As voting ended and it became apparent that Mir Hossein Mousavi was scoring an upset victory, cell phone communication was shut down, news media were shut out, and internet traffic to Iranian websites was disrupted.
Results from areas of the country that typically trickle in over a period of hours due to the time consuming task of hand counting thousands of paper ballots, were suddenly announced shortly after polls closed.
In areas of the country, and in cities where opposition candidates were known to be strong, Ahmadinejad was announced the winner with margins well over 50 percent of the count. As word of the fraud spread, so did the unrest, as people took to the streets, setting fires, smashing cars and struggling with police.
According to reports from citizens, the government brought in riot police from outside of the area to quell rioters, knowing that local police would not be as brutal with their own friends and neighbors. One report said that the government had Lebanese mercenaries called in.
According to a reader of Andrew Sullivan:
Grand Ayatollah Sanei in Iran has declared Ahmadinejad's presidency illegitimate and cooperating with his government against Islam. There are strong rumors that his house and office are surrounded by the police and his website is filtered. He had previously issued a fatwa, against rigging of the elections in any form or shape, calling it a mortal sin.
From the Tehranbureau.com website this observation:
Those who have been living in Iran during the last month understand the depth of the frustration of the people, particularly the youth: they feel manipulated, treated as if they were at best clowns by the regime, whereas they are, in the Middle East at least, the most educated (around 2,6 millions are students in the universities). The aspiration to a more democratic society is their real dream and under the influence of intellectuals (religious or not) they have renounced the Islamist ideology and espoused the most open one in this region, probably with the exception of Turkey.
The last few weeks have been that of re-socialization and re-discovery of the self and the others. Social scientists whom I met here are almost unanimous to recognize that Moussavi was by far the most significant candidate and during the last weeks, the incumbent President became more and more “non-existent”. After all, large and middle range cities in Iran make up for something like half of the population of the country and the fortune of the populist candidate was becoming everyday less and less enviable in them.
The fact that the reaction of the people against their being “cheated” is in conformity to the statistics is revealed in the results of the vote: even in Azerbaijan (Moussavi’s region) he did not get more than Ahmadinejad according to the official vote counts, which is totally unrealistic. In Tehran as well where whole districts voted massively for him, the same holds true. People are not stupid and their reaction is based on a “real” experience of their daily life and they fully well know that the result is totally fake, that is more than 64% for the populist President. The anthropological dimension of their feeling is of the utmost importance: the movement during the last month eroded the incumbent President’s influence and this was perceptible on a daily basis. Of course, one might argue that this is not a “mathematical” proof. But to the eyes of the overwhelming majority of the citizens and particularly the youth, it is unquestionable, based on their feelings and reasoning.This is one of the most democratic youth in the region and they try to avoid violence, contrary to the Islamist youth in Pakistan or in some other parts of the Muslim world.
North Korea threatens nuclear war on Korean peninsula
Ever more hostile, the North Korean government is now claiming that the United States has more than 1000 nuclear weapons stationed on the Korean peninsula and has threatened nuclear war.
A commentary Sunday in the North's main state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, claimed the U.S. has 1,000 nuclear weapons in South Korea. Another commentary published Saturday in the state-run Tongil Sinbo weekly claimed the U.S. has been deploying a vast amount of nuclear weapons in South Korea and Japan.
North Korea "is completely within the range of U.S. nuclear attack and the Korean peninsula is becoming an area where the chances of a nuclear war are the highest in the world," the Tongil Sinbo commentary said.
North Korea is using their rhetoric as an excuse to ratchet up their own nuclear weapons program in direct defiance of the United Nations, and of agreements the North Koreans have made in recent years.
The North Korean government has routinely claimed that the United States is attempting to topple their regime, and has used that claim to justify their pursuit of nuclear weapons. The North Koreans have conducted two underground nuclear tests in recent months, while testing long range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The North Koreans and Iranians have cooperated in furthering the nuclear ambitions of both countries.
Netanyahu sets conditions for a Palestinian state
Replying to White House demands that Israel accept a two-state solution in the Middle East as a means of settling the Palestinian question, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu laid out his conditions yesterday to which Israel would agree to an independent Palestinian state.
That state, according to Netanyahu would be demilitarized, and would depend upon Israel to control its airspace and borders. Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to removal of Israeli settlements along the West Bank, and to a divided Jerusalem.
“The key condition is that the Palestinians recognize in a clear and public manner that Israel is the state of the Jewish people. If we have the guarantees on demilitarization, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as a state of the Jewish people, then we arrive at a solution based on a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel,” he added.
“Each will have its flag, each will have its anthem. The Palestinian territory will be without arms, will not control airspace, will not be able to have arms enter.”
The Obama Administration has been pushing Israel for more concessions and is not likely to support Netanyahu's proposed agreement.
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