Monthly Archives: June 2013

FNS – Iran’s Virtual Elections

07 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Regions

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But on June 7 a group of Internet activists hopes to give Iranian voters a taste of what an open election feels like by launching an alternative election featuring 20 candidates. The candidates not only include the officially approved eight, but 12 more, ranging from people who failed the official vetting process to reformist leaders and political prisoners.

Recknagel, Charles.  “Virtual Election Gives Iranians Chance to Vote for Unofficial Candidates.”  Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, June 7, 2013.

Radio Free Europe features other stories on Iran’s upcoming elections, of course, but still it’s good to pass along information that indicates interest in more authentic representative government.

Iran’s official elections take place next Friday (June 14, 2013).

Also in the news as I type:

Hosseinian, Zahra.  “Electrion candidates clash over Iran foreign policy direction.”  Reuters, June 7, 2013.

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Yours Truly Behind the Curve — Discovering Tehran Bureau

07 Friday Jun 2013

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“No one has a bureau in Tehran,” he said, explaining why he thought there was a dearth of in-depth reporting from my motherland. “No one has a full-fledged bureau in Iran.”

So it was that a classmate and I set out to create one. But the more we looked into it, the more it made sense not to actually be there — not initially anyway, even if we could.

Niknejad, Kelly Golnoush.  “How to Cover a Paranoid Regime from Your Laptop.”  Foreign Policy, August 14, 2009.

This bloc led the Green Movement protests following Iran’s 2009 election — but now with its leaders under house arrest or barred from running in the upcoming election, they find themselves trying to weather this period of even greater conservative dominance.

“Almost every public move made by the Iranian regime is designed to stymie any hope for change,” one Iranian intellectual told me in an email. “And I can say, from a very personal perspective, that the regime has been successful.”

Niknejad, Kelly Golnoush.  “Iran’s Struggling Protest Movement.”  The Record, June 7, 2013.

As you see, the effort to establish Tehran Bureau found voice around 2009 and here in 2013 the idea has been established and found support beneath the wings of The Guardian.

As the Aussies say, “Good on ye,  Kelly Golnoush Niknejad.

The web has a waterfront too, and even at the speed of light, one cannot cover it all, so it seems I’ve missed this portion of coverage of Iran.  However, responding to this week’s protests and looking for an update, the only relevant piece — the only piece not related to Iranian-Turkish rivalry, NATO, Syria, and Russia — was the second cited, “Iran’s Struggling Protest Movement.”

A gem.

More from Tehran Bureau:

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been a dominant player in Iranian politics since the revolution. Its broad-ranging influence transcends that of an exclusively military institution. The organisation does not directly dictate policy or single-handedly choose presidents, but it has enough power within the regime to block major initiatives and promote its own hardline agenda.

Ostovar, Afshon.  “Iranian election: do the Revolutionary Guards have a candidate?”  Tehran Bureau, June 3, 2013.

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Iran – Anti-Government Protests Precede Elections

06 Thursday Jun 2013

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The protesters chanted slogans against the government and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling for the “death to the dictator.” Among other slogans, they chanted “The political prisoners must freed” and “Mousavi and Karroubi must be freed,” referring to the leaders of the reformist green movement who are under house arrest in Tehran.

Haaretz and Reuters.  “Tens of thousands in Iran protest against Khamenei, chant ‘death to dictator’.”  Haaretz, June 5, 2013.

Thousands of Iranians attending the funeral of a dissident ayatollah broke into chants against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and called for the release of political prisoners, opposition websites have reported.

Amateur videos said to be from the June 4 funeral appear to confirm the reports. RFE/RL cannot verify the authenticity of the videos.

Persian Letters.  “‘Death to Dictator’ Chants Reported in Iran at Ayatollah’s Funeral.”  Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, June 5, 2013.

Tens of thousands have attended the funeral of a senior dissident cleric, in what became Iran’s biggest anti-government protest for years.

BBC.  “Iran dissident’s funeral turns into anti-government protest.”  June 4, 2013.

The video appears authentic, according to The Associated Press, with the news service saying it first appeared on an Iranian website before being uploaded to YouTube.

The AP said interviews and analysis it conducted verify the video.

Trifunov, David.  “Anti-government protesters shout ‘death to dictator’ in Iran (VIDEO).  Global Post, June 5, 2013.

This is the video:

Another comment on the news from two days ago:

In 2013, the regime has already witnessed signs of discontent even before the vote. On June 4, thousands reportedly turned the funeral for Ayatollah Jalaluddin Taheri into an anti-government demonstration in Isfahan. Taheri had been the Friday Prayer Leader in Isfahan. He had earlier criticized the regime for corruption, eventually resigning from the post. He also called the 2009 election “invalid.”

Wright, Robin.  “Learning from Iran’s Elections.”  Foreign Policy, June 6, 2013.

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When the Second Row Seat to History Ain’t So Hot

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Journalism, Politics

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Here’s the inflammatory header, dated June 2, 2013: “Saudi prince rapes, kills Saudi girl.”

Published by the Mehr News Agency out of Tehran, it has been picked up by at least two mainstays of the blogovating anti-Jihad:

Sheikyermami. “Saudi Prince Kidnaps, Rapes and Murders Girl — Dumps Her Body on Street.”  Winds of Jihad, June 2, 2013.

Godlike Productions.  “Saudi prince rapes, kills Saudi girl.”  June 2, 2013.

I learned looking twice at Palestinian olive grove “stories” that one press release may fill a hundred anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist outlets, and when one searches for other reportage or witness showing signs of independence or originality, it may not be there (or that was just my experience).

At such times I wish I had a trustworthy scribbler in position to record pictures and take testimony and tell me, whatever it may have been, “It happened!”

Or it didn’t happen.

Instead, before going bonkers over another barbarism-in-the-kingdom story, I start looking for superficial corroboration, i.e., mention of the same event from multiple sources, preferably disinterested newsy ones.

Trenwith, Courtney.  “Saudi prince denies kidnapping, killing woman.”  Arabian Business.com, May 12, 2013.

The salient features are there — same town, same prince, same murder — but the denial plays in the press in the middle of May, while the Mehr News Agency dateline suggests it took place in the first day or two of June.

From the same source, Arabian Business.com, here’s the play the next day (May 13, 2013): “Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested a man on suspicion of murdering a woman and throwing her corpse out into the street a month ago, English language Saudi Gazette reported.”

Not only has the June 2 dateline on the alleged arrest been turned back to mid-May, but the alleged murder itself has been pushed back to mid-April!

The story continues, “Police said they had arrested a former teacher in connection with the case,” and either for good measure or because it’s true — how is an innocent remote reader to tell? — let’s add, “who had originally been accused by the victim’s family when the missing person’s report was first filed.”

Beneath that report, one reader wrote, “Many commentators accused the prince who proved to be an innocent man, what happened to fairness and integrity among us people . . . .”

The story gets better.

Chasing original cited attribution back to the Saudi Gazette, there’s no listing of the murder — i.e., report of a body dumped in the Al-Samer neighborhood of Jeddah — for mid-April 2013 although the paper runs a pretty good listing from the police blotter.  That doesn’t mean something didn’t happen, but one would think the start of a big story would have left a little trace in the news around the time it took place.

This title appears on May 16: “Revenge motive suspected in woman’s murder” (Abdulrahman Al-Ali, Saudi Gazette).  True, it may not be the same story, but those salient features — murder the babe and dump the body — are in it: “Spokesman for Jeddah police First Lt. Nawwaf Al-Bouq said two Saudi citizens were arrested in Khulais Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after the body was found.”

And later after the perp done the deed: “He then called his brother to help him move the body and dispose of it in Al-Samer neighborhood.”

In conclusion: “Al-Bouq pointed out that there were false reports tying this crime with other incidents. “Such reports are completely untrue and are meant to spread fear and apprehension in society,” said the police spokesman

All of the above, which I think may involve mudslinging from Tehran followed by a response from the Kingdom (backdating those stories?), seems a perfect BackChannels story, especially in light of who is leaning over the rails and most closely following the cockfight in Syria.

Are the lower brethren — my ranks, I guess — of the Fourth Estate curious as regards the validity of the latest outrage to fly across their screens?

Apparently not to those replicating the Mehr source story, e.g., Sharia Unveiled: “Saudi Prince Rapes and Murders Young Girl Then Dumps Her Body on the Street“.

According to what looks like a May 13 update in the Saudi Gazette, “Prince Khalid Bin Saad said on his Twitter account that he did not have anything to do with the woman found dead on the street. He stressed that he will use all legal channels to sue those who spread this rumor.”

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Once or twice a week, and I would wish the incident rate much less, a compelling and provocative post on something or other shows up in my Facebook stream, and I am so outraged, which was rather someone’s point in sending the signal, that I share it in the Facebook way before checking it out.  

Then, after the share button has been clicked and conscience plus curiosity get the better of me, I’ll learn the “latest outrage” (that I helped circulate) has been traveling around the web since 2007.

I am so ashamed when I do that!

Truly, I exaggerate but a little for effect: the real feeling is that of being used or “played” by the sender before me and also feeling as a writer irresponsible.

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I have called Internet-based witness “The Second Row Seat to History”, since 2006, the year blogging technology became popular (for me, at least) and English-language editions of foreign press started showing up on the web.

I had wanted to see the world.

Now we are down the Information Highway some decades, and those who mean well may have in this maturing environment the challenge of sorting and analyzing a massive flow of information daily: what is it telling us?

It helps to have some themes, and it turns out I like politics and language, also conflict, culture, and psychology, would that the interest today were matched by funding.

It’s also going to help to develop more comprehensive and swift methods for assessing the validity of “secondary source” information while — we know this is coming — developing relationships leading to more democratized, global, high-integrity (clear, accurate, complete) primary reportage, a slow process that as well as a reminder about how money works in the news business and why “Big Media” has gotten that way.

Also: as a blogger, I don’t think I need to work up a newspaper from my desktop: it may be more than enough to “track” stories and themes, aggregate material, learn continuously — I am able to order what I want for the library, usually, and able to read at length, although I think allocating that kind of time would be easier under contract — and analyze events and processes with improving clarity,  comprehension, humanity, and prescience.

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Syria – The Cost of Incoherence

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Middle East, Regions, Syria

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Of course one reason why President Barack Obama and other Western leaders are staying well on the sidelines in this conflict may be precisely due to the intelligence reports warning that Assad is a far harder nut to crack than previously thought.

Syrian Army forces guard a checkpoint in Damascus in May 2013. Better armed, and better logistical support.(Reuters)

That and the fact that the rebels are no closer to forming a winning, united or even trustworthy insurgency

Stewart, Brian.  “Brian Stewart: Is Syria’s Assad turning the tide of battle?”  CBC News, June 5, 2013.

The news breaking for the past several hours is that Syrian troops with a boost from Hezbollah have gained control of al-Qusayr, a border town associated with arms smuggling from Lebanon and prized for the highway connecting Damascus to Homs.

Last month, Real Clear Politics suggested that “Without stronger U.S. measures, the most likely outcome is the fragmentation of Syria into warring fiefdoms, with some turf controlled by Iran and some by al-Qaeda” (“U.S. policy on Syria still lacks coherence,” May 1, 2013).  As much may be a nightmare come true.

While General Selim Idriss of the Free Syrian Army may be counted on to represent a moderate proto-democratic force, the crowd beneath the umbrella may be too diverse, negatively so, for moving in that one direction.

More than a year ago, the Institute for the Study of War published Joseph Holliday’s Middle East Security Report 3: Syria’s Armed Opposition (March 2012), which notes in its executive summary section the following:

“As the militias continue to face overwhelming regime firepower the likelihood of their radicalization may increase. moreover, the indigenous rebels may turn to al-Qaeda for high-end weaponry and spectacular tactics as the regime’s escalation leaves the rebels with no proportionate response, as occurred in iraq in 2005-2006. Developing relations with armed opposition leaders and recognizing specific rebel organizations may help to deter this dangerous trend.”

As much has come to pass.

This comes from a Reuters filing in mid-May:

“Nusra is now two Nusras. One that is pursuing al Qaeda’s agenda of a greater Islamic nation, and another that is Syrian with a national agenda to help us fight Assad,” said a senior rebel commander in Syria who has close ties to the Nusra Front.

“It is disintegrating from within.”

Today, the black flag of Al Qaeda flies over Raqqa, Syria.

From Al Arabiya:

“Anyone who might have a complaint against any element of the Islamic state, whether the Emir or an ordinary soldier, can come and submit their complaint in any headquarters building of the Islamic state,” the notice stated. “The complaint should be in writing, provide details and give evidence.”

Al-Qaeda then goes on to promise that those who commit transgressions will face justice.

The weird left, from “globalresearch” to “counterpunch” to “infowars” have been having a field day asserting an Obama+Al-Qaeda connection (as much I deduce from the headers alone: “How Obama and Al-Qaeda Became Syrian Bedfellows”; “Obama to Arm Al-Qaeda Terrorists in Syria”.

You can look those up yourself.

I’m only wondering if I need to buy a new olive drab field jacket, say about two sizes up from whatever was in the closet in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In Syria, perhaps signaled by the state’s turnaround in Qusayr, Putin wins this round because, oh honey oh baby Obama, ain’t no one carrying around even a smidgen of the west in less than half a brain wants to hang around with Al Qaeda and its ilk, and it appears those have gotten their hooks into the community of rebel organizations in Syria, General Idriss’s moderate appeal notwithstanding.

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Reference

Al Arabiya.  “Al-Qaeda sets up ‘complaints department’ in Syrian city of Raqqa.”  June 3, 2013.

Al Jazeera.  “Syrian army regains strategic city of Qusayr.”  June 5, 2013.

BBC.  “Syrian rebels ‘can fight Hezbollah in Lebanon’ – Idriss.”  June 5, 2013.

Hornik, P. David.  “Showdown in Syria.”  Frontpage Magazine, May 30, 2013.

Karouny, Mariam.  “Insight: Syria’s Nusra Front eclipsed by Iraq-based al Qaeda.”  Reuters, May 17, 2013.

Sly, Liz.  “Islamic law comes to rebel-held Syria.”  The Washington Post, March 19, 2013.  Excerpt:

Building on the reputation they have earned in recent months as the rebellion’s most accomplished fighters, Islamist units are seeking to assert their authority over civilian life, imposing Islamic codes and punishments and administering day-to-day matters such as divorce, marriage and vehicle licensing.

Spencer, Richard.  “Al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing takes over the oilfields once belonging to Assad.”  The Telegraph, May 18, 2013.  Excerpt:

Their battlefield supremacy has enabled them to seize the economic as well as the military high-ground.

In Raqqa, they also control flour production, earning money from selling to bakeries, some of which they own as well. “Jabhat now own everything here,” one disillusioned secular activist said.

The Washington Post.  “A grim anniversary: Two years of conflict in Syria.” May 18, 2013.  The video is the same as the YouTube copy posted above this reference section.

Syria – An Update – Item One: RT Says Russia Holding On S-300 Delivery

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by in BCND - BackChannels News Day, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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The black hole that is today’s official Syria and Syrian Civil War — a state so dense with evil and steeped in blood that it attracts its own kind and drowns them too — has continued sucking at humanity’s heels.

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This is a long clip from Al Jazeera, and I post it with mixed feelings — for length, for “carrying someone else’s water” as some may put it — but the Hezbollah story is integral to my view that events in Syria channel back to Iran, it’s nuclear and missile programs, it’s deeply anti-Semitic / anti-Zionist stance, and from Evin Prison stories back to the “chain murders”, and it’s own inherent evil and hypocrisy demonstrated in both its contempt for human rights and its grandiose ambitions.

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In addition to those still most recent YouTube videos, I continue scanning the war news — sadly, there’s more of that around the world than any geek at a computer might look over in a day — and in Syria, the conflict has achieved an odd kind of stability, a sort of infernal stalemate cordoned a bit by Russian forces, perhaps orchestrated some too with Putin’s hands on the really interesting levers — incumbent relationships with Syria, those ghosts of the Soviet-era; the Russian military presence at sea; the contracts and delivery schedules between Russia and Syria — and otherwise drawing fighters to its agony and struggle on behalf of two diabolical systems: an absolute dictatorship dispossessing and murdering its own constituents at will and with impunity; an equally absolute theocratic design representing a privileged few no less inclined to exploit minions.

Which of those two would you gamble on?

Place your bets.

Mine: Syria is it’s own anachronistic, self-destructing demolition project, the burning, energy-sucking black hole of global conflicts — and with close to 95,000 dead, 1.6 million refugees, and 2.4 million internally displaced persons, the Assad’s Syria — the state and the cities and marketplaces and neighborhoods that were — is no more.

Pot Pourri Reference

Al Jazeera.  “Doctor in Syria’s Qusayr pleads for help.”  June 3, 2013.

Al Jazeera.  “Pro-Hezbollah leaders attacked in Lebanon.”  June 3, 2013.

Al Jazeera.  “Syria rebels battle Hezbollah in Lebanon.”  June 3, 2013.

AP.  “Syrian rebels, Hezbollah battle in worst clash in Lebanon.”  June 2, 2013.

CBS/AP.  “U.N. report, new death toll breakdown highlight potential complexities of arming Syria rebels.”  June 4, 2013.

Gilbert, Ben.  “‘The jungle’: Syrian refugees endure crowded, lawless camp.”  June 2, 2013.

Nader, Alireza.  “Why Iran is Trying to Save the Syrian Regime.”  U.S. News and World Report, August 24, 2013.

Saad, Hwaida and Hala Droubi.  “Hezbollah and Rebels of Syria in Border Fight.”  June 3, 2013.

ShelterBox.  “Syria ‘fastest evolving internal displacement crisis’.”  Thompson Reuters Foundation, May 13, 2013.

Shorter, Tiffany.  “Security implications of the EU arms ban repeal against Syrian rebels.”  The Washington Times, June 1, 2013.

Schlein, Lisa.  “UN: Syrian Refugee Count Tops 1.6 Million”.  Voice of America, May 31, 2013.

Spyer, Jonathan.  “Hizballah enters the Syrian Abyss.”  Gloria Center, June 2, 2013.

Hizballah enters the Syrian Abyss

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

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jonathanspyer's avatarJonathan Spyer

Two Grad rockets were fired this week at the south Beirut suburb of Shiyah. This district borders the Dahiyeh – the stronghold in the city which houses the main offices of Hizballah. The decision to strike so close to Hizballah’s nerve center is a dramatic escalation by the Syrian rebels of their simmering conflict with the Lebanese Shia militia.

The official leadership of the Free Syrian Army repudiated earlier claims of responsibility for the rocket fire issued in its name. But the official leadership of the FSA do not in fact command the mainly Sunni Islamist men who do the actual fighting in Syria for the rebellion. So their statements are of only secondary importance.

What is happening is that Hizballah’s long standing but increasingly overt engagement in the war in Syria is now being paid back in kind by the rebels.

Some of Hizballah’s best fighters have for the…

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Abbas Zaidi Comments on The Future of the Taliban in Pakistan

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

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Leaving aside the false binary of good-bad Taliban, one must understand the inter-textuality of the Taliban and their supporters. One cannot understand the Taliban phenomenon in 2013 without understanding that they are financed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, apart from the Pakistani diaspora in various countries. In turn, one cannot discount the significance of these four factors in the economic survival of Pakistan. And one cannot underestimate the support for the Taliban within Pakistan itself.

You will be absolutely wrong if you thought that the Taliban, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) are three different outfits, and not three incarnations of ‘Islamofascism’.

Zaidi, Abbas. “The Future of Taliban.” Viewpoint, May 30, 2013.

Sociolinguist Abbas Zaidi, knows the Pakistani character and its politics with keen sensibility, and so I thought to pass the above link into the BackChannels information stream.

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