Today is the holy day of Ashura in Islam. It commemorates the martyrdom of Mohammed’s grandson Hussein and is particularly important to Shia muslims. This year it also coincides with the seventh day of mourning for Ayatollah Montazeri. Montazeri was scheduled to succed the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeni until he harshly criticized the regime for executing political prisoners in 1986. Among other things Montazeri has done is to apologize to the U.S. for taking over the embassy in 1979 and issue several fatwahs against violence and suicide bombings. From everything I’ve read about the man I think I would have liked to meet him.
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Sphere: Related Content Tags: #iranelection, andrew sullivan, iran, iranian revolution, montazeri, mousavi
I’ll start off by being honest. I have no idea what the end result of all this will be. I mean that too. I really, really don’t. But there are a few things I do know that a lot of people seem to have missed or to be willfully misinterpreting.
This isn’t a revolution for the West. This is entirely a domestic event. The Iranians saw their leadership blatantly steal an election that saw 85% turnout. The Supreme Leader said it was divinely directed and the people could eat it. This went over much, much more poorly than anyone expected it to. In essence, this is a revolution FOR the revolution, not against it.
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Before I get started on this, seriously, what is up with the years ending in “9″? I mean is that just the internationally designated “rise up against your autocratic government day” or what? And if so, what the heck happened to 1999?
Here are the known, undisputed facts: On Friday, June 12, Iran held its presidential elections. Ahmadinejad was declared the victor with 63% of the vote. After that, well, things started getting crazy.
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Sphere: Related Content Tags: achmadinejad, election, iran, islamic revolution, mousavi, tianamen square
