Very interesting development, if accurate.

A key to survival has always been the ability to adapt. The mullahs seem to realize that if they wish to maintain power over the longterm, some degree of governmental evolution is in order. This type flexibility may well enable them to survive the current crisis.

If accurate, watch for Rafsanjani to make his move (again).

If accurate, watch for Rafsanjani to make his move (again).

#3 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis

Rafsanjani has remained fairly quiet about who he supports, but his kids have been seen supporting Mousavi at several rallies.

- Rafsanjani, the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for electing the supreme leader.

They had Rafsanjani's daughter, a reform politician, arrested a day or so ago.

I also read earlier today that he was head of the committee that selected the Supreme Leader, and thought at the time, hmmmmm, wouldn't it be interesting if he balked big time now and forced Khomeini out.

Iran says arrested Rafsanjani's daughter, 4 other relatives

Update: An ABC reporter in Tehran is tweeting that all of Mousavi's top aides have been arrested, although I don't see that confirmed anywhere else. If it's true, presumably they'll be released shortly as part of the some sort of warning Rafsanjani's daughter got. What's undeniably true is that state media's ramping up the rhetoric against him as a prelude to arresting the man himself if this drags on much longer.

Don't hold your breath that it will be a peaceful change, the mullahs have it almost as good as the Shah did, they just cloak it in religion.

Religion is the opium of the people

Origin

This is probably the best-known quotation by Karl Marx, the German economist and Communist political philosopher. The origin German text, in Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, 1843 is:

Die Religion... ist das Opium des Volkes

This has been translated variously as 'religion is the opiate of the masses', 'religion is the opium of the masses' and, in a version which German scholars prefer 'religion is the opium of the people'. The context the phrase appears is this:

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people."

This ain't gonna happen. Or if it does, we'll long for the good ole days of Ahmapolkadottedpajamas.

I've told you guys before, you can't conduct a war unless you have an enemy.

Aquavelvajihad won't let it happen. In that part of the world, change is bloody.

The Iranian leaders are getting just enough "Change" onto the airwaves to eliminate Israel as a threat. They will take ownership of Iraq soon then there will be a shift in geopolitics in the Middle East with Iran becoming the major player...

You mean they are going to keep the same style they always have had, dicktatership.

With more transparency of course!

If they don't then all this does seem rather silly. They're fighting and dying for a vote that didn't even decide their true leader. Its inspiring to see, but I can't help but think the lives are in a sense wasted and all the protests for nothing if they don't change how they are truly lead.

So Khomeini's enemies amongst the clerics have finally made their move, with a well-contained revolution as their excuse.

"with a well-contained revolution as their excuse."

Maybe the situation is more tenuous than we here know given the relatively small amount and narrow scope of information getting out.

If it's as well contained as would appear, I'd not expect a compromise to be on the table.

Just window dressing

The Sunnis, who have always regarded the Shia as lesser breeds, are quite concerned regarding the quest of the Iranians for nuclear weapons. I suspect the rhetoric emanating from the Iranians concerning Israel is in good part misdirection to mute criticism from Arab states. Watch Iraq and see if the Sunni there reassert themselves as the dominant group. They probably would if there were not U.S. interference. They certainly would secure the support of the other Arab states against the Iraqi Shia majority and against the non-Arab Iranians.

Telegraph (May 27, 2007) reported were "CIA plans for a propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilize, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs."

Maybe those Ayatollahs will not only forcefully remove Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from office but maybe they will forcefully remove his head, too. I don't even like looking at that beady eyed P.O.S.

It took ten to change Poland, but it happened! Time will show what this is about, if anything, and where it will go!

President Obama needs to get on the side of honest, open debate and freedom of expression, to include peaceful demonstrations for or against governmental policies/elections! Would go a long way toward encouraging further free dissent, if not this time, later.

This has the possibility of changing the long term actions of some of those leaders! If some minor changes occur because of this, then a crack has developed in the armor! Add a few more over the next days, months, or even years and see where that country goes! You may be amazed!

The real problem IS North Korea! That man IS crazy, decietful, and brazen! He will push this as far as he can! We WILL end up confronting him, or this will escalate out of control and on his terms!

I predict he will NOT fight, because he doesn't want to lose control of his fiefdom/kingdom and his power base! He wants to see the limits of this governments acquiesence to threat!

Who cares about this primitive sewer of a nation? Let them riot, chant, kneel whatever!
The media make it seem "vital" what goes on over there. Our oil companies (the villians!) never caused our country as much trouble as our diplomatic corps and presidents.
And nowhere near as much agony as our Hearst media do.

Mousavi, Celebrated in Iranian Protests, Was the Butcher of Beirut
06/22/2009 08:04 PM

He may yet turn out to be the avatar of Iranian democracy, but three decades ago Mir-Hossein Mousavi was waging a terrorist war on the United States that included bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Mousavi, prime minister for most of the 1980s, personally selected his point man for the Beirut terror campaign, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-pur, and dispatched him to Damascus as Iran's ambassador, according to former CIA and military officials.

More potential for change within Iran now than any time in the past thirty years and still the Obama bashers think they are qualified to avise him even though he has solid support from most real foreign policy experts from both liberal and conservative ends of the spectrum.
We should concern ourselves with getting health care in the US and combatting our "mullahs" (the corporatocracy) and leave the foreign policy to those who know what is going on and what to do and not to do.
Many of the critics biggest fear is that Obama's foreign policies will succeed.

so what, we already have. GOV.Co

Assembly of Experts

That's funny..... Experts in what? Dictatorships I would think.

"If it's as well contained as would appear, I'd not expect a compromise to be on the table."

I wouldn't class this as a compromise.

A well-contained series of protests, particularly the sort that draw intense international attention, might be a useful tool, yes? They might be an opportunity for a sect of clerics who have despised Khamenei for quite some time to transform the system of government into one which suits them, damages him, and satisfies the crowds upon the streets.

Right now, it seems like Khamenei's enemy Rafsanjani is pushing for this council. If Khamenei starts speaking of the notion favourably tomorrow, then we might be seeing compromise.

What're the chances?

"Religion is the opium of the people"

Funny thing is, Marx's rhetoric has become the same thing.

There's never been a Marxist government where the people at the top weren't completely corrupted.

There also has never been a Marxist take over of a government that wasn't corrupt. There would have been no Marxist governments if it weren't for the corruption and greed of the governments they replaced.

We're only human.

Watch Iraq and see if the Sunni there reassert themselves as the dominant group. They probably would if there were not U.S. interference. They certainly would secure the support of the other Arab states against the Iraqi Shia majority and against the non-Arab Iranians.

The sunnis are toast. Neither the shia nor the kurds would lose any sleep if they all got whacked. maliki is doing as little as he can to honor Bush's promises to them about jobs and military positions.

Rememebr it was Iranian agents like Chalabi and puppets like the INC who got Bremer to fire all the sunni military back in the days of Mission Accomplified.

As for the other sunni nations, saudistan has always been a supporter of a sunni Iraq, whether joining Herbie in helping Saddam put down the shia after Gulf 1 or currently funding and staffing al queda in mesopotamia. The saudi royals are the ones who gave Cheney the marching orders on protecting the sunnis in Iraq, aka bankrolling the "awakening" and keeping the shia militia down.

----------------insert drunken racist rampage here -----------------

here you go,
most Iranians seem to be regular folks.

most Iranians seem to be regular folks.

I think for the most part they are.

Mission Accomplified.

good one