Sunday, June 21, 2009

Gut wrenching termoil in Iran.

Are you like me? You really don't have a clue what is going on in the Middle East? All that you really know is that the conflict has been going on over there since the days of Mohamed, that they seem to like to throw rocks, burn cars, and wave signs strategically written in English. It seems like, as Americans, that we should do something. It's obvious that they are begging for our help. Unfortunately, anytime that Americans align themselves with any faction in the Middle east, we make those people an automatic enemy, and a target. So, no matter how gut wrenching the situation is, chances are that the only thing that could happen is that America would only make the slaughter worse. Many examples of that theory can be proven. So, the best thing that we can do is wring our hands and stay out of it.

They last time that America got involved with Iran it ended up in a successful revolution. But, that was hijacked, and taken over by the Ayatollahs. Just like the lesson that we should have learned in Cuba. We need to follow through, or not get involved. The successful revolution in Cuba was hijacked by the Soviet Union, and Castro became a partner with the U.S.S.R. We got left out in the cold, and by being involved in the revolution, we got branded as an enemy. We also almost invited a nuclear missile base aimed at the U.S. if Kennedy hadn't run a good enough bluff to stop it. Sadly, I don't think that Kennedy was bluffing, and I truly believe that we skated past the thin edge of a full-out nuclear war.

It seems like we would learn the lesson of being the ones to pay the high price in human life, and have to walk away at the last minute, to give away all of our successes and victories to any other country preying on our desire stop the wars, to the point that we would abandon all that we thought was rightous enough to fight for in the first place.

President Ahmadinejad controls the military, and he could at any time order the wholesale slaughter of the people that are demonstrating for freedom. He has already branded them as terrorists. If America shows any sign of officially backing the Green Revolutionaries, who want democratic freedom, many thousands of people will die.

I've taken the liberty of giving some of you, like me, some information to take some of your confusion away. I wondered about "What's the Green all about?" I found the following explanation on the web and posted it here. With all the proper credits.

If I'm allowed an entirely superficial opinion, I'm going to predict that the green revolution will be successful. Ahmadinejad hasn't aligned himself with any really cool color.


In Iran, green has become the color of protest
By LISA GUTIERREZ
The Kansas City Star


Behnam
Iranian supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi take part in a rally in Tehran, Iran, on Thursday, June 18, 2009. (Behnam/Parspix/Abaca Press/MCT)

The sea of protest in Iran is flecked with green.
Demonstrators wave green flags. They wear green ribbons tied around their wrists and arms. They hide their faces behind green bandannas. Some of the women wear green burkas.
Green is the signature campaign color of the man on whose behalf they protest, Mir Hossein Mousavi. But green carries other significance in the Islamic world.
“Green has typically and historically been associated with Islam,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C.
It’s not an official association, nor is it religious or sacred in meaning, Hooper said. But the color green is found in several religious and cultural references and has come to symbolize fertility, peace and the Islamic depiction of paradise.
Hooper found several descriptions of paradise in the Qur’an, for instance, that refer to the people of paradise being adorned in green silk, “gardens of the deepest green” and paradise-dwellers “reclining on meadows of green.”
“It’s been a cultural expression for probably centuries throughout different societies,” said Reem Rahman, communications coordinator at the council’s Chicago headquarters.
“You definitely find throughout history that green was adopted as the color of a nation, a flag, a campaign of different organizations … and maybe it’s just culturally perpetuated.”
Green is used often on the binding of Qur’ans and even the domes of mosques. Some people say that green was the Islamic prophet Muhammad’s favorite color, but Rahman found no verification of that.
But Muhammad is quoted in a hadith, or saying, that “greenery” is one of the three universally good things in the world, she said.
Right now, in the midst of the political protests in Iran, green is earning a new significance, a sign of solidarity, a “way for them to express their opposition and their unhappiness with the way the election was conducted,” Rahman said.

7 comments:

Ernie Branscomb said...

This whole revolution is coming together like they have a campaiagn manager. The Green revolution in Iran is partly about Womens Rights, now a beauthiful Young woman protester has been shot through the heart while protesting. It was all caught on film. So far, they have not shown the face of the woman being killed, but I promise you that they will. She will become the symbol of the green freedom revolution.

Her name was Neda:
“...a girl known as Neda, who is thought to have been no older than 16, bleeding to death while frantic attempts are made to save her life has been broadcast across the globe via the internet... Neda, whose name means "voice" in Farsi, has been hailed as a martyr by those outraged at the brutality of the Iranian government's response to the election protests.”

Rose said...

She will change the course of history.
She will bring peace.
May God help them in their fight.

(or Allah, whatever you conceive him to be)

Rose said...

I don't think there is a campaign manager - I recommend Winston's blog - The Spirit of Man

Others who are following developments intensively noted a few days ago: Update (AP): Anecdotally, after following them all week, I can tell you that the tone of Iranian twitterers is strikingly different from what it’s been before. Some are openly asking people to pray for them. The fear is palpable.....

Ernie Branscomb said...

Rose
Is it possible to have anything but a religion based outcome in Iran?

I see the people fighting for democracy, womens rights, and freedom of expression. However, thirty years ago they had the same revolution. Their revolution was successful, but the ayatollahs hijacked the government and took over, effectively putting Iran back into the dark ages.

I really feel what is going on in Iran right now may very well be the most pivotal struggle in the whole world. We know that the people want freedom, but there will be a faction that will want to take control. The greens are going to have to have a plan for a viable government to step in, or in will be a useless fight. I fear that the ayatollahs will hijack the revolution again.



From “THE SPIRIT OF MAN”:
”The uprising is on and there's no way back. These pro-regime assholes in the west should be worried. They've to be held responsible when the Iranian nation is free from tyranny and Islamic rule. The clock is ticking for all those bastards who are shielding a criminal regime here or there.”

It sounds like no matter what the western world does in this conflict, we will lose. If we get involved now, it will cause mass killings of the greens, if we don't get involved, it sounds like we will be held responsible for not being involved.

Rose said...

All I can say is many I am talking to are hopeful, they believe this is the way to peace in the entire muslim world. That if the clerics fall, the other countries will fall into line.

Not everyone over there wants to continue to live in the dark ages.

Here's an interesting perspective, too: Mousavi's primary backers from within the regime - former presidents Muhammad Khatami and Akbar Rafsanjani - are themselves anything but anti-regime revolutionaries.....
The fact of the matter is that with each passing day, Mousavi's personal views and interests are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Whether he realized it or not, Mousavi was transformed...


...by acting as the loudest and first democratic champion of the protesters, Israel would catapult itself to the forefront of the campaign for democracy in the Muslim world. Doing so would make it far easier for Israel's representatives throughout the world to defend against false accusations by self-described human rights organizations that Israel is a human rights abuser.

Beyond that, Israel would be building an important alliance with the Iranian people themselves. Contrary to what the mullahs would have us believe, Iranians by and large do not share the widespread hatred of Israel and the Jews that their regime promotes and the Arab world embraces. Over the years, Iranian regime opponents - from the students to the trade unionists to women's rights activists to minority Kurds, Azeris, Ahwaz Arabs and Baluchis - have all appealed to Israel for support. Israel Radio in Farsi, which broadcasts into Iran daily, has more than a million regular listeners.

Were Netanyahu to explain that the same mullahs who seek to disenfranchise and repress the Iranian people seek to destroy Israel with nuclear bombs; were he to call for Iran to stop financing Hamas and Hizbullah terrorists who are reportedly now deployed in Iran to brutalize the protesters, and instead invest in the Iranian economy for the benefit of Iran's people, he would be sending a message that already resonates with the people of Iran....


not to spam your comments - the article has alot more to say - but it is an interesting perspective...

Ernie Branscomb said...

Rose

You can say all that you want about this subject. Like I said, this is going to be pivotal in world affairs. How it all lands is going to change the world.

I hope our leaders are watching and learning. A lot of people in the U.S. are not happy with this country being lead by the nose by Wall Street. Maybe if the Iranian’s desire to become self-determined will give Americans the courage to say we are tired of big money controlling our elections.

The Wall Street Barons are our Ayatollahs.

Ben said...

AAAAAAAAAMEN, Ernie!
A few years ago, I had a stressful conversation with an old friend who had emigrated to Israel and then returned to the States when things got dangerous. Her daughter stayed and married an Israeli. She could not believe that I had any sympathy whatever for the Palestinian people. As far as she was concerned, they were trying to murder her daughter and grandchildren every day that they remained in Israel and my point of view threatened their safety. She felt that the only good Arab was a dead one. She hated them all.
I realized that I was seeing an attitude that must be common in Israel. The result of life under constant threat. Of course the same condition is true for the Palistiians. Land grabs, physical attacks and second class citizenship are the reality of life for Arab people in Israel. All of this takes place in a country which could put 100 nuclear bombs in the air on a moment's notice. A nation where the entire population is no greater than that of metropolitan Los Angeles. We feel that fundamentalist Islam is so crazy, so fanatical that they would guarantee the utter destruction of their population by bombing Israel the moment they produce a viable weapon. Not likely. The only solution is the creation of a Palestinian State with international support fo schools and industries which will make it an economic success. That's it, the only solution.