The only thing I know about this whole situation is that Ahmadinejad has not exactly made friends with the US. I don't know enough about Ahmadinejad or Mousavi and their campaign to be President of Iran. I really haven't done enough homework into the conflicts to give an educated opinion. So, I will talk about one thing I have noticed in all this.
It is very common for us as Americans to cry out against the government for pushing our values on other countries. Iran is not a European country where the government and religious ideals are like ours. Free speech is not something that the people are used to even if it is a "right" to the people on paper. Iran tried to shut down blogs during this time of protest. Fortunately, for the Iranians, they forgot to shut down Twitter and Facebook.
The beauty in this situation is we are not pushing our ideals on them nor are they asking to be more like the US. The free speech and protests (our right of assembly) has been natural. The Iranians are doing it on their own. Again, I am not advocating forcing our way of life on other countries. But the argument of our ideals not being for everyone are falling by the wayside in the gutters of Tehran.
Check out these pictures from supporters and opposition to Ahmadinejad's victory. The pictures show bravery, community standing up for one another, and the ugliness of protesting.
An aside to this: A few days ago CNN got blasted on their website for not having anything about the Iran elections on the main page. Twitter members started including the tag #CNNfail in their tweets. Today, they have a special Iran Updates section right on their main page. In the years I have been to their website I have never seen them do anything like that. I'm not endorsing CNN here so don't go there just take my word for it. Look at the power and voice of the common man. In one instance Twitter decided to postpone scheduled maintenance and in another it affected a major news organization's web site. Could this be the way the silent majority finally is heard?
