Iran's Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei told a large crowd at Friday prayers that the time for fun n' games was over.
Khamenei said that the pro-Mousavi protests following last week's `election' are unacceptable and must end. And that the demonstrators would be responsible for the consequences if they continued.
And oh yes, the Great Satan and the Evil Jooos are at the bottom of it:
Ayatollah Khamenei demanded the demonstrations stop. "I want to tell everyone these things must finish. These street actions are being done to put pressure on leaders but we will not bow in front of them," he said. “I call on all to put an end to this method...If they don’t they will be held responsible for the consequences and chaos.”
He ordered the losing candidates to "open their eyes" and see behind the demonstrations "the enemy hands working, the hungry wolves waiting in ambush".
He blamed the deaths and violence of the past week on "ill-wishers, mercenaries and elements working for the espionage machines of Zionism and western powers".
It's nice to know President Obama's unclenched fist is working so well.
What Ayatollah Khamenei was doing in no uncertain terms was to warn Mousavi (and more importantly, his patron Rafsanjani)to back down or face the consequences.One signal of this was that Mousavi was scheduled to appear with Khamaenei after prayers and appears to have had a more pressing engagement.
The real story here is not 'democratic reform' versus Mullahs but the political rivalry between Rafsanjani and Khamenei, which goes back years. There haven't been real elections in years in Iran, and in a system where the Mullahs choose who gets to run for any elective office, the idea that Mousavi represents any kind of democratic alternative is simply not true.
There is virtually no difference on any issues that matter to the West between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi. It's simply a matter of who's out and who's in, and while the violence visited on the Iranian protestors is an ugly sight, anyone who thinks he or she is rooting for the Good Guys is either horribly misinformed or simply hasn't thought this through.
If Mousavi and Rafsanjani continue to challenge the regime in the streets of Tehran,there is going to be a major pushback. If they acquiese to being on the losing end of this particular political war, they might live to fight another day.
Khamenei just told them so, in no uncertain terms.
This is an excellent post and seems to bear true from other research I've done on this subject. More Americans need to read this post. Sadly to many of us seem to think Moussavi and his group somehow represent "good" and Amadinejad somehow represent "bad." At least this is the case with those Americans who don't think the whole thing is our fault!! Unfortunately we have lots of those who think "America bad" and "America's enemies good."
ReplyDeleteIranians have grown up on a steady diet of anti-Americanism. The chant of the so called "freedom fighters" is "Allah Akbahr" or so I'm told, meaning "Allah is great." This really tells us much of what we need to know. Even if Mousavi should somehow end up on top, his followers and his government will continue to be bitter enemies of America and will continue to work towards its destruction.
I predict that the Amadinejad faction will end up on top simply because Russia has substantial business interests within Iran and the Chinese and the Indians are heavily depndent upon Iranian oil. These three major world powers have a vested interestst to ensure that the status quo remains as much the same as possible.
The statement about the "espionage machines" of Western powers and Zionism is laughable to any informed person. The spy agencies of the United States and Western Europe are a big joke with the United States spy agencies being the worst of all. As such, it is largely incapable of any interference in Iran. As for Israel, its intellegece agencies are tied down fighting Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Islamic terrorists closer to home to engage in any significant espionage activities within Iran.
Unfortunately to many people around the world, including America accept these statements by Khamenei at face value without any critical examination of the facts involved. For the long range and possibly even short range survival of America, the US government simply MUST do a better job of representing itself within the world news media. At least attempting to publish a rebuttal to this statement by Khamenei would be a place to start.
Prediction of how this will come out: the "regime" and not Mousavi will prevail. The regime's security forces are most likely up to the challenge even without any outside help, however, if it should become necessary they can have substantial help from outside the country they can rely on. Russia has huge investments in Iran. China, India, and a number of Western European nations are major purchasers of Iranian oil. At least India and China are and I remember reading some time ago that Western European nations are major buyers of Iranian oil.
ReplyDeleteAny major change with the regime would run the risk of interupting vital oil supplies to China, Inida, and probably Western Europe and could cost the Russians alot of money. As such, the major world powers will see to it that the "regime" prevails. Some would argue that this is tragic, however, this is the way things are. Major world powers are coldly calculating and looking out for their interests. Iranian "Democracy" can be sacrificed. Just ask for a moment of silence for the dead "Democracy" protesters and get back to business.
If Mousavi and his followers were friends of America, I might actually feel bad about this situation, however, they are not. Even if they did somehow prevail, they are just as much an enemy of America as the previous Iranian leaders. They would work just as hard for the destruction of America as the previous leaders of Iran are.
If the major world powers face any negative publicity, they can alwasys say that the Democracy protesters were tools of the American government. I would not expect an American push back against such falsehoods becuase very few within the American government have the moral confidence in America to defend America, there lacks a coherent strategy to defend America on the part of the American government to defend America in the court of public opinion, and the major world powers can seriously hurt America if it refuses to go along. As such, American leaders will be told to essentially "sit down and shut up!!"
With regards to the theme that the Mousavi supporters are tools of Americal, this is already being promoted by the "regime." So far, there has not been a push back against this by the American government. Unless a coherent attempt is made to set the record straight on the part of the Americans, this will become the accepted narative on the part of most people on the world. This certainly works well to provide cover for many powerful leaders on earth in case they should suffer "blow back" for opposing "Democracy" some day. They simply say they were opposing American "imperialism."