And Yet More Muslims Against Free Speech

What is Iran planning for Thursday

"Khamenei, whose public statements should be taken seriously, is promising some sort of devastating “punch” against the West on Thursday the 11th, the same day as the Green Movement is calling for a monster protest against his regime."

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"Some think he’s preparing some kind of attack against Israel. Surely there has been no shortage in recent weeks of nasty language against the Jewish state."

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"The other obvious possibility is that he’s ordered a massive, Chinese-style crackdown on the opposition. Since he believes that the opposition is foreign-based and foreign-controlled, a devastating massacre might count as a big “punch” to the West.

He’s totally obsessed with bringing an end to the protests, and the nightly chants of “Death to the Dictator” that haunt him so. In the last few days he’s been telephoning opposition journalists and intellectuals, telling them to give it up, and the preparations for the crackdown have gone so far as to replace the traditional plastic garbage cans in Tehran — in which demonstrators have been setting fires to combat tear gas — with metal ones."

I guess the cost of replacing all those melted plastic garbage bins is getting to be too high.

"Meanwhile, the purge of journalists and activists continues. Since June 12th, the regime has arrested slightly more than 11,000 people, more than 3,000 of whom are still in those nightmare cells. Executions continue at a regular tempo, as does torture."

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"The Greens expect the regime to go all out on Thursday. The leaders believe they will be arrested on Friday, and are prepared for it. In his recent interview Mousavi remarked that a large number of his best friends were in prison, and he was sad not to be with them.

He also said that the Green Movement did not depend on his leadership, or anyone else’s.

That theory may be about to be tested by Ali Khamenei, starting Thursday."

Time to eliminate a bunch more people, I guess.

What will the West do, I wonder?

Another analysis from Amir Taheri.

"The coming showdown in Tehran could mark a new phase in the struggle for the future of Iran. A bloodbath could actually hasten the demise of the regime, for Iran today is not what China was in 1989. If the scenario for separate demonstrations by pro-regime and pro-democracy marches is allowed to proceed, the existence of two mutually exclusive visions of Iran will be further highlighted. Even if nothing spectacular happens, the fact that regime has lost its popular base and is forced to rely on coercive forces and rent-a-mob crowds would further undermine its legitimacy."

Keep your eyes on The Spirit of Man and For a Democratic Secular Iran.