Tuesday, June 16, 2009
THE NEW YORK TIMES: For two decades, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has remained a shadowy presence at the pinnacle of power in Iran, sparing in his public appearances and comments. Through his control of the military, the judiciary and all public broadcasts, the supreme leader controlled the levers he needed to maintain an iron if discreet grip on the Islamic republic.
But in a rare break from a long history of cautious moves, he rushed to bless President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for winning the election, calling on Iranians to line up behind the incumbent even before the standard three days required to certify the results had passed.
Then angry crowds swelled in cities around Iran, and he backpedaled, announcing Monday that the 12-member Council of Guardians, which vets elections and new laws, would investigate the vote.
“After congratulating the nation for having a sacred victory, to say now that there is a possibility that it was rigged is a big step backward for him,” said Abbas Milani, the director of Stanford University’s Iranian studies program.
Few suggest yet that Ayatollah Khamenei’s hold on power is at risk. But, analysts say, he has opened a serious fissure in the face of Islamic rule and one that may prove impossible to patch over, particularly given the fierce dispute over the election that has erupted amid the elite veterans of the 1979 revolution. Even his strong links to the powerful Revolutionary Guards — long his insurance policy — may not be decisive as the confrontation in Iran unfolds.
“Khamenei would always come and say, ‘Shut up; what I say goes,’ ” said Azar Nafisi, the author of two memoirs about Iran, including “Reading Lolita in Tehran.” “Everyone would say, ‘O.K., it is the word of the leader.’ Now the myth that there is a leader up there whose power is unquestionable is broken.”
Those sensing that important change may be afoot are quick to caution that Ayatollah Khamenei, as a student of the revolution that swept the shah from power, could still resort to overwhelming force to crush the demonstrations.
In calling for the Guardian Council to investigate the vote, he has bought himself a 10-day grace period for the anger to subside, experts note. The outcome is not likely to be a surprise. Ayatollah Ahmed Jannati, the council’s chairman, is one of Ayatollah Khamenei’s few staunch allies among powerful clerics. In addition, Ayatollah Khamenei appoints half the members, while the other half are nominated by the head of the judiciary, another appointee of the supreme leader.
“It is simply a faux investigation to quell the protests,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. >>> By Neil Farquhar | Monday, June 15, 2009
NZZ Online: Auf der Strasse in Teheran formiert sich eine Oppositionsbewegung, welche das Regime ernst nehmen muss. Die Einschüchterung durch Rollkommandos scheint wenig wirkungsvoll.
Am Montag hat sich nach zwei Tagen kleinerer Proteste erstmals der Eindruck ergeben, dass sich in Iran auf der Strasse eine Oppositionsbewegung formiert, welche das Regime ernst nehmen muss. Die Anhänger des unterlegenen Präsidentschaftsanwärters Moussavi marschierten am Montagnachmittag zwischen dem Engelab-Platz und dem Azadi-Platz quer durch Teheran. Schätzungen der Teilnehmerzahl gingen von mehreren Hunderttausend bis zu über einer Million, jedenfalls eine kritische Grösse. >>> Von Victor Kocher, Limassol | Dienstag, 16. Juni 2009
DIE PRESSE: Revolutionäre, die die Revolte fürchten
Irans Führer steht vor einem Dilemma: Macht er den Reformern keine Zugeständnisse, riskiert er den Aufruhr. Tut er es, riskiert er Wandel.
Die Kinder der Revolution rebellieren: Trotz eindringlicher Verbote der Behörden gingen in Teheran auch am Montag wieder zehntausende Anhänger des Oppositionsführers Mir Hussein Moussavi auf die Straße (die Proteste sind mittlerweile ein globales Phänomen: Heute, um 17Uhr, demonstrieren die Austro-Iraner auf dem Heldenplatz). In Teheran versammelten sich die Demonstranten wieder auf dem Enghel?b-Platz. [sic] Ein symbolträchtiger Ort: Enghel?b [sic] heißt auf Persisch Revolution. >>> Thomas Seifert | Dienstag, 16. Juni 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Seven people have died in clashes in Tehran after an "unauthorised gathering" following a mass rally over alleged election fraud, Iran's state radio reported.
The report said the seven died in shooting that erupted after several people in the west of the capital "tried to attack a military location" on Monday evening.
More than 100,000 opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had earlier marched through Tehran protesting at alleged vote rigging in last week's elections.The outpouring on to the streets was the greatest display of popular feeling since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
The state radio report was the first official confirmation of the shooting in Tehran's Azadi Square. Witnesses saw at least one person shot dead and several others seriously wounded after shooting from a compound for volunteer militia linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.
To cries of "death to the dictator", Iranians had protested against President Ahmadinejad's proclaimed re-election.
The rally, larger than anything seen in the capital since the demonstrations that toppled Shah Reza Pahlavi 30 years ago, openly defied the authorities. The interior ministry had banned the rally and warned protesters that live ammunition could be used against them.
US President Barack Obama said the world was "inspired" by the Iranian demonstrators and that he was "deeply troubled" by post-election violence.
"The democratic process, free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent - all those are universal values and need to be respected," he said. >>> By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor | Tuesday, June 16, 2009
THE INDEPENDENT: Fisk witnesses the courage of one million protesters who ignored threats, guns and bloodshed to demand freedom in Iran
It was Iran's day of destiny and day of courage. A million of its people marched from Engelob Square to Azadi Square – from the Square of Revolution to the Square of Freedom – beneath the eyes of Tehran's brutal riot police. The crowds were singing and shouting and laughing and abusing their "President" as "dust".
Mirhossein Mousavi was among them, riding atop a car amid the exhaust smoke and heat, unsmiling, stunned, unaware that so epic a demonstration could blossom amid the hopelessness of Iran's post-election bloodshed. He may have officially lost last Friday's election, but yesterday was his electoral victory parade through the streets of his capital. It ended, inevitably, in gunfire and blood.
Not since the 1979 Iranian Revolution have massed protesters gathered in such numbers, or with such overwhelming popularity, through the boulevards of this torrid, despairing city. They jostled and pushed and crowded through narrow lanes to reach the main highway and then found riot police in steel helmets and batons lined on each side. The people ignored them all. And the cops, horribly outnumbered by these tens of thousands, smiled sheepishly and – to our astonishment – nodded their heads towards the men and women demanding freedom. Who would have believed the government had banned this march? >>> Robert Fisk | Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi has joined hundreds of thousands of supporters at a mass rally in Tehran to protest against alleged vote rigging.
Despite official orders banning the demonstration from going ahead, Mr Mousavi addressed his followers as they chanted "give us back our votes".
Standing on a car roof and speaking to the surging crowds through a loud hailer, he declared: "The vote of the people is more important than Mousavi or any other person."
In contrast to a previous rally on Saturday, the security forces made no attempt to break up the gathering, although there were occasional clashes with bystanders suspected to be supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
As night fell, there were reports of gunmen firing on protesters, killing at least one person and wounding several others in Tehran's Azadi Square. The shooting is thought to have come from a compound for volunteer militia linked to the Revolutionary Guard.
But most police stood watching with their helmets and shields at their sides, while protesters – wearing the green wristbands, scarves and hats that have symbolised the Mousavi campaign – urged them to join in the demonstration.
"Law enforcers, support us, support us!" they shouted. "You are green like us!" Others urged Mohammad Khatami, the former president who pioneered the reformist movement and who backed Mr Mousavi's candidacy, to also attend the rally. Mr Khatami had earlier criticised the authorities for denying permission for the demonstration, and said that the election had dented public trust in the regime. >>> By Colin Freeman | Monday, June 15, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Hardliners Open Fire as Tension Grips Tehran
Tehran was a tinderbox last night after government paramilitaries started shooting during a huge public protest against last Friday's disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Members of the Basij, a force of young Islamic hardliners, killed one demonstrator and wounded several more when their building was attacked, after tens of thousands of demonstrators held a rally against election fraud in defiance of a government ban.
In another incident, a witness told The Times how she watched from her car as riot police on six motorbikes opened fire on youths walking under a bridge after the rally.
“The riot police started shooting them with big guns,” she said. “It wasn’t like the films where there is just a small hole — the shooting was blowing off hands, limbs. It was terrrible, terrible.”
Gunfire was heard in at least three other districts of the Iranian capital. The Ministry of the Interior was rumoured to have authorised the use of live ammunition as the regime struggled to maintain control. Supporters of the defeated candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, fought running battles with the police and Basiji, who have flooded into Tehran. >>> Martin Fletcher | Tuesday, June 16, 2009
It was an incredible sight. A huge crowd, hundreds of thousands of people maybe even millions of people there in defiance of open threats from the government that they should not assemble.
The security forces were staying well away - we were even able to film and usually the secret police come in straight away and stop you. But the crowds were so enormous they were stepping back. As we drove out we saw rows of riot police stationed on the highway.
If they have opened fire, that is going to really ratchet up this, it could be frankly a huge political mistake for those running this country. [Source: BBC – Jon Leyne: ”A Huge Political Mistake”] Monday, June 15, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: YouTube, Facebook and other websites have brought down a virtual wall between Iran and the West, writes Leyla Ferani.
Earlier this year I spent a month living in Tehran. I’m a 21 year-old British-Iranian from London, and it was my first time back to the Islamic Republic since my twelfth birthday. By day, I dutifully donned a shawl and an overcoat, in public playing the part – like all Iranian girls my age – of the respectful and obedient woman.
But at night, and in private, the shawls were off. The same girls – with their brothers and cousins – joined me in underground raves, fuelled by smuggled alcohol and copious amounts of cannabis. Among the city’s youth, the elections hardly entered conversation. When I asked Mazyiar, a twenty-six year-old, if he would vote, he shrugged, saying, “All the candidates are approved by the Ayatollah, what’s the point?”
In the space of two months, all that has changed. “Where is my vote?”, thousands of young Iranians are chanting in the streets and posting on their supposedly banned Facebook profiles. One look at my own feed tells me how cheated the young people of Iran feel, now that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been re-elected for another four years. “Shout out on the street: ‘Death to the dictator’”, one status tells me, adding cautiously , “but remember not to protest in groups, you must stay dispersed.” Another one says simply, “Supporters of Mousavi protest from Vali-Aser square to Tajrish wearing green cloth”.
All the young Iranians who told me they wouldn’t vote surged behind Mir-Hossein Mousavi; maybe they saw him as the lesser of two evils, the only candidate able to oust the hardliner. One thing is certain: for young middle class Iranians the strained veneer of the Islamist regime is crumbling. They are sick of leading double lives, and having a President they consider to be a global embarrassment.
“I have a good life, I party harder than you guys do”, a twenty-four year old student told me at a party in downtown Tehran, just managing to lift his voice above the music (the lyrics ‘I wanna make love’ blared out). He went on, with typical Persian hyperbole: “I feel a heaviness in my heart, because I know that I’m not living the way I want to.” Judging by the events of the last few days, this heaviness has turned to anger, as young Iranians battled with riot police in the streets, setting fire to cars and fleeing the stun grenades.
If it ever happens, young Iranians believe they will be the ones to dismantle Iran’s Islamist regime. There is some irony in this – after all, a generation ago it was the students who began the 1979 revolution. That year, on November 4, a fresh-faced Ahmadinejad was among those who stormed the US embassy, beginning the Iran hostage crisis.
Those events confirmed fears that the newly formed Islamic republic was to be a pariah to the West. Yet it was only around 500 students who volunteered to be the vessel for the 1979 change. Now in Islamic garb, they are running the country. But is their time running out?
The recent protests have a new dimension: they were organised – and publicised – online. Iranians intent on change are using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other blogging sites as a loudspeaker to amplify their anger towards the regime. Iran can no longer suppress its youth >>> Leyla Ferani | Monday, June 15, 2009
NZZ Online: Der geistliche Führer von Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hat laut einem Bericht des staatlichen Fernsehens eine Überprüfung der Präsidentenwahl angeordnet. Der Vorwurf des Wahlbetrugs solle untersucht werden, hiess es am Montag.
Das Ergebnis der umstrittenen Präsidentenwahl in Iran soll amtlich überprüft werden. Nach heftigen Protesten und Vorwürfen das Wahlbetrugs ordnete das geistliche Staatsoberhaupt Ayatollah Ali Khamenei am Montag eine Untersuchung an, wie das staatliche Fernsehen berichtete. Zuvor hatte der offiziell unterlegene Reformkandidat Mir-Hossein Moussavi eine Annullierung der Wahl gefordert. Die EU und die Bundesregierung zeigten sich sehr besorgt über die Eskalation. >>> ap/sda | Montag, 15. Juni 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Tens of thousands of Iranians defied a ban to protest against last week’s hotly-disputed presidential election result as the authorities struggled to contain anger amongst the reformist opposition.
Chanting crowds, some wearing green campaign colours, greeted Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated candidate in Friday's poll, as he slowly moved through the streets on the back of a four-wheel drive car.
Scufflles broke out as supporters of Mr Ahmadinejad, riding motorbikes and armed with sticks, attacked the demonstrators along the route.
"The vote of the people is more important than Mousavi or any other person!" said Mr Mousavi, standing on the car roof in Revolution Square and speaking through a loudhailer.
The crowds of young and old who packed several kilometres of his route, shouted back: "Mousavi we support you! We will die but retrieve our votes!" >>> Jenny Booth | Monday, June 15, 2009
Watch BBC video: Thousands of Mir Hossein Mousavi supporters protest in Tehran >>>
REUTERS: Tens of Thousands in Iran Protest
THE TELEGRAPH: Palestinian leaders have rejected Benjamin Netanyahu's terms for a two-state solution, claiming the Israeli prime minister's speech on Sunday "sabotaged" the peace process.
They said that Mr Netanyahu had set impossible conditions for a Palestinian state and called on the international community to confront the Israeli premier, who endorsed the conditional creation of a Palestinian state for the first time, but refused to end Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, where the Palestinians hope to build a future state.
Mr Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said: "Netanyahu's remarks have sabotaged all initiatives, paralysed all efforts being made and challenges the Palestinian, Arab and American positions."
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the speech "closed the door to permanent status negotiations".
He added: "We ask the world not to be fooled by his use of the term Palestinian state because he qualified it.
"He declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, said refugees would not be negotiated and that settlements would remain."
Yasser Abed Rabbo, an adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, said: "The international community should confront this policy, through which Netanyahu wants to kill off any chance for peace.
"They must isolate and confront this policy which Mr Netanyahu is adopting and exert pressure on him so that he adheres to international legitimacy and the road map," he added, referring to a US and European-supported 2003 peace plan.
The Palestinians are irate over Mr Netanyahu's condition that they recognise Israel's legitimate right to exist as a Jewish state, ensuring Palestinian refugees and their descendents who have lived outside of Israel's borders since 1948 are not allowed to return.
Mr Netanyahu also said such a state must be demilitarised and promised that all of Jerusalem would remain as Israel's capital despite the Palestinian desire to make the eastern part of the city, a traditionally Arab area, their future capital one day. >>> By Dina Kraft in Tel Aviv | Monday, June 15, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Benjamin Netanyahu Speech on Palestinian State an Important Step Forward, Says Barack Obama
Benjamin Netanyahu's speech endorsing the creation of a Palestinian state was "an important step forward," the White House said on Sunday.
President Barack Obama "welcomes the important step forward in Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech," Robert Gibbs, the president's spokesman, said in a statement.
In the speech, the Israeli prime minister endorsed for the first time the creation of a Palestinian state, provided it was demilitarised, after weeks of pressure from Washington.
The speech, which was billed as a response to Mr Obama's address to the Muslim world ten days ago, ruled out a complete halt to settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, which Mr Obama also has insisted on.
The White House statement reiterated Mr Obama's commitment to a two-state solution, with a Jewish state of Israel and an independent Palestine "in the historic homeland of both peoples." >>> | Sunday, June 14, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: The surge of revolt threatened to become a tidal wave. So the Islamic republic responded with ‘a coup against the coup[’]
Iran seldom admits the international media. It makes an exception at election times because it wants the world to see the Islamic republic's glorious democracy in action. Thus some 400 foreign journalists and television crews were given ten-day visas to cover Friday's presidential election, and for a week we really did see a vibrant and impressive democratic process.
Admittedly the four candidates were handpicked by the regime, but they ranged from the liberal to ultra-conservative, offered starkly contrasting visions for the future and engaged in remarkably outspoken TV debates. The people responded. Armies of supporters took over the streets, festooned every square with posters and banners and, on election day itself, flocked to the polling stations in numbers that shamed most Western democracies.
The charade ended abruptly on Friday night. Scarcely had polling ended than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cronies in the Interior Ministry and Elections Commission declared him the winner. They gave him not a razor-thin victory, which might just have been credible - the President did have legions of diehard supporters among the pious and rural poor. They gave him nearly two thirds of the vote, a figure that defied belief and raised two unmistakable fingers to the Iranian people and the world. They claimed that the main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, lost heavily even in his own village. The number of votes allegedly cast for Mr Ahmadinejad, 24.5 million, was probably chosen so that he could claim to have more support than any president in the republic's 30-year history. The previous high was just over 20 million, cast for the reformist Mohammad Khatami in 1997.
The crackdown began instantly. Mobile phone and text messaging systems were taken down so the opposition could not organise. Opposition websites and international news services were blocked. Baton-wielding security forces flooded on to the streets. Overnight the festive atmosphere turned to fear, exuberance to terror, as the regime showed how evil it is.
All weekend protests were ruthlessly suppressed. Demonstrators were beaten. Foreign journalists, including a reporter and photographer from The Times, were detained. Leading reformists were arrested. Iran's “Prague Spring”, its “Velvet Revolution”, was crushed with Soviet-style ruthlessness by a regime practised in silencing dissent. Mr Ahmadinejad, the self-styled man of the people and champion of the oppressed, unleashed the full force of the state machinery on his own population. Meanwhile, congratulations poured in from... well, Syria and Venezuela.
Why the volte-face? Why did the regime open the door a crack, only to slam it shut so violently? Almost certainly because it was appalled by what it saw on the other side. >>> Martin Fletcher | Monday, June 15, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would support the creation of a Palestinian state, but only if it was barred from having an army.
In a landmark move, he endorsed a separate state for the first time but said it must have no military, no control of its air space and no way of smuggling in weapons.
The speech, given in response to US President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim in Cairo world last month, also called on the Palestinians to recognise the right of Israel to exist.
"If we receive this guarantee for demilitarisation and the security arrangements required by Israel, and if the Palestinians recognise Israel as the nation of the Jewish people, we will be prepared for a true peace agreement (and) to reach a solution of a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state," he said.
"Each will have its flag, each will have its anthem. The Palestinian territory will be without arms, will not control airspace, will not be able to have arms enter."
Until now Mr Netanyahu, who leads the Right-wing Likud party, had refused to accept anything more than a vague notion of Palestinian autonomy.
But Mr Obama has made it clear he views a two-state solution as the only solution to the conflict and Mr Netanyahu has been balancing pressure from Washington with placating a ruling coalition dependent on hardliners.
Mr Netanyahu, refused to give in to another key American demand to freeze all construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, where Palestinians hope to build a future state. >>> By Dina Kraft in Tel Aviv | Sunday, June 14, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH:
Benjamin Netanyahu: Full Speech on Palestinian State >>> | Sunday, June 14, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Netanyahu Defies Obama with Harsh Conditions for Palestinian 'Entity'
Binyamin Netanyahu threw down the gauntlet to the US tonight, grudgingly agreeing to a limited Palestinian state that would be demilitarised and not in control of its airspace or borders.
The hawkish Prime Minister insisted that Israel would never give up a united Jerusalem as its capital, and said that established Jewish settlements in the West Bank would continue to expand — despite explicit objections from Washington.
In a keynote speech that referred to a Palestinian “entity” far more frequently than an actual state, Mr Netanyahu tried to advance elements of his economic peace plan — whereby the Palestinians would receive investment in return for limited sovereignty — while still conceding to US insistence on the creation of an independent Palestinian country.
The right-wing Israeli leader said the moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank must agree to recognise Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, as well as fight the Islamic hardliners Hamas, who now control Gaza, in return for the resumption of peace talks.
“The key condition is that the Palestinians recognise in a clear and public manner that Israel is the state of the Jewish people,” he told dignitaries in an auditorium at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv.
“If we have the guarantees on demilitarisation, and if the Palestinians recognise Israel as a state of the Jewish people, then we arrive at a solution based on a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside Israel,” Mr Netanyahu said.
“Each will have its flag, each will have its anthem. The Palestinian territory will be without arms, will not control airspace, will not be able to have arms enter.” >>> James Hider in Jerusalem | Sunday, June 14, 2009
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brought tens of thousands of supporters into the heart of Tehran tonight in a bid to take back the capital after a weekend of vicious running battles between state security forces and large crowds of Iranians who insist that Mr Ahmadinejad stole last Friday’s presidential election.
Chanting ’Allah o’Akbar” (God is great) and “Ahmadi we love you”, the army of zealous hardliners poured into the central square in a massive show of strength designed to intimidate the furious supporters of Mr Ahmadinejad’s relatively moderate opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi.
They came from far beyond Tehran. “The protestors are lying. There was no cheating,” declared Farang Kamalwand, 39, a chador-clad woman who had travelled 700 kilometres by bus from Lorestan. “We came to prove to people outside this country that we love and support our president,” said Karamollah Rahimi, a builder who had journeyed nine hours from Lordegan.
Mr Mousavi, 67, a former prime minister, has been in hiding since Friday night, but has issued a stream of internet statements urging his supporters to continue their nationwide protests against an election he called a “charade”: some results were announced before the ballot boxes had even been opened. Tonight, he appealed to the Guardian Council, a powerful body of senior clerics, to declare the election void.
Zahra Rahnavard, Mr Mousavi’s wife, accused Mr Ahmadinejad of “dictatorship”, saying: “The Iranian people voted to change Ahmadinejad, but this vote became a vote to solidify Ahmadinejad.” Mousavi aides accused the regime of mounting a “coup d’etat”.
Britain, the United States and other western governments expressed serious concern. Several leading reformists have been arrested including, briefly, the brother of Mohammed Khatami, the former president.
As the regime used overwhelming physical force, electronic jamming and censorship to suppress protests raging barely a mile from his presidential office, Mr Amadinejad gave a surreal, Orwellian press conference at which he called his victory an “epic achievement” that made Iran’s brand of religious democracy, with its emphasis on ethics, a model for the world. >>> Martin Fletcher in Tehran | Sunday, June 14, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Until last week, the Bernard family had the normal concerns of any middle-class Dutch family – putting their teenage children through university, living a greener life, and paying the mortgage.
But that has all changed since the European election – and the triumph by Geert Wilders, the right-wing populist and outspoken critic of Islam who in February was banned from entering Britain as a threat to "community harmony".
To many abroad Mr Wilders, a Dutch MP, appears an old-fashioned racist whose views put him on a par with other far-Right politicians elsewhere in Europe.
Yet in its first ever test of national electoral support among the normally tolerant Dutch, his anti-immigration Party for Freedom which he founded in 2006 won 17 per cent of the votes – making it the second biggest party. That has shaken the country to its core – opening up the real possibility that, through the Dutch coalition system, Mr Wilders could win power at the next general election.
Now, like many others in the Netherlands, the Bernards are desperately worried. "This has the feeling of what happened to Germany in the 1930s," said Alfred Bernard, 52, a lawyer. "Wilders blames foreigners for everything. People are disoriented because of the economic crisis. Everywhere there is dissatisfaction with mainstream politicians.
"After this I really believe that Wilders could become prime minister in the 2011 parliamentary elections, or at least set the political agenda."
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Wilders, 45, was frank about that ambition. Asked about the prospect of taking power in two years' time, he said: "That is our biggest job. We had an enormous success last week and our biggest task is to keep up momentum. I am very confident that we will have an excellent result.
"If my party becomes the biggest party, I would be honoured to be prime minister."
Sitting in his office in the Dutch parliament building in The Hague, protected from the threat of assassination by 10 armed secret service bodyguards, he summed up his antipathy to the religion of many immigrants to the Netherlands.
"Islam wants to dominate our society," he said in fluent and only slightly accented English. "It's in opposition to freedom.
"If people are offended, that's not my aim. I don't talk about Muslims but about Islam. Everything I say is against the fascist Islamic ideology."
To the charge that to many his views appeared to be racist, he responded: "If that was true, we would never have been the second biggest party in the European elections."
Why, then, did Moroccans and Turks living in the Netherlands so fear him? "As long as they don't commit crimes, it's a baseless fear," he said. "If you adhere to our laws, if you act according to our values, you are free to stay. We will help you to integrate.
"But if you cross the red line, if you start committing crimes, if you want to do jihad or impose sharia, we want you to be sent out of the Netherlands and we will get rid of your permits to stay."
An admirer of Churchill and Lady Thatcher, he is charismatic as well as combative. Holland's conventional politicians – mostly dull men in suits – have no idea how to counter his politically incorrect taunts, which outrage the parliamentary chamber but delight his supporters. >>> By Nick Meo in Rotterdam | Sunday, June 14, 2009
Read my essay:
Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom >>> Friday, April 20, 2007
LIVE LEAK: Fitna the Movie
BBC: Tens of thousands of people have joined a rally in central Tehran to celebrate the re-election of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The president's closest opponent in the election, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, has lodged an official appeal against the result amid continuing angry protests.
Security forces have arrested up to 100 members of reformist groups, accusing them of orchestrating the violence.
Mr Ahmadinejad denied any vote-fixing, saying the result was "very accurate".
At an earlier news conference, the president accused foreign media of refusing to accept the result because they did not like it.
"Forty million people have taken part in this process. How can they question it?" he said.
US doubt
Asked about Iran's nuclear programme and Tehran's relations with foreign powers, he said the nuclear debate "belongs to the past", and that Iran had "embraced" the idea of an international effort to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Global reaction to the election has been muted, but US Vice-President Joe Biden told broadcaster NBC there was "an awful lot of doubt" about the result.
Mr Ahmadinejad's closest rival in the election campaign, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, announced on Sunday he had lodged an official appeal appeal against the result to Iran's Guardian Council.
"I urge you Iranian nation to continue your nationwide protests in a peaceful and legal way," he said in a statement.
Mr Mousavi has called several times for his supporters to avoid violence, but angry protesters have been setting light to vehicles and throwing stones in Tehran.
Reuters reported that police charged a 2,000-strong group of students who were protesting at the University of Tehran. >>> | Sunday, June 14, 2009
BBC: Debris on the Streets of Tehran
BBC: Iran Arrests after Street Clashes
IRAN CHAMBER SOCIETY: This crown was used by Reza Shah, the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, in his coronation on 25 April 1926. His son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, also used the crown in his coronation on 26 Oct. 1967.
The crown was designed and built by a group of Iranian jewellers, under the supervision of Haj Serajeddin, the famous jeweller who had been in the employ of the Amir of Bokhara and had later emigrated from the Soviet Union to Iran. The stones were selected from loose stones in the treasury.
The crown made of red velvet, gold, and silver. It has a total height of 29.8 cm. and has a width of 19.8 cm. It weighs 2,080 grams. The are 3,380 diamonds employed on the crown, totalling 1,144 cts. The largest is a brilliant-cut yellow diamond of 60 cts. which is located in the center of the front jewel sunburst. There are also 369 perfectly-matching natural pearls in three rows on the crown. Of the 5 emeralds, totalling 200 cts., the largest is approximately 100 cts. The largest sapphire is 20 cts.
The design of the crown incorporates a motif of the Sassanid dynasty, which ruled over the Persian Empire from the 3rd through the 7th centuries AD. [Source: Iran Chamber Society]
THE SUNDAY TIMES: For a few days it seemed Iran’s long-repressed youth were on the brink of freedom; then came the brutal reality
A young woman in a thigh-length tunic tightly bound with green ribbon danced down the middle of Tehran’s main boulevard last week. She was nominally campaigning by tossing leaflets into cars backed up for miles, but mostly she just gyrated joyously to pop music blasting into the summer night.
Six young men riding two-up on motorcycles trailed green streamers, hooted and took photos of one another on their mobile phones, then roared off the wrong way through the cars.
Thousands of other young Iranians wove through the traffic jam they had created, blowing whistles, waving green balloons, throwing campaign handouts into the air like confetti. Tehran had never seen anything like last week’s “green wave”.
Sara Siadatnejad was up until 7am loading her photos and video of the demonstrations onto Facebook.
“We were singing, dancing in the streets, boys and girls together. We had never done this before. No one wanted to go home,” she said later, sitting in an outdoor cafe and picking at chocolate cake with green-painted fingernails.
“It seems people were half dead before and suddenly everyone felt alive.”
Half dead because they were brought up in a society patrolled by religious police with the power to beat them for holding hands in the street. Alive because it was the first election in which women played a potent role, demanding an end to the inequalities they endured.
What happens now that the all too brief “Tehran spring” has been abruptly curtailed by the election result? Thirty years after Iran’s Islamic revolution, are the conservative male forces that control the country immune to the demands for reform?
The beatings by riot police, closure of universities and clampdown on foreign news websites yesterday, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed an overwhelming victory, were targeted at the Facebook generation.
Will these women give in? Under Islamic law as it is enforced in Iran, a woman’s word counts only half as much as a man’s in court; a woman can inherit only half as much as her brother; and while men can divorce easily, a woman who wants a divorce will typically spend three to 10 years in court and automatically lose custody of daughters over the age of seven and sons over two.
“Changes have to be made,” said a 34-year-old political activist who asked to remain anonymous. Her first target would be headscarves, which are mandatory in Iran. “The least of the freedoms we need is the ability to choose what to wear. For women this is really an issue. Whenever you go out, you have to be vigilant because the moral police may not think it is appropriate and they may even take you to jail. A woman’s integrity is judged by the colour of your dress – well, isn’t that stupid?” THE symbol of the demand for reform is not so much Mir Hossein Mousavi, the 67-year-old main opposition candidate, who complained of election fraud yesterday, as his wife. >>> The Sunday Times | Sunday, June 14, 2009
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