1

I'm pretty sure many (most?) of their internal security forces, aside from the Revolutionary Guard, are Arabs. Imported thugs, in other words.

The protests are very interesting (in the Chinese Curse sense).

They're protesting in favor of another guy who the Mad Mullahs allowed to run so I don't see how it would be much different with him.

First off, did the mad mullahs run someone totally against them so they could point out how popular Ahmadinejad is when he won in a landslide? Or is this guy just the symbol they're rallying around?

If they "win" and this guy is installed as "President" (how do you say "El Presidente" in Farsi?), it seems to me they won't have accomplished anything except legitimizing their owners.

On the other hand, maybe they're just sick of mad mullahs and they're using this as an excuse to become truly revolting (in the best, Minuteman sense of the word) so the symbol isn't as important as the fact that they have a symbol.

I understand they're protesting against the flawed vote, but they had to know it was a waste of time going in so I'm hoping they're serious about getting rid of the Mullarchy.

It's too bad they're about a year late if they expect any help from the US.

2 ^also, IIRC, Saddam's Fedayeen and other thugs were imports. And the Soviets would send in one ethnic group to rough up another one.

3 It doesn't matter if it's 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss'.  What matters is that an election happened and the results aren't being respected.  I don't think Mousavi is going to be a radical departure from the current regime, but there needs to be respect for the election outcomes, if only to send a message to the mullahs that change is possible.

4

But there needs to be respect for the election outcomes...

I absolutely disagree.

Sham elections where only approved candidates can run should not be respected in any way other than a "At least they feel a need to try to pretend they're legitimate" way.

Seriously, I think that the Iranian elections should be treated with less respect than the NoKo elections.

My perfect statement would be something like, "America is with the Iranian people who are protesting the sham election where even with it rigged, the brutal dictators of Iran had a hard time getting the result they wanted.

Never respect brutal dictators or their attempted propaganda "coups".