June 23, 2009 04:30 AM
Rachel Maddow: Iranian Protesters Targetting the Basiji
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Rachel Maddow talks to the Washington Note's Steve Clemons about the Iranian protesters chasing away the volunteer government police force, called the Basiji. For more you can read Steve's article: The Four Iran Scenarios and "Basiji Hunting".
That's pretty sharp strategy!
This whole thing is frightening. Let's hope to hell it doesn't get uglier.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I'm afraid it is definitely gonna get uglier.
The people of Iran have had it, and the current regime is refusing to budge...it's gonna get really bad.
The Iranian govt could help over there if they would call off the basiji.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
they want the uprising to fail.
It seems the people though, (I'm sure with Mousavi's tactical advice) are handling the basij very well...
That's how I'd go about it if I was in their shoes, take out the radical paramilitary schmucks, and that's half the friggin battle right there.
I keep forgetting that peace is not their goal for the govt.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Govt's REQUIRE conflict to manage...Otherwise why have them at all?
Of course, humans, being hard-wired for tribalism, are a notably unpeaceful species, especially with respect to those who are NOT of the tribe...
Not to say "war-like," though we've become that too, since the invention of war, a dozen milennia ago, or so.
Just not inherently peaceful.
The Republicans hate Obama because he constantly outwits them. Had Dumbya or McCrazy been President during this unfortunate Iranian infighting, those two violent macho dipshits would have multiplied the death and destruction with their gasoline and matches diplomacy.
That's pretty much what I said in the previous open thread. If anyone ever doubts their vote for President Obama, just compare how he is dealing with this situation to McCain's attitude about it.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
words have ever been spoken. We have to learn to keep our noses out of other people's business. Its not that we as Americans don't care and don't have compassion - but the days of "gasoline and match" diplomacy must never be repeated.
Obama truly does defeat the rethuglican slathering mouth-breathing chickenhawks, on a constant basis, and it does indeed make them slather even more.
Obama is handling things of course, but I don't regret for a second that I voted for him, I am very grateful that he is president and McCain is not.
McCain was on Washington Journal (c-span) this morning and listening to him brought back the horrors I felt during the campaign. The way he talks it's as though he's still campaigning. A caller asked him if he would run for pres in 2012 and he said, No. He said there were lots of young republicans who would make an excellent president. He truly has lost his mind.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
just most of it.
... I don't think he had a mind to lose in the first place...
Saw a bit of it. Still yelling at clouds.
I am also glad he beat McInsane. I could be gladder though - if he was more FDRish.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h0-DoaAKFM
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
When our presidential election was stolen we gorged on Happy Meals.
When I first heard the name Basiji I thought they were talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfLdAPcan4o
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Of course maybe it's actually more like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2J3my3pOIc
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I watched this last night and was amazed at the clear and precise reporting on this. Great Job Rachel and all involved in getting this out.
She is what media is supposed to be!
Maddow rawks!
Looks like the Iranian people are doing what we should have done back in 2000 when the supreme's appointed the bush/chenny cabal.
I guess they got to see first hand what happens when you let criminals steal elections! You know by watching what happened to us.
The loss of life whether by being killed or perminatly dissabled from wars started by lying sacks of shit.
Maybe they are smart enough to realize that they have been cheated and sre going to correct it.
We need to hold accountable those responsible for the last eight years of wasted lives, wasted money, and torture. Until we do we will never be right again.
republicanism is a mental illness.
with how "thePrez" is 'handling' the immediate, domestic Iranian situation.
There are, of course, USer/CIA operatives and agents provocateurs on the ground, stirring shit up, as usual. Nothing happens in the world without grubby Murkin fingerprints showing up on the details somewhere.
But Obama's strict hands-off stance as a matter of official policy cannot be rebutted, imho...
BTW: Geaux Tigers!
this is exactly how insurgency movements start.
First we sow the seed, nature grows the seed and then we eat the seed. - Neil - The Young Ones
Vivian was my favorite.
vivian the anarchist
that more people are commenting on the Barney Frank/weed thread, than in here...
Priorities people!
I do agree that it should be decriminalized but it's not a priority in my agenda and I spent afew years smoking it.
medicine, it's pretty goddamned important.
me-oww!
I agree it's important.
I just think what's goin on in Iran right now, is a good deal more serious.
gives you an idea of the ordination of stuff in my mind? Maybe I'd rather talk about pot because it's something I can do something about. I can't do anything to stop the death in Irsn. I need to acknowledge that it's an awful thing on the internet for people to think I care?
How fuckin weird.
me-oww!
I can not begin to know what's goin on in your mind or anyone else'.
I didn't mean to sound like a pompous ass...but I did anyway.
Sorry...sometimes I type before I think it through.
... the US probably will throw more people in jail because of pot than Iran will for the current political unrest.
I've got MY own damn priorities all kindsa discombobulated.
gives you an idea of the ordination of stuff in my mind? Maybe I'd rather talk about pot because it's something I can do something about. I can't do anything to stop the death in Iran. I need to acknowledge that it's an awful thing on the internet for people to think I care?
How fuckin weird.
me-oww!
I find the use of the term volunteer both odd and misleading. Are we to believe that people can just volunteer to have such free authority as the Basiji appear to be displaying without repercussion from the Iranian government? In this state of violence, the citizens of Iran certainly would not make this distinction btween the basiji and the revolutionary guard. These goons are receiving some type of compensation which does not make them "volunteers".
Volunteers who go out and kill fellow citizens for the religious plutocracy? Something smells fishy here?
I guess that would make that nut who shot Tiller a volunteer policeman.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
Right. I guess one could say he was making a citizen's
arrestkilling.... it just mean they join out of their own accord, i.e. they are the die hard kool aid drinkers, the true believers, and as such... the most dangerous.
I agree they are the ideological blind followers of Iranian theocracy, but they definitely have incentive
Since the 1979 revolution, state-owned factories have been used as recruiting and fundraising centers for Basiji militiamen, who answer to the Revolutionary Guard. They provide jobs for the relatives of government loyalists. One aluminum factory in central Iran provides jobs for relatives of local officials of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, said a Tehran economist who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Basiji are estimated to number anywhere from a several hundred thousand to several million. Many are from poor families and membership brings a small stipend, exemption from required military service, and the possibility of a reserved admission spot in a university.
Basiji is Iran's version of Blackwater in the sense they operate freely throughout Iran and fire on sometimes kill citizens without much recourse thus undermining our own military.
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