Let’s face it: many of you are more interested in the fate of democracy in Iran than you are in John’s pet stories or my attempts to make clever allusions to song lyrics.
So, based on a brief — and, as long as I’m being honest, semi-drunken — perusal of some of the internets, these seem to be the major developments in Iran today:
(1) “Iran’s Guardian Council has admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of those eligible to cast ballot in those areas.
“The council’s Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 on Sunday, made the remarks in response to complaints filed by Mohsen Rezaei — a defeated candidate in the June 12 Presidential election.” (link; via)
(2) “The information war is one war. But [the regime] is much more concerned about a real war. And the only people who are armed in this country, in Iran, are most of the ethnic minorities — the Baluchis, the Kurds, the Arab populations. So if this protest movement spreads deeply into those areas, then you have a real significant threat against the regime. That is why you are seeing the regime try and say don’t participate, this is a foreign-inspired coup, these people in the streets are rioters and terrorists who will be dealt with accordingly.” (link)
Nico Pitney is doing a fantastic job of aggregating this stuff, so much so that I’ve almost stopped confusing him with various indie musicians.
Update.This is interesting too:
A bitter rift among Iran’s ruling clerics deepened Sunday over the disputed presidential election that has convulsed Tehran in the worst violence in 30 years, with the government attempting to link the defiant loser to terrorists and detaining relatives of his powerful backer, a founder of the Islamic republic.
[….]Mr. Rafsanjani was deeply critical of Mr. Ahmadinejad during the presidential campaign, and is thought to have had a strained relationship with Mr. Khamenei for many years.
But he remains a major establishment figure, and the detention of his daughter, albeit briefly, came as a surprise. In his sermon on Friday, in which he strongly backed Mr. Ahmadinejad and threatened a violent crackdown on further protests, Ayatollah Khamenei pointedly praised Mr. Rafsanjani as a pillar of the revolution, while acknowledging that the two have had “many differences of opinion.”