US media omission: Iran calls for global nuclear disarmament

By GottaLaff

That I'mADinnerJacket, he such a tease:

The American public has not been informed by the US news media about highly newsworthy statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday February 12.

He said the era of nuclear weapons is over, suggesting Iran has no plans to build "inhumane" A-bombs. Ahmadinejad called for a world free of nuclear arms in an interview with Russia's NTV channel.

Why, that's not the Mahmoud we know and laugh at! What a kidder.

Considering Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's calls for sanctions over Iran's nuclear program, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position that new sanctions should be "crippling," one might think the US media would pay attention to Ahmadinejad's statements.

Instead, the media's Sarah Palin obsession means that more Americans heard repeated calls to start a new war with Iran in the past week.

Picky, picky... Besides, Mouthy McLookaMe is much more newsworthy than a guy who incites hate and condemns his fellow citizens.

Oh. Wait. Mouthy does that too.

Anyway, reporting such remarks would veer away from the crescendoing drumbeat of increased sanctions and possible war. Plus Mahmoud's not the most reliable source of information.

Even so, since the media reports all the negative babble from this nutball, they should also let us in on his more positive remarks.

Instead, they report all the babble from that other nutball... and then some.

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

Complete Video- Obama, Sarkozy, and Brown on Iranian Nuclear Facility

Stern looks.

Video- Iranians Blanket Brooklyn Bridge in Green

Wonder if anyone pointed this out to Mahmoud?

The demonstrators have completed their walk across the Brooklyn Bridge with what organizers say is a mile-long green banner that has been signed by thousands of people around the world — which was earlier wrapped around the Eiffel Tower in Paris — and staged a rally outside City Hall in Manhattan.

According to a report by Tara Mahtafar on the Christian Science Monitor Web site:

The banner, which reads “Ahmadinejad is not my president,” was stitched together in Paris using scrolls of green cloth sent in from cities around the globe, and it’s covered with the signatures of tens of thousands of Iranian citizens living outside Iran.

Iran deadlock drags on as Mousavi rejects part recount

It's important that Mousavi speak up now about the election. Not that it will get him very far, but it sows the seeds. More info on how technology has fueled the protests here.

TEHRAN (AFP) – Political deadlock continued in Iran as opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi on Saturday rejected a panel set up to hold a partial recount of votes in the disputed presidential election.

Refusing to be cowed by a raid on the offices of a party that backed him or by an aide turning against him and blaming him for deaths during protests, Mousavi again demanded a full re-run of the election.

"Limiting the probe into complaints about electoral irregularities to recounting 10 percent of the ballot boxes cannot attract people's trust and convince public opinion about the results," the moderate candidate said on his campaign website Ghalamnews.ir.

Top political arbitration body the Expediency Council urged all candidates to cooperate with the panel, set up by electoral watchdog the Guardians Council.

But Mousavi said: "Reaching a just judgement is not within the domain of the Guardians Council and above all a board which is appointed by this council.

"I insist again on cancelling the election (results) as the most suitable way out of the problem," he said.

Ahmadinejad accuses Obama of interfering in election

Imagine what he'd be saying if Obama came out as forcefully as some wanted him to.

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Iran's president slammed President Obama on Saturday, saying officials in the Islamic republic are astonished over what they see as his interference in Iran's disputed elections.

"Didn't he say that he was after change?" Ahmadinejad asked Iranian judiciary officials in a speech. "Why did he interfere? Why did he utter remarks irrespective of norms and decorum?"

Dude doesn't even make sense.

Iranian leader demands Obama apology

Crazy, and very much not in the good way.

Meanwhile, the Iranian president has called on Barack Obama to apologise for alleged US interference after the elections.

The hard-line leader also accused his American counterpart of behaving like his predecessor George Bush.

Mr Obama has ramped up his previously muted criticism, saying he was "appalled and outraged" by the crackdown on demonstrators who believe Mr Ahmadinejad's election victory was fraudulent.

"Mr Obama made a mistake to say those things... our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously Bush used to say," Mr Ahmadinejad said.

The turmoil has dimmed the prospects of Mr Obama's outreach to Iran over its nuclear programme, with Tehran blaming Britain and the United States for fomenting violence.

Iranian Government Media Declares Mousavi a 'Criminal'

Ugh, things are deteriorating fast. The photographer who took the above picture is now missing, along with upwards of 20 other journalists.

TEHRAN, June 21 -- Iranian government media Sunday launched a campaign against Mir Hussein Mousavi and his supporters, calling the leader of the protests over Iran's disputed election a "criminal" and comparing demonstrators to members of a hated terrorist group.

(snip)

Authorities appeared to be seeking to blame the violence on radicals. State television charged that "the presence of terrorists . . . was tangible" in Saturday's events. It asked viewers to send viceoclips of protestors in order to help authorities to arrest them.

Scenes of the violent protest were shown frequently on Iranian state television and in a special broadcast the rioters were said to be members of the Paris based Mudjehadin-e khalq organization, an Islamist Marxist group that is labeled by the United States as a terrorist organization. After siding with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war and a series of terrorists attacks, the group has little support among most Iranians.

Audio clips were played of alleged telephone recordings in which people said to be members of the organization urge others to get information about the protests to Western news organizations. Despite the media claims, involvement of the group seems highly unlikely since supporters are rare in Iran.

Video- Iran's supreme leader defends election

Guess we're just in "wait and see" mode now.

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's supreme leader passionately defended last week's presidential election process Friday, praising President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election as a "definitive victory" and sloughing off charges of vote-rigging.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed a crowd at Tehran University in a sermon during Friday prayers.

His speech was greatly anticipated amid massive protests from supporters of opposition leaders such as Mir Hossein Moussavi, who disputed the government's assertion that Ahmadinejad won in a landslide.

While Khamenei called on those who don't believe the results to use proper legal avenues, such as requesting the recounting of ballots in their presence, he did not issue a call for a new vote.

He also criticized the street protests and said those who caused violence during demonstrations would be held accountable.

Crowds in Iran, attacks on university students (VIDEO)

By GottaLaff

Via Steve Clemons:

(photo credit: Madyar in Iran -- check out the other amazing photos at Madyar's blog)

This is a picture of a massive pro-Mousavi rally yesterday in Esfehan, Iran's third largest city.

Also this video from the Washington Note, via Nico Pitney at Huffington Post:

Along the lines of Iran President Ahmadinejad denying the Holocaust, the Ahmadinejad-appointed president of the University of Tehran stated today that there was no attack on university students and no students killed. Outrageous.

This is not going away.

Video- Iranian election protests turn deadly

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Video- 15th June 2009 Millions protest against election fraud in Iran

I wish I could believe that this will really make some change. Check out some amazing photos here. h/t WT for the vid.

Video- Iran's Supreme Leader Orders Election Probe

I had to put something up as soon as possible to get that weird Obama gif off the top. Brrr.

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's election authority said Monday it will probe allegations presidential elections were marred by ballot rigging as chaos following hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declared victory continued for a third day.

The country's government-funded Press TV reported that Iran's Guardian Council -- a body of top clerics and judges -- will investigate reformist opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi's claims.

Meanwhile, Moussavi was expected to ask followers to call off the demonstrations and appeal for calm, sources told CNN.

Moussavi's supporters Monday defied a government ban on their rallies, gathering for a demonstration at Tehran University.

The Rovian Islamist

By GottaLaff

Sully makes a few interesting observations:

Ahmadinejad's bag of tricks is eerily like that of Karl Rove - the constant use of fear, the exploitation of religion, the demonization of liberals, the deployment of Potemkin symbolism like Sarah Palin:

Ahmadinejad made an advertising movie of himself and his family which was very effective among the masses. His simple life is similar to low income people. This is despite the fact that during his first term some people acquired a lot of wealth because of Ahmadinejad’s bad economic decisions, housing prices during the last four years tripled, industrial production decreased, many factories closed and unemployment increased. Import of goods such as rice, tea, sugar, and Chinese goods mostly helped the importers who are Ahmadinejad’s biggest supporters. It’s interesting that several of his ministers are very wealthy including his mister of the interior. [...]

The armed forces, specially the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij are Ahmadinejad’s supporters. Their penetration in the villages and small towns, and the fact that they are often from the lower income classes, played a major role in Ahmadinejad’s victory like the previous elections.

Think of this regime as Cheney and Rove in a police state setting, and you see what's been going on. [...] ([T]heir demagoguery, abuse of the state, dedication to conflict abroad, co-optation of the armed forces, and manipulation of rural and religious voters all have parallels in Red State Iran.) [...] If they're going to lie, it's gonna be a Big Lie. Like this sham of an election.

Please read the rest. I cut it down some.

Video- Ahmadinejad won't explain opposition arrest or guarantee Mousavi's safety

Not a good sign. More here and here.

Disputed Iran Election Prompts Rioting

All sorts of rumours running around, one that Mousavi has been house arrested. (He is also supposed to speak publicly at 2p Tehran time, but I can't figure out what time that is EST) Laura Rozen has more here.

(CBS/AP) Supporters of the main election challenger to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tires Saturday as authorities declared the hard-line president was re-elected in a landslide.

Opponents responded with the most serious unrest in the capital in a decade and charges that the result was the work of a "dictatorship."

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, closed the door on any chance he could use his limitless powers to intervene in the disputes from Friday's election. In a message on state TV, he urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, calling the result a "divine assessment."

But Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has rejected the result as rigged and urged his supporters to resist a government of "lies and dictatorship."

Ahmadinejad Declared Winner of Iran Election

Not what we were looking forward to yesterday.

TEHRAN, June 13 -- Iran's Interior Ministry declared Saturday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a decisive victory in Friday's presidential election, but the incumbent's leading challenger protested the results, and clashes broke out between the two candidates' supporters.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister who waged a heated campaign against Ahmadinejad's bid for reelection, urged his supporters to reject a "governance of lie and dictatorship." He attributed the results to widespread vote fraud and vowed to resist a "dangerous manipulation" of the balloting.

Later, fighting broke out at Tehran's Vanak Square among hundreds of Iranians who backed the rival candidates, Reuters news agency reported. Up to 2,000 Mousavi supporters sat down in the street, chanting: "Mousavi take back our vote! What happened to our vote?"

Police wielding batons then moved to disperse the protesters, the news agency said.

Iran's Ahmadinejad wants to debate Obama at UN

Ha! Little crazy man wants to play with the big boys. Man it'd be nice if one of the reformers got elected instead of this clown.

TEHRAN, Iran—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is calling for a face-to-face debate with his American counterpart Barack Obama at the United Nations.

The offer by Ahmadinejad came at news conference Monday as he steps up his campaign for his re-election in the June 12 presidential vote.

If returned to office, Ahmadinejad says he wants to meet Obama during the U.N. General Assembly in September to debate "world issues and the way toward peace."

Ahmadinejad is in a four-way race against a fellow hard-liner and two pro-reform candidates.

'Yes We Can' Ahmadinejad Style

Hey, if it works...Via Ben-

From the Guardian:

Obama's signature campaign slogan, Yes We Can, has been replicated by the Iranian president in a promotional video issued for Iran's presidential poll on 12 June, when Ahmadinejad is seeking reelection.

The video features a cover picture of Ahmadinejad wearing his trademark white jacket and pointing to the Farsi phrase Ma Mitavanim (We Can) on a blackboard. The film is aimed at students and capitalises on his former status as a university lecturer.

If anybody knows where the video is, send it my way.

UPDATE: The Guardian's Robert Tait points me to stills from the film.

Ahmadinejad: Iran would accept two-state solution if Palestinians did

By GottaLaff

That wacky, zany Mahmoud. He should get his own sit-com, what with all his little quips:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in an interview broadcast Sunday, said his government would accept a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians if Palestinians did.

"Whatever decision they take is fine with us," he told ABC's "This Week."

"We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that. We think that this is the right of the Palestinian people. However we fully expect other states to do so as well."

Damn. There's always a catch.

Ahmadinejad, who has called for the end of Israel's existence as a Jewish state, also argued that people in the region should be allowed to hold a referendum — and if they vote Israel out of existence, other nations should accept that.

So much for that sit-com pitch. At this rate, he won't even get his own reality show.

Asked whether he would meet with leaders of the United States along with other world powers to discuss Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said his government is "reconsidering" its package of proposals for talks.

"We are adding new issues to the realm, if you will, of the talks. And we are going to make that public as soon as possible," he noted.[...]

"We are always ready to talk with no preconditions," Ahmadinejad said.[...]

Ahmadinejad — who has also rejected U.S. assertions that Iran is fomenting violence in Iraq — told ABC his country is "ready to contribute to international security, peace, and global friendship and global disarmament."

What a kidder. Maybe he should get a Friday night half-hour on Comedy Central.