I haven't had much time to read or write Livejournal, I'm a lot busier at work these days and a lot busier at home.
I have been following the Iranian protests, and things are continuing to look worse and worse for the reform people, I've heard a variety of things in the last little while that all point to the Iranian government slowly settling into their new role as religious tyrants.
Bad for the reformers:
The Iranian government has begun torturing some of the detainees into making false confessions which are being aired on National Television to "prove" that Britain and America orchestrated "fake" protests in Iran. Of course, this is nothing new, Iran has been using this tactic for many years to discredit anyone and anything they disagree with.
The most damning for the government was the start today of calls for the leaders of the reform movement to be put to death today because they are "fighting against God". That's clearly a bad sign for everyone. If they start following through on that action, it seems to me that one of two things must happen, either a coup or a civil war.
Good for the reformers:
The Iranian stock market has been mostly stable but only, it appears because the Iranian government has been spending a lot of money to keep it stable. As the crisis in Iran continues, the government has to spend more and more money to prop the market up. They can't do so indefinitely.
http://www.aworldwithoutspin.com/?p=647More than half of the Iranian MPs failed to show up for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory celebration.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8118139.stmMy musings:
Religion and government are a poor mix. I'm not sure all religions are a bad match, but I am sure that at least any religion with monotheistic or absolute truths is. Once religion and government are intermingled, it becomes very easy for the government to believe that is the only legitimate representative of the religion, and that to question the government is to question the religion. And if it's easy, it will inevitably happen. The worst is that belief in absolute correctness means that the government can never back down once it has taken this position. To do so would be fail God and that can never be tolerated. It's an inevitable march towards totalitarian brutality from that point onward.