Picture of the Day

Art

The Christmas Godfather

Here’s a funny video from my family archives.  Actually it’s from this very Christmas:

Michael Jackson and Iran

I am sad for both.  Both will live on.  And I hope that the people show’em how funky.

What will happen?

Neda, pictured above, killed in street violence, may be the face of the opposition.  A strong young woman, determined to have her voice heard, and killed in the process.

Movies – Something Fun

(Don’t miss the trailers at the end of the post!)

I haven’t done a review on themicrocosm in a long time, and I will not do that here, but I will give a little breakdown.  I can only honestly recommend three movies from 2009 so far.  But, those three I recommend to the hilt:

1. Star Trek – It was a great film, with great acting and finally Star Trek gets the special effects it deserves.  Sexy Zoe Saldana who’s into Spock, not Kirk.  Simon Pegg as Scotty.  Bring on the sequel!

REVOLUTION!

I love when Disney is used for good!

It’s official:  Iran is experiencing a revolution!  The developments that have happened since my last full post have proven this to me and will soon prove it to the world.  Let me explain some of the major developments, in as close to a chronological order as I can (though it is hard considering the news is so limited and hard to verify dates and times).  These are the top ten events:

1. A Basiji (vigilante hardliners) base was destroyed two nights ago in Tehran.
2. Police, Basiji, and other security forces blocked the streets as best they could after Khamenei’s speech, to prevent any formal gathering in protest of Ahmadinejad and the government.
3. Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful pro-Mousavi government official and former president’s daughter and other relatives are arrested.
4. After Khamenei’s in which Khamenei declared that any protests would be considered illegal and would hold their organizers responsible, Mousavi made a formal statement in which he announces his clear support for the protestors and the calls for more protests:  http://iranfacts.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-translation-of-mousavis-latest.html
5. Video is released in which protestors used home-made tear gas and people power to push back riot police.  [http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/ *search for The Moment They Ran]

Iranian Crisis Turns Dangerous

As I type this message the news is coming in fast and furious:

Bomb at the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the of the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

• Questions as to who was the bomber.  Most are suggesting it was a government attempt to make the protestors look violent and against the first Revolution.

Protesters dispersed by riot squads of military, Basij, and police.

Mousavi trying to reach protestors.

Unfortunately, I have obligations today, so that is all I can write, but more later.

Supreme Leader vs Protestors

This morning in Iran, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, lead Friday prayers.  The government bussed in many supporters of the Supreme Leader and Ahmadinejad to the speech, held symbolically at Tehran University (the site in which dorms were vandalized only a few days prior; but was also responsible for the wave of support for the Iranian Revolution 30 years ago), and called for an immediate end to protests.  He declared that the responsibility for any future violence on the streets would be placed on the candidates whom the protestors support.  He also decried the United Kingdom, saying they appeared to be meddling in Iranian politics, but strangely left out any name calling against the U.S.  This is probably a reflection of a new detente approaching between the U.S. and Iran, with the olive branch placed within reach by Obama (who has kept quiet on the issue of Iran’s elections).  Ahmadinejad was present for the speech and was amongst his most ardent supporters.  The Supreme Leader took the opportunity to vocalize his similar approach to the President’s foreign policy and social policy.  The election protestors did not gather this morning as in the previous days with Mousavi calling for them not to gather for fear of violent clashes.  Perhaps tomorrow will be a day of importance, for if the protestors gather, there is the possibility that Mousavi could be held responsible and even arrested.  Only time will tell.

Pictured above:  A young Khamenei.

Just for perspective:  Khamenei was a supervisor of the Revolutionary Guards during the Iran-Iraq War as pictured above.

Post Iranian Elections – Day 6

I thought about explaining a lot of things in this post, but after reading a fantastic BBC article I decided I would simply post the link:

BBC Iran and protests of the past.

However, let me discuss some important developments:

1. Mohammad Asgari – the head of IT security for the Interior Minister and the man responsible for supposedly leaking the real election results and claiming that the government used software to rig the election, has been reported as having been killed in an “automobile accident.”

2.  Today, at least 100,000 people marched with Mir Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad’s main rival in the elections, in a mourning procession for eight people killed in the protests the day after the election.

Mousavi is the man with white hair rising above the mass of onlookers dressed in black.

Graphic Video

I want to warn you this video is graphic, but it simply displays some of what is happening behind the scenes in Iran.  The cameraman here, a private citizen shows his own bloody hand in the scene, but still continues filming while running: