Iran elections a farce according to many iranians.

[Guest Peeves]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/02/world/meast/iran-parliamentary-elections/index.html

Does anyone really think Iranians have any choice in the current election? I don't and neither it seems do most Iranians In or out of Iran.

They have the right to vote as they are allowed to for pretty much Hobson's choice it seems.

At polling stations, some voters seemed to suggest there were few ideological differences between the candidates.

"I'm just going to vote out of chance. They're all good," a voter named Behzad said. "It doesn't make any difference. They're all the same. All Hezbollah, religious, very nice kind people."

"To be honest, most of the [candidate] groups are very similar," said Dr. Ali Reza Marandi, a former health minister and current parliament member running for re-election. He said the group of candidates he was running alongside, called the United Principalist Front, campaigned on the platform of "Spirituality and Justice."

Some opposition activists from the Green Movement expressed despair about the election in conversations with CNN.

"What you see on Iranian TV is all propaganda. All the voters are saying, 'See, this is democracy, we are voting,' but we all know it's rigged," said an art student from the city of Shiraz in a phone conversation with CNN. "These elections have been rigged since 1979 and always will be until the mullahs stop running this country into the ground. I am not voting today because my vote does not count and never has counted."

"Moussavi and Karrubi are under house arrest, my friends and family have been arrested, jailed, falsely accused, and beaten," said an engineer, speaking by phone with CNN from Tehran. "I feel like a coward that I cannot go on TV and tell the world what is happening in Iran, but what good am I to the future of this country if I am dead. I am ashamed."

Edited March 2, 2012 by Peeves

[Guest Peeves]

Surely this regime with it's threats to other democratic countries, its funding of terror, its restrictions of human rights, draconian sentences, religious intolerance, WMD potential and persecution of its citizens as herein outlined, should be considered a pariah to countries of good conscience! ?

Ya think! a wretched regime in need of a good leadership sanitizing.

Persians deserve better. Muslims deserve better. Iranians deserve better.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/02/opinion-irans-parliamentary-elections-part-i-the-political-landscape.html

Another source from without.

Such is the state of the upcoming Majles elections. They will bear not even the slightest resemblance to a free, fair, and democratic vote. Even a cursory review of the political landscape indicates this.

The leaders of the Green Movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife, Dr. Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, have been under severely restrictive, extralegal house arrest for over a year. They will remain there as long as they do not change their views -- which they will not -- or there is a national and international movement for their freedom.

Almost all of the other important opposition figures -- men such as Seyyed Mostafa Tajzadeh, Behzad Nabavi, Dr. Mohsen Mirdamadi, Feyzollah Arabsorkhi, Dr. Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, Dr. Mohsen Aminzadeh, and Abolfazl Ghadiani -- are in jail. They have been incarcerated not because they committed any criminal offenses -- they did not -- but precisely because they can organize and lead the people. Altogether, at least 900 courageous men and women are in jail on politically related charges, representing the highest number of political prisoners in Iran since thousands of such prisoners were executed in the summer of 1988.

The most popular and influential opposition groups have been outlawed or forced into silence. They include the reformists -- Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), the Organization of Islamic Revolution Mojahedin (OIRM), and the National Trust Party -- groups allied with the reformists -- the Executives of Construction Party, which is close to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani; the leftist Association of Combatant Clerics (ACC) and Association of Teachers and Scholars of Qom; and the Nationalist-Religious Coalition -- the nationalist National Front, and several other small groups. Meanwhile, hardline political groups have proliferated like wild mushrooms, with no restrictions whatsoever on their activities.

The most important university and former university activists -- brave men and women such as Bahareh Hedayat, Hassan Asadi Zeidabadi, Ali Jamali, and Shiva Nazar Ahari -- have also been jailed. Their organizations, the Office for Consolidation of Unity (OCU, or Tahkim-e Vahdat) and the Organization of University Graduates (OUG, or Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat), have been decimated. The hardliners have created a fake OCU.

Forty-two of the country's most influential journalists are in prison, making Iran the worst state in the world in terms of jailing members of the press.

Brave men and women, such as Dr. Ahmad Zeidabadi, Keyvan Samimi, Bahman Ahmadi Amooee, Masoud Bastani, Mohammad Davari, Mehdi Mahmoudian, Hengameh Shahidi, and Fatemeh Kheradmand are languishing in jail, or about to be sent there.

Most of the reformist newspapers, magazines, and other publications have been closed. The very few that are still allowed to publish heavily censor themselves, lest they be quickly shuttered. Iran ranks near the bottom in global rankings of freedom of the press.

Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/02/opinion-irans-parliamentary-elections-part-i-the-political-landscape.html#ixzz1nzbMnevR

[bud]

Surely this regime with it's threats to other democratic countries, its funding of terror, its restrictions of human rights, draconian sentences, religious intolerance, WMD potential and persecution of its citizens as herein outlined, should be considered a pariah to countries of good conscience! ?

are you talking about israel? because everything you said is correct except that israel already has WMD.

[Jack Weber]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/02/world/meast/iran-parliamentary-elections/index.html

Does anyone really think Iranians have any choice in the current election? I don't and neither it seems do most Iranians In or out of Iran.

They have the right to vote as they are allowed to for pretty much Hobson's choice it seems.

No I don't think they have a REAL choice...

And it's Hobsian NOT Hobson...

[DogOnPorch]

are you talking about israel? because everything you said is correct except that israel already has WMD.

Which you and your ilk like to believe without any real examples of a weapon or even a test blast. For all you know, Israel has used all its nuclear technology to build a Cobalt Bomb which it will light-off come Doomsey-Day or Islamic invasion...whichever comes first.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salted_bomb

But, hey...Dinnerjacket never said he wanted to destroy Israel and Iran has only peaceful uses planned for its Uranium 235 and ICBMs. Right?

[dre]

should be considered a pariah to countries of good conscience!

Problem is there is none of those. Countries are motivated by self interest, and if its in our interests for people to live under autocratic regimes we are just fine with it... see Saudi Arabia.

[Guest Peeves]

No I don't think they have a REAL choice...

And it's Hobsian NOT Hobson...

Hobson's choice

Meaning

No real choice at all - the only options being to either accept or refuse the offer that is given to you.

[Guest Peeves]

are you talking about israel? because everything you said is correct except that israel already has WMD.

You are of course entitled to an opinion, but lying isn't an opinion. Israel is NOT guilty of the

points I ascribed to the Iranian leadership,those are facts readily apparent as you well know.

You are anti-Israeli and your statement above ("are you talking about israel?") proves to me that you are probably an anti-Semite for your statement is a bald faced lie.

(meant in the nicest of ways of course.)

Criticizing Israel for Israels actions is one thing and justifiable, but stating the

issues I referred to as Iran's to wit;

Peeves, on 02 March 2012 - 12:20 PM, said:

Surely this regime with it's threats to other democratic countries, its funding of terror, its restrictions of human rights, draconian sentences, religious intolerance, WMD potential and persecution of its citizens as herein outlined, should be considered a pariah to countries of good conscience! ?

Your implication in the statement is that Israel is guilty of the above which is I repeat, an out and out lie.

"are you talking about israel? because everything you said is correct except that israel already has WMD." Bull puckey.

Edited March 3, 2012 by Peeves

[Battletoads]

are you talking about israel? because everything you said is correct except that israel already has WMD.

Indeed. The doublethink of people like the OP is always baffling to me.

[TheNewTeddy]

Israel is not a threat to other democratic countries.

[Guest Peeves]

Israel is not a threat to other democratic countries.

Israel is not a threat to any other countries. Caveat; unless they openly spew hate and the threat of destroying their country. And; Unless they allow attacks on Israel from their country, Hizbollah/ Lebanon for example. I suggest that if your country faced the rhetoric of Iran, the attacks by rocket from Lebanon, the kidnapping and rockets from Hamas/Gaza, then you too would be on the defensive. Israel needs to react as any other country would.

Israel is ONLY a threat to those that would attempt another Holocaust of another 6 million Jews (+ or - a million or two.

Israel as any other country must be allowed to protect its citizens, Jews and Arabs and Christians btw, and to defend its borders.

[Guest Peeves]

Indeed. The doublethink of people like the OP is always baffling to me.

This is 'doublethink' (whatever you mean by that) ?

Excerpt.

Please note, the source I believe is Iranian.

Such is the state of the upcoming Majles elections. They will bear not even the slightest resemblance to a free, fair, and democratic vote. Even a cursory review of the political landscape indicates this.

The leaders of the Green Movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife, Dr. Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, have been under severely restrictive, extralegal house arrest for over a year. They will remain there as long as they do not change their views -- which they will not -- or there is a national and international movement for their freedom.

Almost all of the other important opposition figures -- men such as Seyyed Mostafa Tajzadeh, Behzad Nabavi, Dr. Mohsen Mirdamadi, Feyzollah Arabsorkhi, Dr. Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, Dr. Mohsen Aminzadeh, and Abolfazl Ghadiani -- are in jail. They have been incarcerated not because they committed any criminal offenses -- they did not -- but precisely because they can organize and lead the people. Altogether, at least 900 courageous men and women are in jail on politically related charges, representing the highest number of political prisoners in Iran since thousands of such prisoners were executed in the summer of 1988.

The most popular and influential opposition groups have been outlawed or forced into silence. They include the reformists -- Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), the Organization of Islamic Revolution Mojahedin (OIRM), and the National Trust Party -- groups allied with the reformists -- the Executives of Construction Party, which is close to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani; the leftist Association of Combatant Clerics (ACC) and Association of Teachers and Scholars of Qom; and the Nationalist-Religious Coalition -- the nationalist National Front, and several other small groups. Meanwhile, hardline political groups have proliferated like wild mushrooms, with no restrictions whatsoever on their activities.

The most important university and former university activists -- brave men and women such as Bahareh Hedayat, Hassan Asadi Zeidabadi, Ali Jamali, and Shiva Nazar Ahari -- have also been jailed. Their organizations, the Office for Consolidation of Unity (OCU, or Tahkim-e Vahdat) and the Organization of University Graduates (OUG, or Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat), have been decimated. The hardliners have created a fake OCU.

Forty-two of the country's most influential journalists are in prison, making Iran the worst state in the world in terms of jailing members of the press.

Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/02/opinion-irans-parliamentary-elections-part-i-the-political-landscape.html#ixzz1o56uauJn'>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/02/opinion-irans-parliamentary-elections-part-i-the-political-landscape.html#ixzz1o56uauJn

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/02/opinion-irans-parliamentary-elections-part-i-the-political-landscape.html

[Wolf Larsen]

According to the thread opener Iranians do not have much choice in the elections. In other words, they are faced with Tweedledee and Tweedledum. That sounds a lot like American elections. Both the Democrats and Republicans favor the rich, and they love war.

[GostHacked]

Israel is not a threat to other democratic countries.

Correct, they are a threat to some totalitarian regimes though. Israel wants a war as bad as Iran it seems.

[Guest Peeves]

According to the thread opener Iranians do not have much choice in the elections. In other words, they are faced with Tweedledee and Tweedledum. That sounds a lot like American elections. Both the Democrats and Republicans favor the rich, and they love war.

Seriously? You seriously equate theocratic fascism in Iran to a democratic election in the USA?

What a dork.