Andrew Sullivan is doing a stellar job reporting on the events in Iran. (+ 4 large pix)

[seafan]

I have been following his site closely for several days, and wanted to preserve several entries.


First, a few poignant photographs:



An image of Mir Hossein Mousavi is seen (lower left), fixed to a desk with a smashed computer monitor in a room in a Tehran University dormitory after it was attacked by militia forces during riots in Tehran, Iran in the early hours of Monday, June 15, 2009. (AP photo)



A man with a cane gestures towards a woman on the ground during protests in central Tehran June 14, 2009. (REUTERS/Stringer)



A backer of Mir Hossein Mousavi helps evacuate an injured riot-police officer during riots in Tehran on June 13, 2009. (OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI/AFP/Getty Images)



Defying an official ban, hundreds of thousands of Iranian supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi demonstrate in Tehran on Monday, June 15, 2009. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)



Photos from here



From Sullivan's blog:

15 Jun 2009 07:11 pm

The MSM Again

A reader writes:

My daughter is currently living in Madrid, and as she has Iranian friends from school, she is riveted to her computer following events on the Dish, the Beeb, and a few other online sources.

I've been preaching to her about the corrupt nature of the MSM for quite a while now, and I think this situation is driving home to her just how useless they've become. It's strange to contemplate, but Facebook and Twitter now are more relevant than CBS and the other mainstream media organizations. Edward R. Murrow is spinning in his grave.

What's so astounding about the performance of the MSM in response to Iranian events is that there is nothing preventing the NYTimes or CNN or MSNBC or WaPo from doing what you're doing. NOTHING. What you're doing doesn't require a staff of hundreds or budgets in the millions. No, what it requires are the most fundamental requirements for journalism: an intense curiosity about the outside world, the unquenchable desire to communicate what you learn, and the willingness to work your ass off to make it all happen. You give a shit, and the MSM doesn't. It's that simple.

And I'm doing it on the end of a pier in Cape Cod surrounded by two beagles and a water-pistol (to control Dusty's howling).

15 Jun 2009 02:28 pm
Twitter vs The Coup

I have to say my skepticism about this new medium has now disappeared. Without it, one wonders if all this could have happened. A reader notes a few facts:

Ahmadinejad's and Khamenei's websites were taken down yesterday - I saw the latter go down within a couple of minutes because of a DDOS attack organised via Twitter. @StopAhmadi is a good source for tweets on this. The other important use of Twitter has been distribution of proxy addresses via Twitter. This would be how most video and pictures of today's rally have gotten out.

Technology has not just made the world more dangerous; it has also enabled freedom to keep one small step in front of tyranny and lies. One thing you can do is use Twitter to fight the regime yourself. Help bring these fascist bastards down at the end of your modem.

15 Jun 2009 11:50 am

Checking Fred Hiatt

That poll that Fred Hiatt ran this morning? Showing 2-1 Ahmadinejad support. It was taken three weeks before the vote, before the campaign took off, and it had one huge asterisk in it:

The poll that appears in today's op-ed shows a 2 to 1 lead in the thinnest sense: 34 percent of those polled said they'd vote for Ahmadinejad, 14 percent for Mousavi. That leaves 52 percent unaccounted for. In all, 27 percent expressed no opinion in the election, and another 15 percent refused to answer the question at all. Six percent said they'd vote for none of the listed candidates; the rest for minor candidates.

Troublingly, this enormously pertinent fact was left out of the op-ed. Who edited it? Why were its results distorted to buttress Ahmadinejad? What is Fred Hiatt up to?

15 Jun 2009 08:01 am

Another Story Of Fraud

From a NIAC reader:

One close friend of mine worked as election official in Shiraz. He says they received 70 ballot boxes, in which 40 of them were with broken seals. The answer to the question of “why the seals are open?” was that the boxes move in the car during transit, so the seals came off. He says the votes in the 40 open boxes were all for Ahmadinejad and Mousavi was leading in the rest of the 30 boxes.

13 Jun 2009 10:47 pm

The Blogosphere's Moment

A reader writes:
So all day long, I'm glued to your blog, Juan Cole's blog, Josh Marshall's blog, and a couple others reading as much as I can about the (stolen) Iranian election.

I turned on CNN, and they were going three rounds about some idiot Republican operative in South Carolina who called Michelle Obama an ape. Nothing on Iran.

MSNBC was in the middle of one of its hour-long crime documentaries.

FNC was showing a pre-taped piece on Bernie Madoff.

And I realize that it's the weekend and they usually take the weekend off, but over at NRO, the only thing they've managed to post about Iran today is a link to Daniel Pipes' piece cheering on an Ahmadinejad victory because otherwise his dream of a massive Israeli air assault would be dashed. That's it...a staff of 10+ regular bloggers, and all they can come up with in the midst of an Iranian revolution is a single piece cheering for the status quo?

Thank God that you, Juan, and Josh are on the story.

There's a reason the MSM is in trouble.

Our hearts are with the brave Iranian people.

[myrna minx]

1. His blogging on this has been stellar. It has been

cohesive and comprehensive. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. :toast: Sully.

[roguevalley]

9. I will never let anyone downgrade twitter to me again.

[myrna minx]

10. Who knew? I had thought twitter was a silly vanity application, but I now

recognize what a powerful tool it is. Wow.

[roguevalley]

11. I just joined and set my location to Tehran, Iran.

God bless them. :( (also the time zone.)

APPARENTLY, if we are all 'from' Tehran, no one hunting them can find them so easily.

[myrna minx]

12. Thanks for the tip. I'll do that too.

The courage of the protesters is awe inspiring.

[vi5]

2. I was going to post about him...

He is definitely a tad too melodramatic for someone with no actual stake in the issue beyond an appreciation for democracy (I agree with John Cole, that Sullivan's heart is in the right place but he's injecting himself a little too much into the proceedings). Not to say it's not important and not riveting to watch and read about. But he is definitely taking it just a touch too into ego driven territory for my liking at times.

But Sullivan has become one of my favorite bloggers for when I want something other than a liberal echo chamber of stuff I already know about and agree with.

Don't get me wrong, in the back of my head I always hear and remember his post 9/11 comments which were some of the most reprehensible. But I honestly think he's atoned for a lot of that with his adamant coverage of the torture and civil liberties issues and his willingness even as an economic conservative to see the need for some of the fiscal actions taken by the Obama administration as necessary.

[babylonsister]

3. My heart is with them, too. And I'm thankful for people like

Andrew Sullivan who has been so diligent about keeping us updated.

Here's the pic that broke my heart today, from HuffPo. :(

[Inuca]

4. I have been glued to his site for the last couple of days

I wanted to send an email of thanks and appreciation but could not see an email link on the page.

[Omar4Dems]

5. DU's been quiet about Iran today, and here's why:

Quote from Sullivan's blog:

"They have arrested anybody they know. Some mullahs been arrested too, like Mohammad-Ali Abtahi. They have blocked chat too. No chat. No mobile. No SMS. Nothing. And they are collecting all the satellite dishes. Twitter is blocked too. The only radio talking about protest 24 hours a day is Radio Farda, but we cant hear it good. I can hear it by satellite, but by radio it is so weak. They are collecting satellite dishes. The US should add a transmitter in Iraq. Radio Farda's only transmitter is in Dubai, so they need to add new one in Iraq."

So, EVERYTHING is jammed and blocked now...even Twitter. And of course the M$M will continue its blackout. So, it's up to US to keep the story kicked and updated.

[seafan]

6. U.S. State Department speaks to Twitter over Iran

U.S. State Department speaks to Twitter over Iran

Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:30pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department contacted the social networking service Twitter over the weekend to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that could have cut daytime service to Iranians, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

"We highlighted to them that this was an important form of communication," said the official of the conversation the department had with Twitter at the time of the disputed Iranian election. He declined further details.

Thank you, President Obama.

[Hannah Bell]

7. the iraq war cheerleader who reinvented himself when bush's support started going south?

yes, he's a great spook.

[bdamomma]

8. kick