Good Analyses of Events in Iran
I’d like to point you to a couple of particularly good blogs for understanding the turmoil in Iran right now. Gary Sick, who served on the National Security Council for Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan, provides this context in his blog. His post, Iran’s Political Coup is particularly good. Middle East History Professor Juan Cole is often insufferable, but his blog is a great source of first hand accounts emailed to him from the streets of Tehran. His recent post Class v. Culture Wars in Iranian Elections explains why – when placed in the context of the past 10 years of Iranian politics – the official election results are completely implausible.
It’s also fascinating to see the online battle between the protesters and the Iranian government, with the government shutting down cell phone networks and blocking access to services like Twitter and Facebook. Their goal is to disrupt communication between the protesters, as well as stifle their communication with the outside world. In response, people inside and outside Iran are swarming to set up proxy servers to get around the blocks. CNET News has a good explanation of what’s happening in laymen’s terms.
