Do We Really Care About Democracy? # Iran Election;
By Charting Stocks
June 20, 2009 "Charting Stocks" -- After being victims of multiple false and
propagandistic media campaigns one would think that we would be able to read
between the lines when our mainstream media sources act in lockstep with one
another in marketing the agenda du jour.
Have we already forgotten the “flowers and candy” which the gracious Iraqi
people were going to greet us with? You know, as “Liberators.” The weapons of
mass destruction? The fear campaign waged against us to surrender our national
treasure to a few Wall Street firms? When the mainstream media moves together
in uniform, repeating the same talking points, it’s time to get suspicious, not
complacent.
As soon as Ahmadinejad was declared the victor in Iran’s election EACH of our
mainstream media sources were ready to cry foul and dismiss the results as an
“obvious” fraud (see links below). One might think that a functioning media
would produce ONE inquisitive reporter that was brave enough to even entertain
the idea that Ahmadinejad, the incumbent with extremely high support in the
country’s rural and poor areas, actually won. Unfortunately, we don’t have
reporters like that in our mainstream media (which is why their readership
continues to plummet).
If you doubt that the Iranian election media bombardment was deliberate, ask
yourself - Do you know who won last months Panamanian election ? Did you even
know there was an election? It’s not your fault if you don’t. Actually, I don’t
see how you could know without a functioning media.
Have you heard much about the democratic elections in Saudi Arabia lately? Of
course not. They don’t have elections. Any media outrage for the people of
Saudi Arabia? A country ruled by one of the most repressive regimes on the
planet. But hey, they’re our allies. We don’t talk about them (and certainly
won’t tweet it).
What about the 2006 (monitored) democratic election in Gaza in which the people
resisted western threats and bribes and elected Hamas as their leader? We
responded by punishing the people of Gaza and cutting aid to the region. Well,
they committed a supreme crime. They voted the wrong way and must be punished
for it. I’m waiting for a sympathetic #GazaElection hashtag on Twitter, though
I won’t hold my breathe.
Have you heard ANYTHING from the mainstream media of the democratically elected
governments that we REMOVED? The fact is that we don’t care about democratic
elections.
Dr. Michael Parenti, is one of the nations leading political scholars. In his
book “Against Empire,” Parenti tells us that “The United States has overthrown
democratically elected governments in Guatemala, Guyana, The Dominican
Republic, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Syria, Indonesia, Greece, Argentina,
Bolivia, Haiti, and numerous other nations were overthrown by pro-capitalist
militaries that were funded and aided by the US national security state.”
The #IranElection hype has nothing to do with democracy and everything to do
with effecting US public opinion. Why are “Iranian’s” microblogging in English
and on Twitter (which they do NOT use)? According to Mehdi Yahyanejad, manager
of a Farsi-language news site based in Los Angeles, “Twitter’s impact inside
Iran is zero..here, there is lots of buzz, but once you look . . . you see most
of it are Americans tweeting among themselves.” The Alexa rankings confirm that
Twitter’s penetration in Iran is nearly 0%.
The United States is the last country on earth that Iran wants attention from.
They certainly don’t want us involved in their elections. We’ve already removed
a democratically elected government in Iran during the 1953 coup d’etat of
Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq. I’d venture to guess that most of the
people expressing sympathy for the “Iranian Students” on twitter would have a
hard time finding Iran on a map. Those that could would quickly realize that on
either side Iran’s borders lies 2 countries which we are very familiar with -
Iraq and Afghanistan. Both of which are militarily occupied by our armies. Both
ruled by our puppet governments.
Ask yourself - If Iran’s army invaded and occupied both Canada and Mexico,
would we want their “Help”? Would we find popular Iranian websites and keep
them informed of our nation’s vulnerabilities in their native Farsi?
The media campaign, however obvious it is to some of us, has probably been
successful. I’ll bet that if you poll the American people today (and they
probably will), you’d find that 40-50% would support military involvement in
Iran to “Help” with their elections. I’d also assume that those 40-50% are the
same people (more or less) who believed we invaded Iraq because of 9-11,
another testament to the effectiveness of propaganda marketing.
The Instant “Analysis”:
Reuters Iran’s election result staggers analysts
Hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defeated moderate challenger Mirhossein Mousavi
by a surprisingly wide margin in Iran’s presidential election, official results
showed on Saturday. Mousavi derided the tally as a “dangerous charade.’
Fox News: U.S. Monitoring Iran’s Election Results
U.S. officials are casting doubt over the results of Iran’s election, in which
the government declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner Saturday…U.S.
analysts find it “not credible [Notice the usual UN-NAMED "US Officials and
Analysts]
MSNBC: Violence flares as Ahmadinejad wins Iran vote
Riot police battled with protesters Saturday as officials announced that
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won a landslide election victory. His
opponent denounced the results as ‘treason’….Ahmadinejad had the apparent
backing of the ruling theocracy.
CNN: Ahmadinejad wins landslide in disputed election
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been declared the big winner in the
country’s election, but his chief rival and supporters in the Tehran streets
are crying foul.
NY Times: Ahmadinejad Is Declared Victor in Iran
The Iranian government declared an outright election victory for President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday morning, and riot police officers fought with
supporters of the opposition candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, who insisted that
the election had been stolen.
Time Magazine: Protests Greet Ahmadinejad Win in Iran: ‘It’s Not Possible!
Iran’s Interior Minister announced Saturday that incumbent president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad had won 63.29% of the vote in the nation’s closely watched
presidential poll. The announcement, greeted with widespread skepticism by
Iranian opposition supporters and by foreign analysts, has brought thousands of
people onto the streets where they have encountered a strong police presence
and the threat of violence.
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