Inkless Wells

 Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW

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Tehran today

by Paul Wells on Monday, June 15, 2009 9:29pm - 14 Comments

tehrantoday

“Longing on a large scale is what makes history” — Don DeLillo

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  • Mulletaur

    Beautiful, isn't it ?

  • Riley Hennessey

    The little covered story this week has been Canada's overall reaction to the election in Iran, and Minister Cannon's performance.

    Sometimes it is nice to hear when the government of Canada has something to say about global affairs other than "we're adding another trade office to Shenzhen".

    I am interested in Wells' thoughts on how Cannon has done since on this issue?

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

    It is.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

    Awesome. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

    The free peoples of the world owe these risk-takers more than what we ever offered the students at Tienanmen. Because those who risk all for freedom cannot be left to struggle alone. Aside from the communications technology already available to these people, I wish I knew how else to be of help.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack_Mitchell

      I keep fantasising about renting a DC-9 and flying in from Armenia with a cargo of AK-47's. But I figure a) I'd never make it 100m into Iranian airspace, b) it would create some sort of international incident of a type our governments are trying to avoid, and c) (the kicker) I'm sure they can get their hands on AK-47's some other way. Still, I hear you, one feels a bit powerless. Ever feel like you were born in the one country in the world where this kind of thing could never, ever happen?

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

        … and (d) you are probably not licensed to fly DC-9's and (e) you would be unable to RENT an aircraft for such a purpose. Still, I hear you.

        I am not completely positive about the "one country" and the "never, ever happen" bits, but I certainly do celebrate that I won life's one and only important lottery having been born in Canada. Which makes me impotently wish I could somehow share in the struggle upon which freedom-loving Iranians have embarked.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

    Was watching Charlie Rose. He had a panel of US based Iran (mostly Irani) "experts. As an opener he had a telephone interview with a NYT reporter in Tehran. He said he had telephone contact with someone in Isfahan who reported "severe"
    clashes in the streets of that city.
    The general impression from the panel seemed to be that the A-Man likely won the election but the numbers and their manner of reporting was not credible.
    And that the outcome lay with SL Khamenei ( could be accommodating ) and the RG ( could be a problem ).

    My own questions are:- Will there be pretty pictures if there is blood on the streets ? It won't be ours.
    And, where's the money coming from ?

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack_Mitchell

      There's already blood on the streets, as in various pictures on Andrew Sullivan's blog. Or do you mean Tiananmen-style? Presumably the cell phones will be busy even if the big crowd in Azadi Square is crushed.

      I think the right wing in the United States has a vested interest in promoting an Ahmadinejad victory; they want him in, and they want to portray Iranians as having backed him. (How this squares with his being a global threat to democracy we leave to their peculiar logic.) So I'm not surprised that a Charlie Rose panel would endorse his having won the election. Though how exactly do you win an election in which the numbers and manner of reporting are not credible?

      What do mean, where's the money coming from? Money for what?

    • http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack_Mitchell

      There's already blood on the streets, as in various pictures on Andrew Sullivan's blog. Or do you mean Tiananmen-style? Presumably the cell phones will be busy even if the big crowd in Azadi Square is crushed.

      I think the right wing in the United States has a vested interest in promoting an Ahmadinejad victory; they want him in as a bogieman, and they want to portray Iranians as having backed him. (How this squares with his being a global threat to democracy we leave to their peculiar logic.) So I'm not surprised that a Charlie Rose panel would endorse his having won the election. Though how exactly do you win an election in which the numbers and manner of reporting are not credible?

      What do mean, where's the money coming from? Money for what?

    • http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack_Mitchell

      There's already blood on the streets, as in various pictures on Andrew Sullivan's blog. Or do you mean Tiananmen-style? Presumably the cell phones will be busy even if the big crowd in Azadi Square is crushed.

      I think the right wing in the United States has a vested interest in promoting an Ahmadinejad victory; they want him in as a bogieman, and they want to portray Iranians as having backed him. (How this squares with his being a global threat to democracy we leave to their peculiar logic.) So I'm not surprised that a Charlie Rose panel would endorse his having won the election. Though how exactly do you win an election in which the numbers and manner of reporting are not credible?

      What do you mean, where's the money coming from? Money for what?

      • parched husk

        I think there's more to it than that. We in the west are instinctively disposed to interpret events as "spontaneous movement of the people rising up to overthrow and oppressive regime". I'm not sure that interpretation squares with events, however. Everyone was so eager to jump to conclusions, that no one stopped to consider whether there were alternative explanations.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jason.holborn Jason Holborn

    Paul, what a simple and beautiful post. I heart you right now.

  • kian

    you see?? Iran is NOT asleep!

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