Comments on: Voting for Ahmadinejad in Tehrangeles

By: Dale Weeks

Dale Weeks — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:05:06 +0000

“LA Iranian: Present your proof that Iran is developing Nuclear arms. IAEA, UN, and Dick (”Hague?”) Chenney would all be quite grateful to you. No proof? Kindly shut up.”

My Dear Iran Apologist,

You’re kidding, right? Neither the IAEA or the UN couldn’t find proof of nuclear weapons if it was placed before them. They can’t seem to get their collective heads out of their collective posteriors long enough to do anything constructive, so if you are using them as the arbitors of “lack of proof”, your argument is lame beyond description.

Dick Cheney? What’s THAT all about?

1) What will convince you; Tel Aviv being turned into a pile of radioactive rubble?
2) If/when that happens, would that, in your opinion, be a good thing or a bad thing?

By: Promoguy

Promoguy — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:03:35 +0000

Attn: Mike Shuster

I live in Los Angeles and don’t think the number that’s high. It’s not just from spending some time here. Again, out of 13 mill it sounds high for LA County. Maybe not so much when taking in all of So Cal counties.

And what’s the big deal whether they voted or not. Although I would kind of get a kick out of the Ahmadinejad winning only to not have to hear how the O man was able to get out the vote for change.

By: LA Iranian

LA Iranian — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:05:30 +0000

Present your proof that Iran is developing Nuclear arms. IAEA, UN, and Dick (”Hague?”) Chenney would all be quite grateful to you. No proof? Kindly shut up.

By: Mike Shuster

Mike Shuster — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:12:38 +0000

Roger: well, that’s too bad. I wish those protestors had voted.
BTW, suppose the US government *did* somehow shut down these poll sites. Imagine the propaganda that the Iranian regime would make out of *that*.

What kind of reasons did the Ahmadinejad voters in WLA give for their decisions? What was the age/gender skew like?

By: Stolypin

Stolypin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:15:49 +0000

Extended polls haven’t even closed yet MSNBC is declaring Mousavi the victor, never mind the final count won’t be announced until tomorrow. Schuster is attributing it to the “Obama Effect.”

By: Roger L Simon

Roger L Simon — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:48:29 +0000

IRNA (Iranian state) has declared Ahmadinejad the winner. According to peiknet. com (Iranian dissident site) foreign reporters are declaring Mousavi winner with 65%. Site also has reports in Farsi of Mousavi headquarters under grenade attack.

BTW, Mike Shuster, every voter I interviewed at the Westin Hotel told me he or she voted for Ahmadinejad. Of course many protestors (Iranian) outside didn’t vote at all and said they never would support an election of the IRI (the same one you countenance being in West LA).

By: Mike Shuster

Mike Shuster — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:43:12 +0000

Roger, but that law about observers being necessary must be an Iranian law, not a US one. So how would the US have jurisdiction to shut down polling places on the basis of Iranian electoral law? That makes no sense to me. (If anything, that sounds like a pretense for the mullahs to throw out the ballots if they don’t like how they come in)

The propaganda issue is a valid concern, but in balance, I’d rather the elections happen rather than not happen, and the data at fivethirtyeight.com suggests that this will be a somewhat more real Iranian election than past ones. And I hope Moussavi wins. Don’t know that it’ll make a huge systemic difference, but at least he won’t be yammering about the Holocaust, and I think he will be more amenable to some sort of negotiation about not weaponizing Iranian nuclear power (which frankly is the best we can hope for at this point, thanks to the past two or three US administrations mishandling the issue). I think this is kind of a pragmatism vs. idealism issue- I understand why some Persians in the US are protesting for ideological issues, but I think the election is a good development.

By: Roger L Simon

Roger L Simon — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:31:54 +0000

Mike Shuster, with the usual caveat that I am no lawyer (nor do I play one on TV)), here is a legal basis I was told by several Iranian who are protesting the voting in the US (now at 45 or so venues across the country). According to them, a legal Iranian polling place must have five official Iranian state observers to make sure everything running correctly. Under US law, however, Iranian officials are not allowed beyond 25 miles of New York (the UN) or Washington DC. Los Angeles – and many other venues – are rather far beyond that. So there’s a legal.

On another level, I am disturbed the US being used for election propaganda purposes by the mullahs, but more of that later. As for the shadow-play election issue, I agree – it’s complicated.

By: Mike Shuster

Mike Shuster — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:24:40 +0000

Roger, okay, so what is the point of your post? Are you saying that the US should have somehow prevented these polling places? (On what legal grounds they could have done this, I’m not sure, as people are allowed to assemble publicly, etc., and communicate with people in other countries. ) That’s what you seem to be suggesting in the post. Or maybe you’re just venting, rather than making an actual cohesive argument.

As for the larger question of whether this election matters or whether it’s mullah shadow-play, well, I think that’s a complicated question, and the answer is some of both. This data is interesting:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/06/polling-and-voting-in-irans-friday.html

Promoguy- having spent some time in LA I would believe that 900000 of the 13 million people there are Persian.

By: Roger L Simon

Roger L Simon — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:04:48 +0000

Thanks for sharing, Parham, but (a) voting in and embassy is not the same as voting in public spaces (hotels, etc.) across the country. 37 venues, by one report. And, yes, I am well aware that this occurred during the last Iranian election. And, finally, if you read my post, I am also well aware that the opposition should get most of the votes here. I went on to point out that it was unlikely that those votes would be reported accurately back in Tehran. The object of the mullahs here is to show their reach into America. They are doing it, whatever the result.