(cartoon credit: Jonathan Guyer of The Washington Note) A short while ago, a space-obsessed friend sent me a CNN clip about what it would be like to fall into a black hole, in case I wanted to break up my Iran coverage with something else.
A few years ago, I met then chief Iran nuclear negotiator and now Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani at the Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai.
Over the past week, a young student has been anonymously blogging about the momentous events inside Iran for The Washington Note.
Yesterday, I had a chat with a senior person at CNN who shared that nearly all of the major news organizations were having to work with Iran related video and other information being sent to them that was not as vetted as normal. I know the feeling.
A few moments ago, author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S. and the Twisted Path to Confrontation and one of DC’s best Iran experts Barbara Slavin wrote to me through Facebook and said: steve, iran ceased being an islamic republic a week ago. now it’s just another military dictatorship. She is right.
Here is one of the best summations I have read of today’s events in Iran. A couple of key things are that the government is trying to isolate Mousavi and his ability to communicate. The government is arresting key Mousavi supporters in mass.
This appears to be quite bad news. The Assembly of Experts, headed by former President Rafsanjani, have expressed its full support of Ayatollah Khamenei’s statement on Friday. That means, I think, that those in the streets are being abandoned by many at the elite level of this struggle for Iran’s soul.
NOTE FROM STEVE CLEMONS: PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE RECEIVED INFORMATION DIRECTLY FROM THE BRITISH EMBASSY THAT THEY HAVE NOT TAKEN IN INJURED PROTESTERS. THERE IS SOME LEVEL OF MISINFORMATION FLOODING THROUGH TWITTER WITH REGARD TO THE EMBASSIES.
This hilarious video by Jibjab called “He’s Barack Obama” debuted in front of President Obama last night at the annual black tie Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner. Here are the lyrics: When darkness had descended all across the land A lone voice in the distance uttered Yes! We Can! He gave good speeches. Never Sweat….
This is a very disturbing, graphic video clip of the scenes in Iran today on June 20th. It gives a sense of the chaos and the massive involvement of regular citizens. This just in from a dependable source over twitter: Fatemiyeh Hospital Tehran: 30-40 dead as of 11pm; 200 injured. Police taking names of injured….
