If the Government of Iran want to be perceived as frauds who are pretending to be devout men they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Blaming the UK for their own acts of extraordinary violence is a little silly. It is as though they watched and took the excellent fictional UK Spy drama Spooks seriously – it does tend to be a little “real” in its story telling. But that is what we do in the West – we take our freedom of speech and democracy seriously. We want it. We want to be able to discuss “what if” and for everyone to take part.

The enemy of Iran, Saddam Hussein also faked elections. Nakedly. By outlawing any opposition, and victimising those who declined to vote – his version of democracy was also false. But he was a military leader – not a religious leader.

The Ayatollah Khomenei had the respect of the vast majority of Iranian citizens. From the West’s point of view the hostage crisis was intimately linked with his assumption of power and the emnity between Iran and the USA. The repercussions of this drama were played out on the international stage, compared to today’s drama with Iranian blood on Iranian streets from shots fired by Iranian government agents.

The present regime has lied to its own people and now it has been shooting at them too, so it seeks a scapegoat for its own mercenary secret police scattered on rooftops, pointing their rifles at citizens.

It implies that the UK is somehow making it shoot at its own citizens by stirring up democracy? It is an attempt to “internationalise” the crisis when in fact it is entirely internal.

There are local basic human needs threatened by this regime that brutally stole the electoral will of the people. The propaganda failure of this regime is manifest and their efforts to blame others for their actions ring hollow as a stray or aimed bullet shot at a citizen echoes.

Authoritarian governments, even religiously devout ones suffer from the terrible blindness of self belief and justification. They know they must be right so they inflict mayhem on the children of their supporters. This is a criminal deed and one that neither the UK, nor the USA appear to inflict on their citizens.

“President” Ahmadijamibad should not assume the confidence of his people, nor inflict the desires of any man upon the great civilisation that is Iran. The police and armies of Iran should vigorously track down the killers of civilians and charge them with murder or lose the credibility of their command.

And if the Government of Iran wishes to lay charges of espionage against the UK at the Hague – then so be it, but until then Iran can be sure that the democratic states of the world will not support a government that appears to be there by dint of an impossible election result counting.

Religion and politics are not a good mixture. Iran is living proof of how it can go wrong.

The first case of swine flu resistant to Tamiflu, already.

BBC

Watch the World spread of the virus

UK Times Online article about detentions. Over 2000 people arrested. The regime in Iran is not legitimate, democratic or reasonable.

Twitter stream with name removed:

they ran another confession show at Evin, this time with promise of instant freedom & new accusations
…
a man came and say they will be released today and an hour later another came & say they will be in prison for 10year!
…

R said it looked like they have no idea what should they do with so much people
half a minute ago from web

all types of gov agents came & go in the next couple of days, moving people, forcing them to walk or just stand for a long time
2 minutes ago from web

according to R some of the injured people already passed out and a taxi driver looked like dead by that time
6 minutes ago from web

in first day at Evin prison staff started searching for severely injured people & gave them some first aid
12 minutes ago from web

and another hour passed just standing in the row at the entrance of prison & filling out forms
15 minutes ago from web

it took near 3 hours to get to the prison, R said the driver seemed enjoys wandering in the streets
18 minutes ago from web

R had no idea why they select some of the people and where they moved the others
23 minutes ago from web

apparently they released some people on that night & move R & some of the selected people to Evin
24 minutes ago from web

around 3am day 2 they started moving people in vans, R said a driver was talking to a Basiji about Evin prison is full and what shoul …
27 minutes ago from web

R said some people sign them & some other just faked their signs & names, there were not enough confession papers for all people
31 minutes ago from web

and they paid to go to streets and say things & they know they have violated national security & Islam
33 minutes ago from web

the papers were prewritten confessions all in different hand writings saying the signer is a member of organization by mousavi
35 minutes ago from web

He said in the second day some pain cloth people came with papers forcing people to sign them
39 minutes ago from web

there was also a awful problem of only one toilet for all people in there and a impossible time limit of around 1min for each person
42 minutes ago from web

R said the only exception was they didn’t hit arrested people directly in the face
about 1 hour ago from web

they didn’t open the plastic handcuffs for a day & half, & randomly beat up people in there
about 1 hour ago from web

R estimated around 200 people were in each room and there were not enough space to even sit on the ground
about 1 hour ago from web

he said all sort of people were there & some of them were just unlucky people just walking in streets and captured for no reason
about 1 hour ago from web

he spent his first 48h of arrest at level -4 of ministry of interior building without food or water
about 1 hour ago from web

my connection is very poor & I don’t know how long I will be able to sustain it
about 1 hour ago from web

Updated: What happens to those arrested in Iran?

According to Amnesty International, journalists are being detailed and probably tortured in Iran

Amnesty Report

We have heard on Twitter that PersianKiwi has been taken prisoner by the Government. The tweets from June 25th are repeated here:

Allah – you are the creator of all and all must return to you – Allah Akbar – #Iranelection Sea of Green
3:39 AM Jun 25th from web

thank you ppls 4 supporting Sea of Green – pls remember always our martyrs – Allah Akbar – Allah Akbar – Allah Akbar #Iranelection
3:36 AM Jun 25th from web

we must go – dont know when we can get internet – they take 1 of us, they will torture and get names – now we must move fast – #Iranelection
3:34 AM Jun 25th from web

Everybody is under arrest & cant move – Mousavi – Karroubi even rumour Khatami is in house guard – #Iranelection -
3:28 AM Jun 25th from web

they pull away the dead into trucks – like factory – no human can do this – we beg Allah for save us – #Iranelection
3:23 AM Jun 25th from web

Lalezar Sq is same as Baharestan – unbelevable – ppls murdered everywhere – #Iranelection
3:19 AM Jun 25th from web

they catch ppl with mobile – so many killed today – so many injured – Allah Akbar – they take one of us – #Iranelection
3:18 AM Jun 25th from web

in Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping ppl like meat – blood everywhere – like butcher – Allah Akbar – #Iranelection RT RT RT
3:16 AM Jun 25th from web

reports of street fighting in Vanak Sq, Tajrish sq, Azadi Sq – now – #Iranelection – Sea of Green – Allah Akbar
3:14 AM Jun 25th from web

rumour they are tracking high use of phone lines to find internet users – must move from here now – #Iranelection
3:09 AM Jun 25th from web

phone line was cut and we lost internet – #Iranelection – getting more difficult to log into net – #Iranelection
3:05 AM Jun 25th from web

all shops was closed – nowhere to go – they follow ppls with helicopters – smoke and fire is everywhere #Iranelection
2:03 AM Jun 25th from web

ppl run into alleys and militia standing there waiting – from 2 sides they attack ppl in middle of alleys #Iranelection
2:01 AM Jun 25th from web

so many ppl arrested – young & old – they take ppl away – #Iranelection – we lose our group
1:59 AM Jun 25th from web

saw 7/8 militia beating one woman with baton on ground – she had no defense nothing – #Iranelection sure that she is dead
1:55 AM Jun 25th from web
they were waiting for us – they all have guns and riot uniforms – it was like a mouse trap – ppl being shot like animals #Iranelection
1:53 AM Jun 25th from web

I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads – blood everywhere – pepper gas like war – #Iranelection
1:35 AM Jun 25th from web

just in from Baharestan Sq – situation today is terrible – they beat the ppls like animals – #Iranelection RT RT RT
1:34 AM Jun 25th from web

Iran appears to be exerting some kind of religious / ethnic cleansing master plan. Why pick on Sufi Muslims in the city of Qom with regard to them practising their religious rites in a domestic home?

Iran authorities have arrested 1,200 sufi worshippers following clashes with police.

Radio Free Europe

Is North Korea so insecure that it believes that it needs to threaten the United States in order to maintain its independence? The answer is most probably yes. As a new younger “dear leader” is anointed to the most heavily defended right of privilege in the world, ironically the ultimate product of the last communist state is the reinvention of dynastic heritage by right. God Kings do not present a very stable record. And the last couple of “dear Leaders” have been the typically paranoid delusional type that wants to barricade their country as though their culture is threatened by outside forces. What can we expect from the next?

If we define a cult as being an organisation that breeds adherents according to a political philosophy then North Korea’s gargantuan military is a tremendously successful cult that locks itself away from the rest of the world. It may be a China’s patsy – there to deflect possible aggression from USA/Japan? It is hard to understand why else China should put up with this nuclear armed expensive and recalcitrant menace on its borders. If it does fire a salvo of nukes the odds are some will go off locally and of course it would affect China badly as their missiles are not reliable enough to predict what will happen to them. If one were to land on the Chinese mainland for example, then North Korea would find itself worse than completely isolated.

Threatening the world with a nuclear showdown is a dumb path to suicide. North Korea must learn the power of diplomatic negotiation.

See also:

UK Guardian

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has warned protesters in Iran that violence and bloodshed will follow if protests against the false election results continue.

Threatening to kill people for voicing their protests is not spiritual leadership. This man who is called “Ayatollah” speaks of death for his own people? These are not the words of God. It is not convincing to declare an election with such evidence of fraud.

He makes it sound like he wants the world to see him only as a man. As a despot.

His threat to his own people shatters the illusion of spiritual authority. He appears to merely be lowly man who says he represents the word of God, but would a man of God say such terrible things against his own? Using supreme authority to commit criminal acts upon the people of Iran is not in God’s interests. Who’s interest do his words serve?

Pretending to be a man of God when you are in fact a man who wields the sword upon his own is lower than being an honest criminal. If the West has interpreted him wrongly, then comment below – I honestly hope someone does. After a fatwah was issued by this leadership model upon a foreign writer, it became more than obvious that this was not a man of God but a man who wanted to control the minds of others.

If the police and army in Iran are good Muslims, they should refuse to follow his orders. Following a false prophet does not get you to heaven. It is more than blasphemy to slaughter people instead of counting the votes.

These threats fracture any confidence that he speaks with spiritual authority. He is a man. His speech may mark the start of a civil war in Iran – as the Government attempts to quell protest – it will force the popular movement underground. Nobody wants this. At least in America they counted the votes. But he is a spiritual leader, and the people must listen to him unless they see that his religious values are quite different to their own.

The acts of a self-appointed totalitarian government are now there for the world to witness. The consequence of this display of despotism is the collapse of any support Iran may have been able to germinate from the rest of the world for trusting them with their nuclear power aspirations.

Sanctions will proceed over the nuclear issue. This man has ensured the rest of the world can not trust the basic humility of the leaders of Iran, like North Korea they mistreat their own people and lavish the military.

The rest of the world increasingly includes modern Russia and modern China. The concept of division as the source of competition driving growth as a model for economic well being has failed.

Ali Khamenei has done more to set the stage for a “justified” attack upon their nuclear programme than even his little boy blue Ahmedijebad. The fear generated by threatening his own people with violence after the world has witnessed an unbelievable nightmare week of killings, mayhem and destruction by government black-shirted military police, means that even the most lily-livered liberal will cheer on military strikes against Iran’s potential nuclear capability.

His words against his own ended any external support for Iran’s nuclear power aspirations. The world will no longer stand by and watch thugs gain any power over their neighbors’ fortune.

Both sides of the political coin are answerable to the supreme leader, who’s unquestioned right to power relies more on fear than faith. To revolt against him, he had to differentiate himself from the Holy Koran. He appears to have done just that.

It is sadly therefore predictable that a civil war could result, unless the mandate of authority of the religious status of this dictator is relinquished, Iran seems destined for continued strife and continued violations of human rights.

<

Article in NZ Herald
Is Swine flu hogwash? by Kerre Woodham

In response: Although I agree the hype about H1N1 is tiresome, there does need to be an unhyped information channel to inform people how to respond when the World Health Organisation declares a Stage 6 Pandemic.

People do need to really care about infecting others and spreading new viral disease simply because the less we spread it around, the less opportunity it has to evolve. If for example 1,000,000 people get swine flu in NZ then it will genetically find opportunities to evolve in the Kiwi gene pool, perhaps binding with HN51 along the way.

The same goes for any country with controlled borders. If we add Kiwi immunity to the education our bodies give this changing creature increasing opportunities for it to be of specific danger to us, how long has it divided and assimilated while it festered in Mexico before becoming locally dangerous? Containment is preferable, now it is not possible, so how can the media respond to pandemics without “bring out your dead” based hype? The only news is that it is a new killer and containment seemed possible at first. But no, holy tourists had to go home and infect their families.

Containment is not really a realistic option except for very intelligent humans. Therefore viruses like this are part of human evolution. In that sense, it is part of nature itself. Fighting against it is only accomplished by everyone getting infected, or no-one getting infected.

Virulent propaganda by “realists” who say all this panic over a few deaths is “hogwash, so shut up about it already!”, are shrill themselves and perhaps this is from a world where only the most fashionable sort of bitchiness is acceptable but it is hard to go along with that sort of logic when you know the consequences of it.

Will someone write about the failure of containment in Auckland Hospital when it escapes into the community? Or will celebrity gossip be more vital?

Swineflu deaths on a huge scale was a scenario we could have prevented. I think it is no longer contained, the fact it is “in Auckland hospital” does not mean it is not elsewhere.

Denial caused AIDS to spread. And I think that denial has allowed this virus to take hold in our collective blood stream. Intelligent discussion must not be shut down just because some people tire of the discussion.

It is the same pointy-head issue as climate change. The blood supply of nature is being ruptured by denial and greed.

We really do not know how to undo either issue. We will live with the consequences. (Other end of the world scenarios we admit are far sexier and far worse ultimately, climate change is only slightly less catastrophic than nuclear war, and for most who caught it, the Spanish Flu was just influenza).