Such an uprising will mean continuous periods of strikes and civil disobedience, as well as more confrontations between members of the public and security forces.
One of the few serviceable democracies in the Middle East, Lebanon's government is elected along confessional lines. The President is always a Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni, and the Parliament Speaker a Shiite.
The U.S. should strongly condemn Tehran's reckless behavior, but it should not forget that Iran is closer to a vibrant democracy than most dictatorships that have good relationships with the West.
After fishing in a rushing stream of Tweets, I watched YouTube clips showing a police station burning, a group of Basij militia cornered but not hurt, a police van overturned. Chants included, "Khamenei is a murderer. His reign is over."
Nushin Ebadi, Shirin's younger sister, has been arrested by Iranian officials during a Monday sweep of the home they shared in Tehran. The move is obviously directed at the Nobel Laureate.
Last weekend America had the chance to be in the driver's seat, in a position of power. Instead, American media, and officials, chose the victim route focusing on our vulnerability rather than our resilience.
Looking back on 2009, a narrative seems to have emerged that the Democrats failed and would pay the price in the 2010 midterm elections. But where is the discussion of how the Republicans have behaved in the last year?
The violent confrontations in Iran this week, which resulted from widespread resistance to the brutality of the regime's various security forces, have shifted the balance of the struggle towards the people.
It would be condescending to say that say democracy is coming to Iran as painfully as a toddler cuts his first teeth. This toddler happens to be 5,000 years old.
The opposition in Iran desperately needs support, and wealthy individuals in the United States are well positioned to provide it.
No one wants to see another anti-American regime in Iran following the current one. If that's not what we want, then we must stand up with the protesters when it counts.
Khamenei has become the new Shah -- hated by so many that it seems implausible that Iranian elites will ever be able to operate without much distrust and fear of each other.
Without a doubt, eBay occupies prime virtual real estate in our digital malls. Out in the real world, malls do not allow the KKK and neo-Nazis to rent space and pedal hate.
Kuperman doesn't see Iranians responding to the bombing of their homeland by taking to the streets and chanting "Death to the Great Satan!" He sees grateful yokels yelling "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"
Whether or not the green aspirations of regular Iranian citizens will be met, to me they have helped resurrect the identity of a nation, or at the very least, repaint it in a different hue.
The biggest news coming out of Copenhagen, but not covered by the American media, is that Obama hasn't been able to convince other countries to act even though he is the most popular head of state.
Time for my annual tradition of getting gifts for my favorite -- and not so favorite -- public figures, including Larry Summers whom I'm getting a Goldman Sachs pension (after all, he's earned it). READ MORE Newsmakers Roasting on an Open Fire: Your Gift Ideas for 2009's Naughty and Nice Here are your gift suggestions, including a GPS for Barack Obama, to show him the way from Wall Street to Main Street (submitted by manx). READ MORE The Senate Health Care Bill: Leave No Special Interest Behind There are many reasons for hoping the Senate health care bill doesn't become the law of the land. But the biggest reason of all is the desperate need for a DC pattern interrupt. READ MORE
More than a decade ago, President Clinton pledged that every person in America would soon be able to go online "to order up every movie ever produced or every symphony ever created in a minute's time."
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri's opinion was characterized by one Iranian Christian clergyman as "rubbing salt into our wounds."
Iranians mourn the passing of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died this week. It was his voice of support for the people that gave a few other power players the courage to speak up too.
Today, old hatreds are being repackaged and supersized in a way that would have made Josef Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of Hate, drool with envy.
