Cold War factions face off again in Iran
Eric Campbell
Issue date: 11/21/09 Section: World
Iran's Tiananmen Square is unfolding in slow motion.
The Iranian opposition movement has seized upon the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover on Nov. 4 to reignite their anti-government protests. They allege that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection was fraudulent.
Iran's presidential election was held on June 12 with Ahmadinejad narrowly winning over his reformist opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi. The election was marred by various irregularities including a brief government shutdown of communications that might have helped opposition candidates.
Mousavi's party, part of the Iranian Reform Movement, emphasizes secularism and democracy. This stance has put them at odds with Ahmadinejad's incumbent, conservative, Abadgaran party.
The Guardian, quoting the Iranian watchdog Web site Ayandeh, reported that during the election some towns had voter turnouts as high as 132 percent. Because citizens may vote outside of their home districts, such numbers are possible, but still highly unlikely.
On June 13, Mousavi supporters took to the streets in massive demonstrations, many wearing green, Mousavi's chosen campaign color. Some have optimistically termed the protests the Green Revolution, referencing Ukraine's successful Orange Revolution in 2005.
Some analysts say that the opposition has undergone an ideological shift to opposing more than just the Ahmadinejad administration.
"It's gone from anti-Ahmadinejad to more of anti-regime in general," said Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, according to a Nov. 11 article by the Associated Press. "That's an important shift."
Now, with the embassy showdown of 30 years ago in mind, the opposition movement is also using the government's anti-American rhetoric against them.
According to a Nov. 5 New York Times article, these recent opposition protests show an unusual amount of anti-Russian sentiment. Echoing its Cold War stance, Russia supports Iran's Islamic regime. In a retort to the well-known propaganda message, "The American Embassy is a den of spies," protesters outside the Russian Embassy chanted, "The Russian Embassy is the real den of spies."
The Iranian opposition movement has seized upon the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover on Nov. 4 to reignite their anti-government protests. They allege that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection was fraudulent.
Iran's presidential election was held on June 12 with Ahmadinejad narrowly winning over his reformist opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi. The election was marred by various irregularities including a brief government shutdown of communications that might have helped opposition candidates.
Mousavi's party, part of the Iranian Reform Movement, emphasizes secularism and democracy. This stance has put them at odds with Ahmadinejad's incumbent, conservative, Abadgaran party.
The Guardian, quoting the Iranian watchdog Web site Ayandeh, reported that during the election some towns had voter turnouts as high as 132 percent. Because citizens may vote outside of their home districts, such numbers are possible, but still highly unlikely.
On June 13, Mousavi supporters took to the streets in massive demonstrations, many wearing green, Mousavi's chosen campaign color. Some have optimistically termed the protests the Green Revolution, referencing Ukraine's successful Orange Revolution in 2005.
Some analysts say that the opposition has undergone an ideological shift to opposing more than just the Ahmadinejad administration.
"It's gone from anti-Ahmadinejad to more of anti-regime in general," said Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, according to a Nov. 11 article by the Associated Press. "That's an important shift."
Now, with the embassy showdown of 30 years ago in mind, the opposition movement is also using the government's anti-American rhetoric against them.
According to a Nov. 5 New York Times article, these recent opposition protests show an unusual amount of anti-Russian sentiment. Echoing its Cold War stance, Russia supports Iran's Islamic regime. In a retort to the well-known propaganda message, "The American Embassy is a den of spies," protesters outside the Russian Embassy chanted, "The Russian Embassy is the real den of spies."
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Banafsheh
posted 11/20/09 @ 1:19 AM EST
This was a light and decent enough article however the writer's next to last paragraph, alleging that 'a considerable portion of the country supports Ahmadinejad & the Islamic Republic' is unfortunately quite incorrect. (Continued…)
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