fact that the Islamic system , even the iranian 'wilayat ul faqih' has never been comprehensively applied in Iran and that the economy has failed under the current leadership with corruption even in the clerical order (one of the allegations against Rafsanjani)..in many ways Ahmedinajad was seen as a challenge to that, but he failed to deliver..yes his comments on the holocaust are incorrect but his stance against the Zionists is popular not just in Iran but across the Muslim world, as is his position on nuclear power..
As for the application of shariah including the punishment system, this cannot be done without applying the other parts properly such as social, economic and educational aspects of Islam ...this hasn't really happened in iran it was only a veneer with frustrations built up in a segment of the westernised youth, though not all the population ...

As for destabilisation, yes the U.S/U.K are quite happy to meddle in Iran that is in their benefit and that is why they would covertly engineer a semi-populist coup with Mousavi as the new man, someone more amenable to their interests...

@kiwi

Do you have any proof that the book: "THE PROTOCOLS OF THE MEETINGS OF THE LEARNED ELDERS OF ZION" is NOT factual?

If not... I suggest you stop assuming you are right and everything you say is fact... unless you can back it up of course.

Haseeb,

Actually the IRANIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY TOLD MUSAVI TO PREPARE FOR VICTORY BEFORE THE VOTES WERE COUNTED... and then someone changed their mind.

I must admit that the Ayatollah would seem to have a gripe against Britain - after all Britain froze his son's 1.6 million British bank account last week.

It is the same in every country - power and money rule! Keeping the poor illiterate helps in manipulating them so that one can stay in power.

How can anyone blame western media for the demonstrations in Iran??..In Britain people march at the drop of a hat for perceived injustices and we encourage it..In Iran people marched against the shah,,did the BBC and the western media start the Iranian revolution

It is un-Islamic to present lies as the truth, and no Muslim should present the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as anything more than a forgery and a pack of lies. If we distribute and promote lies then our enemies may legitimately do the same.
Based on evidence repeatedly corroborated by British, German, Ukrainian, Polish and Russian sources over a 75 year period, The Protocols, far from being a "discovered" document as it was claimed to be, was in fact deliberately fabricated sometime between 1895 and 1902 by Russian journalist Matvei Golovinski. In a Swiss lawsuit in the late 1930s concerning circulation of the Protocols "Two of the Russian witnesses gave testimony pointing to the involvement of Pyotr Ivanovich Rachkovsky in the forgery".[9] Rachkovsky was head of the Paris branch of the Russian secret police.
Why should any Muslim rely upon the fabrications of an Islamophobic and Judeophobic Tsarist Russian Empire. Let us not forget that when the Tsarists were producing this obscene text they were also terrorising and annihilating Muslims.

m:Please stop the lectures as we are well aware of how the media works.
The bbc showed clips of Ahmadinejads rallies stating another rally for mousavi,western media is the tool of western invaders and occupiers, they lie as and when told to do so.
The americans have overthrown iranian leaders before, so iran has every right to be wary of western lies and deception via the media.

it's been proved by plenty of scholars(but you would'nt belive any of them),but people who have a cabbage in their heads instead of a brain have a tendency towards idiocy.mind you,you think the koran is true,what hope there!

There is no evidence of that...the fact is Ahmedinajad in all likelihood won by a big margin and Mousavi planted the idea that he had won even before the votes were counted, this probably wrong footed the interior ministry into announcing the result quicker than expected, hence leading to the protests and accusations of electoral irregularities...to paint Mousavi and his supporters as the innocent victims, as the western media has done, is a very disingeneous understanding of the situation...

I am not Iranian, I am a gulf arab living in the UK. And so I can't comment much on this as I do not know as much as I should do about the politics of Iran. However, what I do know, and what I have learned recently, has helped me to develop the following thought:

There is probably a little bit of truth in everything that is going on. The election WAS rigged. Ahmadinejad WOULD have won anyway, but with a smaller majority. The west DID have a hand in it somewhere. The media WEREN'T as impartial as they would like us to believe. The the expelled diplomats on both sides WERE doing things they probably shouldn't have been.

I just don't think it's as clear cut as most opinions try to make it out to be. The water is very murky, with everyones hand in it.

but mazin,you are all seeing and knowing,please tell us lowly mortals what to think!you have some humility then!