I hope you have seen pictures of those nice members of Law Enforcement in Iran beating people for having the nerve to expect that their vote would count!
U.S. Law Enforcement and Iranian Law Enforcement personnel are of the same mentality - the only difference is the U.S. Constitution.
Ever read the document? It was designed by our framers to PROTECT OUR CITIZENS FROM OUR "AUTHORITIES". Wanna know why? Because we (and every other country) need protection from the "AUTHORITIES”.
Just keep this in mind:
Who fed the Christians to the Lions in Rome?
Who stuffed Jews into the Ovens at Auschwitz?
Who carried out the murders under Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot et al...
Who lynched and used attack dogs and beat Black Americans in the South during the 1960's?
Who ran INTO the collapsing World Trader Centers to save others when everyone else was running out?
The answer to all of the above... "The Authorities", those nice guys with the small wedding tackle that feel the need to make up for their inadequacies by doing the bidding, without doing any THINKING, of whoever is in power, AND doing some good, too. Law Enforcement is a necessary element in an orderly society - and without proper control AND an ethic of humanitarianism, which has been sorely lacking in its ranks, it may be the element that leads to disaster.
(Ever notice that, years later, when the offenders are called on the carpet in public – Nazi prison guards, Alabama police officers, Pol Pot torturers – are all tears and sorrow for their transgressions. “I was just following orders”... Either age has given them wisdom, or their guilt has overcome them, or they are just embarrassed and afraid – whatever – they knew full well that what they were doing was wrong.)
So, what's this got to do with energy? Iran is an exporting nation, right? One of the biggies, right? They seemed awfully flippant about the will of the people, even with a 100,000 man U.S. army right next store. Getting close to a nuclear weapon, I hear tell.
Just surf the Web and look at those nice police officers in Iran serving the public. Then thank your lucky stars you live in America or the West.
Mentatt (at) yahoo (d0t) com
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The whole election was an exercise in futility anyway. Amadinejad was "president" of Iran but had no real power. The position of president is akin to one of a third-rate "mayor." The mullahs (the religious leaders) hold all the power in Iran, incluing over the military, and the Iranian people know it. Their protesting was never going to amount to anything cause they were fighting the wrong war. However, the mullahs are smart enough to know that they can't get any more oil out of the ground than they are getting now, they have a huge inflation and heroin problem, and if the people have to blow off steam once in awhile, along with the police (this way, everyone can beat someone!), that is the price you pay to keep a country in action. But in the end, the people are wasting their energy on the wrong political position. The mullahs will game the election from the start.
bureaucrat,
Excellent point but your thoughts on where does that leave us?
I think often about Greg's point about the US Constitution being the only stop-gap against authoritative abuse. I smoke and drink heavily with a few law enforcement officials, so I know the beast.
It's all about respect, always has been, always will be.
The question remains, what exactly will we choose to respect, an article 200 years old or the person regurgitating bias, hate and fear.
With the few I know, I have faith but a few within an army... It's tough.
The situation in Iran is more complicated than that. The elected officials do have influence. The Shah's former guard controls his $billions and has influence. The mullahs seem to be the most powerful of the three, but are not in the good graces of a large segment of the population. A popular revolution is not out of the question there.
Regards,
Coal Guy
Also, on the subject of the US's military outlays. The US has been policeman of the world since WWII. It has been a huge subsidy to our allies. They have remained relatively demilitarized as they have been shielded by the US's umbrella. From the eastern edge of the NATO alliance to the Pacific rim people have generally enjoyed elected government, civil rights and prosperity. I'm glad I live where I do. Let's fix it.
Regards,
Coal Guy
There are good and bad elements in every agency of government... but you gotta be REALLY careful with people that carry guns and are WILLING to use force for non-violent transgressions (I am not. This is one of the reasons I believe we would be better served by DRAFTED, short stinted, civilian police rather than careerists that identify themselves as something other than a citizen after a short time.
I agree with you on that one!
Regards,
Coal Guy
While I spent $160!!!! for a missed stop sign yesterday (four years ago it was $75), and cursed the cop and his mother for his existence under my breath, the majority of cops are going to be restrained career professionals. Anyone who is willing to fill out a 40+ page application to be a cop, and go thru all the hoops, is going to be fine, most of the time. It is the "political hires" who make the worst cops -- mostly in backwards countries where the cops are all brothers of the politicians. Those are the jerks you have to watch out for.
You could also google the US student Tasered by the police for asking Kerry some pointed questions.
Ahmadinejad does have power; he's supported by a power-base of the Revolutionary Guard who are effectively the military. He's given them huge resources and potentially the Bomb, and stirred up conflict with Israel, and their generals have protected him.
Now even the Mullahs are wary of him. Note how Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, supported his re-election before the vote was even counted, and has now withdrawn that support ("it's a provisional result") only when Ahmadinejad has left for Moscow.
I think you'll find the situation is resolved very fast, possibly even before Ahmadinejad returns. The Mullahs rule only with the support of the people and the vote does count; otherwise why hold it, and why bother to fake it?
I have a co-worker who emigrated from Iran about ten years ago. She keeps in regular contact with her family, most of whom are still in Iran. Her mother keeps on talking about how it's like the revolution in 79 all over again, but this time against the mullahs and the 'Guardian Council'. From what my co-worker has told me, the continuing protests at this point have become less about the election and more about making their country an actual democracy (ie. getting rid of the power of the mullahs). Which, I have to say, seems like a good idea.
One interesting thing she told me is that most of the police in Tehran don't speak Farsi (Persian) because they're mostly from Lebanon (where I imagine they would speak Arabic perhaps, but definitely not Farsi). She said that because of this language barrier, their response to everything tends to be "beat them all and let Allah sort it out" so to speak. I half-jokingly suggested that they are probably Hezbollah-in-Training, to which she replied "Almost certainly". Funny but scary, like any good movie.
Before Amadinejad was President of Iran, he was in their "Intelligence Service." He's a puppet, just like Putin (former KGB) was a puppet of the Russian oligarchs. People like Amadinejad and Putin are never given any real power, because they are much better fronts than they are wise. In a few days, this will blow over. The money men don't seem to see any real problem, as the crude oil prices haven't moved up at all.
Most of the problems with "authorities out of control" in democratic societies is lack of participation by the people in the government. Look at low voting turnout in the US as an indicator of low civic involvement.
Left to themselves, the authorities will get out of control.
The alternative to the authorities is intermittent vigilante movements such as the KKK and countless others in US history.
Somolia is a society today that has no authorities or government.
It has pretty much reverted to feudal warlordism.
Same for the Pakistani border areas.
Iran has pretty sophistocated governmental processes and probably a wonderful constitution that the people are on the streets attempting to enforce. There's a high level of civic involvement there.
We might learn something from that.
Well guys, those Iranian policemen may not bet the nicest people we can think off. However, there are some sources arguing that it would not be so very strange for Mahmoed to have honestly won the election. Here is some more on the poll mentioned.
The most striking about it all, is how well a little unrest in Iran would suit the US, especially right now. Perhaps this link on Iranian CIA involvement is of interest here. And would anyone to believe the US media to help in all this? At least some television guys think the CIA is involved.
For anyone having some time on their hand and an interest in the workings of the CIA in Venezuela, here is an excellent and very exiting documentary which shows it all.
thanks for sharing.......
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