Iran: Khomeini's death, Khamenei's speech...

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I know that a comment on the Gaza aid flotilla is warranted; however, today I must discuss Iran, as it is quite an important day in the run up to the 12 June anniversary of the stolen presidential election. Today marks the anniversary of Ruallah Khomeini’s (‘father of the Revolution’) death, and it is definitely an important anniversary. Today, for the first time since 19 June 2009 (a week after the ‘election’ and the day before the now famous Neda was shot down by a sniper in the streets of Tehran) Ayatollah Khamenei is leading Friday Prayers. At the time of writing this, the only information I can garner on his address is from Press TV (I hate to cite them but it’s all I got at the moment), which reports on his bashing of the ‘evil Zionists and their allies’ for the storming of the Gaza aid flotilla. I gotta say that Khamenei and his cohorts owe a huge THANK YOU to the Israeli government; they have provided such a convenient deflection from the actual internal issues in Iran.

For those of us who have been following the election aftermath closely – i.e. the burgeoning of the so-called Green Movement – we will remember that Khamenei’s last speech was far from conciliatory. In fact, it was a carte blanche statement for the government forces to unleash the first wave of their brutal crackdown. Will he even mention the opposition movement? If so, will this be a repeat of the last performance? Will this act as a warning to opposition supporters that they will meet the (heavily armed) hand of the government’s forces should they choose to take to the street on the anniversary of the election (only a week away)? Who knows...

I’m still waiting on the update from Enduring America, my lifeline for information on Iran. I do find it interesting that the majority of the media has chosen not to comment on this event. But, in truth, it’s not so surprising. After the first week or so of demonstrations in June 2009, the mainstream media (not so) slowly lost interest in this movement, and over the past year it has become clear that one needs to follow alternative forms of media if one wants to know about something other than the international nuclear teeter-totter between the idiots who represent this country and the idiots who represent that country. Frankly, I couldn’t give a crap about the nuclear issue as regards Iran. In my opinion, it is all just posturing and deflection from the real issue; deflection that Western governments are all too happy to jump on board with.

So, I will wait. Let’s see what Khamenei has up his sleeve...more to come.

Update:
Khamenei of course did mention the opposition, but really had nothing new to say. Straying from the path of the Revolution...yada yada yada...in cahoots with foreign enemies...blah blah blah...the Iranian people showed their dedication to the system...yada yada yada...Satan is pushing you down the wrong path.

So, in the end, there is nothing newsworthy to report. Maybe he was feeling a bit sleepy last night and just decided to recycle one of his old speeches. I’m sure I could find a report of an identical speech if I cared enough to look, but I really can’t be asked.

Until next time...