World News Random, Random

[dryrunguy]

It's not a done deal yet. Still many votes to be counted. A runoff may not even be necessary under Iranian election law. Stay tuned.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...-rouhani-leads

[ponchi101]

Now it is a done deal.
With Ahmedinajed out in the near future, who knows what the tone will be in the middle east? Al Assad will be the only clear cut tyrant in the region (technically, the Saudi's and Bahrain are still deeply mired in two theocracies), but some changes could be expected.
If Wardog Netanyahu could also be kicked out, peace progress could be achievable in about one generation.

[suliso]

You are an optimist, ponchi. I'de really like you to be right, but my mind says something else...

[ponchi101]

That was the reason I used the word COULD twice in that last post. Nothing is given, but Ahmedinajed out is progress, regardless of who comes up (with the exception of Khomeini rising from the grave).
Brief Iran related story:
Around 2007, I worked supervising an Iranian Oil Exploration Company. Incompetence galore, but some of the younger workers saw us (a group of westerners) as a possible source of new technology and information. One such young man (around mid 20's) took to talking a lot to one of my colleagues, a brilliant geophysicist who very much likes to teach. This young man, over a span of a 3 month shift, grew a pony tail, and was quite friendly with us. His English was better than average, and he had certain taste for western issues.
He was scheduled for a break, and took it, back home in Iran.
Upon returning, he was a changed man. Gone was the pony tail, and I thought, because of his look and complexion had changed, that he had either been beaten up or downright tortured. He never again spoke to us directly, only when in a meeting and when questions were asked. My friend agreed on my assessment and simply kept distance, believing that any attempt to approach this young man could get him in more problems.
In the meantime, at the mess hall, we had to eat our meals while Italian hard core pornography was being played on the TV. My friends and I would make it a point to eat with out backs to the monitor.

The little bit of Iran that I know.

[dryrunguy]

I have to temper my expectations for Rouhani. On one hand, he is purportedly a moderate. But it's important to remember that the Guardian Council hand picked all of the candidates, so they must not see Rouhani as much of a threat to the status quo.

Hopefully he'll at least stop the "the state of Israel does not deserve to exist" rhetoric that characterized the current administration and created foreign policy havoc in the West. But Iranian women's rights advocates, by and large, are not particularly enthused.

[Ti-Amie]

Thank goodness for TAT. I found out more about what is going on in the world in the last half hour or so than I did the entire time I was in Savannah. The analysis was better too.

[Ti-Amie]

Brazil protests continue as authorities scramble to respond

President warned against being 'on wrong side of history' amid demonstrations about high costs, poor services and World Cup


Brazilians gather at the city hall in São Paulo as part of widespread protests about high costs, poor services and spending on the World Cup. Photograph: Sebastiao Moreira/EPA


As demonstrations continued in Brazil for another night, President Dilma Rousseff attempted to co-ordinate a government response among senior officials who have been stunned by the scale of protests.

Keeping the pressure on the authorities, an estimated 50,000 people flooded Cathedral Square and other main streets in São Paulo for the second night running and rallies were reported in two other cities.

This followed Monday night's demonstrations in at least a dozen cities, which drew a quarter of a million people on to the streets.

Initially driven by opposition to a bus price hike, the marches have rapidly swollen to incorporate a range of grievances, including police brutality, inequality, corruption, dire public services and the extravagent preparations for next year's World Cup.

Faced by the biggest show of public frustration in more than 20 years, officials are struggling to grasp what is happening.


"It would be pretentious to say we understand what's going on," Gilberto Carvalho, Rousseff's secretary general, told a congressional hearing. "If we are not sensitive we'll be caught on the wrong side of history."

After bloody clashes on the streets last week, when police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators and journalists, Rousseff moved on Tuesday to placate the protestors.

"The voices of the street want more citizenship, health, transport, opportunities," said the president, who cut her political teeth in the 1960s as a Marxist guerrilla opposed to the military dictatorship. "My government wants to broaden access to education and health, understands that the demands of the people change."

Rousseff – who faces re-election next year – also convened a series of high-level meetings on Tuesday with her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and regional governors from São Paulo, RIo de Janeiro and Rio Grade de Sul.

According to the domestic media, she particularly praised the restraint of the police in São Paulo during Monday night's demonstrations – which was in marked contrast to the violence of their response the previous week. She is also reportedly pushing for a reduction of bus fares.

But with more protests planned in the coming days regional leaders are nervous. The governor of Minas Gerais, Antonio Anastasia, has asked the state to provide personnel from the National Force to strengthen public security in the face of the unrest. The government has agreed to dispatch 150 personnel, according to the Folha de São Paulo website.

Lucio Flavio Rodrigues de Almeida, a sociology professor at the Catholic University of São Paulo, said the authorities had so far responded only with repressive actions against protests that had morphed in character and size and were being organised by an amorphous social network rather than political parties.

"The strong repression, especially in São Paulo, increased the strength and sympathy for a protest movement that has successfully compared the spending on infrastructure for the Confederations Cup and the World Cup with small investments in public transportation," he said.

The vast majority of the protesters have been peaceful and many reported feeling elated at the mass and spontaneous movement to shake the government into action. On Tuesday marchers bore banners that called for reform, exclaimed "Dilma Out" and demanded an end of corruption.

One group attempted to break into the city hall, prompting police to use pepper spray to block their passage. Other demonstrators formed a human chain to hold back the attackers, chanting: "No violence!"

Television coverage of the protests – the sixth in São Paulo – showed a shop being looted and fires burning in the city centre. A TV van was overturned and set on fire and public transport was temporarily disrupted when protesters occupied and damaged a station control room and threw stones at a train.

Police said four people had been arrested in connection to the thefts of merchandise. It stressed that these were "isolated incidents caused by a small minority".

Crowds also gathered on Tuesday in Florianópolis, the Rio de Janeiro suburb of Sao Goncalo, and in Maringá, in northern Paraná state. Solidarity protests have been staged in several European countries including Britain, Portugal, Spain and Denmark.

Brazilian football players taking part in the Confederations Cup expressed support for the demonstrations. The Chelsea defender David Luiz said it was natural for people to express their opinion, while the midfielder Givanildo Vieira de Souza, known as Hulk, said the protesters were trying to improve things in the country.

"I come from the bottom of the social ladder and now I have a good life. I see these demonstrators and I know that they are right," Hulk told a press conference in Fortaleza. "We know that Brazil needs to improve in many areas and must let the demonstrators express themselves."

Bigger demonstrations are planned for Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and a wider number of municipalities than anything seen so far.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...ble?CMP=twt_fd

[mmmm8]

At G8 Summit

[mmmm8]

Although there was also this:





But the memes are coming from the first one:

[ponchi101]

Don't tell me Putin also stole Obama's tie?

[Kirkus]

I love the internet.