MPs 'snub' Ahmadinejad poll party

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

More than 100 MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, local press reports say.

All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night but 105 did not turn up, the reports say.

A BBC correspondent says the move is a sign of the deep split at the top of Iran after disputed presidential polls.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8118139.stm

[tsuki]

1. I wonder how many of them will be "approved" to run for re-election. nt

[stray cat]

2. I wonder how many of them will disappear after a meeting

[Xipe Totec]

4. Edward Longshanks requests the pleasure of your presence...

at a quiet gathering in the Scottish countryside...

[dipsydoodle]

5. I guess that would be less painful

than America's choice, Pinochet, dropping them live into the Pacific from aircraft.

[InfiniteThoughts]

3. Let's give these guys some credit ...

Iran politicians are not as toothless as believed. Something tells me that Ahmadinejad isn't going to last his entire term. The clergy will throw him out if they see these protests continuing for let's say, a month.

The current protest is against the "effect", but it won't be too long before the protests turn against the "cause"

[zonkers]

6. I think this is huge. A reverse mandate. Ahmandejad and the 105 are on the the wrong side of

history. It will be be bloody for a long time, even after he is given the boot.

[ohio2007]

7. It's going to be an interesting four year ride of looking over shoulders

for certain 'less pure' MP's

[Prometheus Bound]

8. That's so weird. Your cut and paste is exactly the opposite to what's on line now.

When you go there now, you get this:

"More than 180 Iranian MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, local press reports say.

All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night, but only 105 turned up, the reports say."

Snubbers has been changed from 105 to 180 with no correction notice.

[ohio2007]

9. Iran's Turmoil Opens Rift Among Shiites Across Mideast ( the untold story by the #'s )

the ruling theocracy may find themselves in the minority
if discussion outside of Iran by Shia can freely discuss events

Unrest in Iran has opened a theological rift within the Shiite sect of Islam, undermining the Iranian regime's founding dogma that is shared by millions of fellow Shiites across the Middle East.

The concept, known as wilayat al-faqih -- literally "guardianship by a jurist" -- holds that, in an Islamic state, a divinely anointed scholar of Islamic law must exercise unquestioned authority over elected officials and the rest of the government.

Iran's current such incumbent, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, isn't just the top arbiter of the country's affairs. He also serves as the marjaa, or spiritual guide, for many Shiites outside Iran. Mr. Khamenei's image graces billboards in south Beirut, mosques in Shiite shantytowns of eastern Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and the walls of Shiite lawmakers' offices in Kuwait.

But, in recent weeks, this moral authority -- and the wilayat al-faqih ideology that underpins it -- has been shaken by Ayatollah Khamenei's handling of Iran's disputed June 12 presidential elections.

snip

Ayatollah Khamenei has hailed Mr. Ahmadinejad's re-election as a "divine assessment" and ordered an end to protests.

By defying his call, presidential challengers Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi -- and hundreds of thousands of their supporters -- broke a crucial taboo. Some protesters in Tehran have chanted the previously unthinkable slogan "Death to Khamenei." Though much of Iran's ruling establishment remains solidly behind Ayatollah Khamenei, some senior clerics -- within Iran and abroad -- have since sided with the protest campaign.

snip

"For the Shiites in the Gulf, this situation is quite perplexing," says Sami al Faraj, head of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies. "The model of wilayat al-faqih has been fractured -- and that's happened because of events in Iran itself."

snip

The Shiites are the biggest of Lebanon's several religious sects, and most of them vote for Hezbollah. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech last week warned critics not to question the wilayat al-faqih ideology. "Wilayat al-faqih ... and such issues for us are a part of our religious belief. Insulting it is an insult to our religious belief," Mr. Nasrallah said.

Syed Ali Amine, the Shiite mufti -- or chief religious authority -- of Tyre and Mount Amel in the south of Lebanon, said Mr. Nasrallah is trying to stop the discussion of wilayat al-faqih because challenging this ideology would undermine Hezbollah's own power in Lebanon.

"Despite Nasrallah's statements, this challenge already happened in the streets of Tehran and several Iranian cities," Mr. Amine said, adding that "unfortunately it was a bloody challenge" because of the police attacks on protesters.

"This is the biggest proof that wilayat al-faqih is not part of the religious beliefs, but it is a power and political ideology," he said. "Those who protested in the streets of Tehran did not offend religion or the Shiite sect


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597231749357065.html

it's not just about Iran anymore