Twitpic
I am reminded and I remind people that the Islamic fanatics were directed from Pakistan by Twitter. Twitter clearly cannot be stopped except by shutting down the server farms that feed it. That usually means shutting down the cell system. What amazed me is that Twitter can acccessed by satellite and the BBC is moving satellites into postion to support Twitter in Iran. I can't help wonder if that is not enough to be considered an act of war.

My first question when I learned about the demonstrations was: I wonder what the CIA and Mossad are up to now.

susan one wonders how much of this is a china, russia on one side with the usa and etc on the other, with the iranian people stuck in the middle....

Yesterday I had lunch at a restaurant owned by two Iranian brothers. In taking to them about the events taking place in Iran, they warned me not to believe anything that I am seeing on tv.

While the ability to communicate via telephone and internet is becoming increasingly difficult, they are in frequent touch with their family in Tehran.

They said that the Iranian gov is trying to supress the demonstrations by killing large numbers of protesters.

In addiition, they said that China and Russia support Ahmadinejad and Ali Khamenei and are involved in making sure they prevail.

we don;t have the proper gauge to measure things like this without a better understanding of iran, something we aren't able to get with all the propaganda...

How many people are in that crowd? 50,000? 100,000?

Metropolitan Esfahan contains 3.4 million people, the second most populous metropolitan area in the country. The rally was held the day before the election. My understanding is that Esfahan is a traditionalist city. It's also a center of uranium enrichment.

Here are some more pictures of the rally. The people there all look rather young:

http://www.payvand.com/news/09/jun/1116.html

Here is a story about the rally:

http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/2009/06/11/will-green-be-the-colour-of-change-in-irans-election/

Note the concluding paragraphs. Apparently 60% of the city went for Ahmadinejad in 2005.

http://www.infowars.com/bbc-caught-in-mass-public-deception-with-iran-propaganda/

The BBC has again been caught engaging in mass public deception by using photographs of pro-Ahmadinejad rallies in Iran and claiming they represent anti-government protests in favor of Hossein Mousavi.

An image used by the L.A. Times on the front page of its website Tuesday showed Iranian President Ahmadinejad waving to a crowd of supporters at a public event.

In a story covering the election protests yesterday, the BBC News website used a closer shot of the same scene, but with Ahmadinejad cut out of the frame. The caption under the photograph read, ‘Supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi again defied a ban on protests’.

The BBC photograph is clearly a similar shot of the same pro-Ahmadinejad rally featured in the L.A. Times image, yet the caption erroneously claims it represents anti-Ahmadinejad protesters.

i guess that is twitter and the internet more generally for ya... one can't know for sure what one is given... nothing will stop the gullible however...

Dan -- I was sent this picture by someone who told me it was taken yesterday. And then I found the link to the site I note showing it was posted yesterday, but I respect Patrick Disney who is a very informed Iran expert, so I defer to him. I can't validate whether the pic was taken yesterday or last week -- but along the lines he said, if the pic was taken yesterday, then the election results for Esfahan are highly suspicious -- and if before the election, then I believe the same is true. But it's a lot of folks out for Mousavi (and perhaps to see Khatami) in a city where he allegedly got trounced.... all best, steve

Patrick Disney, I would say your information amounts to much more than a "small correction." We have heard widely varying numbers about the size of today's demonstrations. Given the paucity of information, people are grabbing on to the smallest bits of audio, visual and written propaganda and constructing elaborate theories upon them. It makes all the difference in the world whether that picture is from today, or from before the election.

PoliticalBoy,

That is most heartening.

Patrick - thanks very much for the correction. I'll note in the text. Appreciate it greatly,

steve

Just one small correction, Steve. The picture above was not taken yesterday--it was actually taken at a pro-Mousavi rally prior to the vote. The crowd had gathered to see Mousavi and former-President Khatami speek during the tail-end of the campaign.

In my opinion, this only furthers the case that the election results give rise to serious doubts. For a candidate to rally this many supporters in Esfahan at a regular campaign event, yet only to receive 28% of the vote in that city, seems pretty unrealistic to me.

Steve, your ears should be burning!!

I'm at the Brookings Institution Foresight conference at the Newseum and several groups of people have said that your foreign policy blogging and your comments on Olbermann on Iran have been influential and a really vital part shaping Washington views. Really, lots of people are talking about how you and Andrew Sullivan and Nico Pitney and other Iranian bloggers and SMSers and Twitterers are changing how the game is played.

I'm so proud to know you!