6/13/09

Iran Election

I don't think anyone anticipated this level of fraudulence


 


This was a selection, not an election


 


At least authoritarian regimes like Syria and Egypt


have no democratic pretences


 


Ayatollah Khamenei wasn't ever going to let Ahmadinejad lose


 


KARIM SADJAPOUR


CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE


 


Why would oil producers want to inflame geopolitical tensions


when oil prices fall?


 


What could happen if a generation of underemployed, underpaid


educated and indebted young adults


become disillusioned by their elders’ financial mismanagement


and seek to identify and punish those responsible?


 


The two-to-one margin for Ahmadinejad


may well appear to millions of Iranians


as bizarre and unlikely


and meant to avoid a run-off he might lose


 


If that's what millions of voters think


especially young voters in this very young country


(70 percent of the population is under age 30)


there could well be large demonstrations


 


ELLIOTT ABRAMS


COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS


 


Is dissent the highest form of patriotism?


 


Have the educated underemployed


instigated most rebellions?


 


What is surprising is his share of the vote


64 percent according to some estimates


 


Another Ahmadinejad term


may translate into continued social and political repression


economic mismanagement


and more assertive foreign policies


especially on the nuclear program


 


ALIREZA NADER


RAND CORPORATION


 


Have the powerless


created symbols for the powerful to destroy


to create dissent


by turning apathy into perceived oppression?


 


It is difficult to feel comfortable that this occurred


without any cheating


 


TRITA PARSI


NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL


 


It's just nonsense ...


 


If it was a genuine election landslide


 surely people should be out on the streets in euphoria ...


 


The potential for unrest is high


 


The scale of the election victory


…means he must have won big in the cities


 


That is simply not borne out by what people were saying


 


ALI ANSARI


UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS


 


Does nonviolent civil disobedience


only work in a country with a free press?


 


Can a nonviolent movement


survive against an information censoring violent opponent?


 


The hardliners in the regime


seem to have exercised all their levers of power


to keep Ahmadinejad in place


 


MARK FITZPATRICK


INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES

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