Iran's Internet Shutdown Extends to 5th Day, Further Harming Economy

[Alan]

Iran's shutdown of domestic Internet access as part of a crackdown on anti-government protests has stretched beyond four days, an unprecedented outage that has caused growing harm to the economy. Iran's shutdown of domestic Internet access as part of a crackdown on anti-government protests has stretched beyond four days, an unprecedented outage that has caused growing harm to the economy.

Many Iranians see the gas price increase as putting a further burden on their wallets at a time of worsening economic conditions. Iran's currency has slumped versus the dollar, while inflation and unemployment have soared in the past year, as the U.S. has tightened economic sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran to stop perceived malign behaviors. Government corruption and mismanagement also have contributed to the malaise.


"Mismanagement by the Iranian regime is helping to make the U.S. sanctions more effective," Ilan Berman, a Middle East security analyst at the American Foreign Policy Council, said in a VOA Persian interview."Iranians are angry at the regime for the way it is conducting political and economic business. There is much less anger directed at the United States. Iranians know who the real culprit is," he said.
State-approved Iranian news sites published several articles on Wednesday, highlighting ways in which the internet shutdown has been hurting the economy even more.

Economics news site Eqtesad quoted Communications Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari-Jahromi as saying online business transactions "have fallen by 90%" since the outage began.

Iran's Internet Shutdown Extends to 5th Day, Further Harming Economy

Iran's shutdown of domestic Internet access as part of a crackdown on anti-government protests has stretched beyond four days, an unprecedented outage that has caused growing harm to the economy. Update: It has been 100 hours since #Iran introduced a near-total internet shutdown cutting off the...

www.voanews.com

 

[Nicodeamus]

My GF is Iranian, we managed to reach her family with satellite phone. Most people are now staying home, scared that they cannot go into the streets.

Iran is no stranger to protest, but this is the first time that the crack down has been this brutal. The revolutionary guard started openly killing people on the street and they suspect that the death toll is much higher than is reported. There has also been a series of arrest throughout the country. Iran is basically run by a Gestapo. Everyone considers the supreme leader to just be a figure head for the armed forces.

I suspect that a massive revolt is coming in the next months. People started fighting back and killed some of the Guards, but they are just to well trained and equipped for any meaningful resistance.

 

[Alan]

Western liberals favorite 'moderate' mullah has claimed victory...

Iran's president has claimed victory against an "enemy" plot, following a deadly crackdown by security forces on protests over petrol price rises."Subversive elements" backed by the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia were behind the unrest, Hassan Rouhani alleged.

Amnesty International has said it has received credible reports that at least 106 people have been killed since the protests erupted on Friday. Other sources have said the death toll may be far higher.

The government has blocked Iranians' access to the internet since Saturday, making it hard to gather information and assess the situation on the streets.

Iran protests: Rouhani claims victory against 'enemy' after crackdown

President Hassan Rouhani blames "subversive elements" backed by foreign enemies for the unrest.

www.bbc.com

 

[MidnightWizard]

I suspect that a massive revolt is coming in the next months. People started fighting back and killed some of the Guards, but they are just to well trained and equipped for any meaningful resistance.

Another -- COLOR revolution ?
They have already had a few of those -- read about the discovery of OIL -- and -- Anglo-Persian ...

Anthony Eden, the British prime minister whose career crashed when the US pulled the plug on the 1956 Anglo-French campaign to reclaim the Suez Canal, recalled in retirement a conversation he had with his Conservative colleague Enoch Powell. Powell, who came across as somewhat unhinged long before his poisonous “Rivers of Blood” jeremiad on immigration, said to Eden in the late 1940s: “I want to tell you that in the Middle East our great enemies are the Americans.” Eden was nonplussed. “You know, I had no idea what he meant.”

Britain, America and the battle for mastery of the Middle East

Lords of the Desert

 

[surface]

I suspect that a massive revolt is coming in the next months. People started fighting back and killed some of the Guards, but they are just to well trained and equipped for any meaningful resistance.

Sorry to hear man. Whatever snippets of understanding I have about Iran is via youtube videos by armin navabi and the likes. It seems a reasonably liberal country went down the drain because of islamists in last 30 years.

 

[Nicodeamus]

Sorry to hear man. Whatever snippets of understanding I have about Iran is via youtube videos by armin navabi and the likes. It seems a reasonably liberal country went down the drain because of islamists in last 30 years.

It is full of contradictions, you see Iranians drinking in Europe, dancing and listening to American music then back home they have the rubbish in charge. Iran is a very educated country, but as soon as someone gets educated they leave for Europe or North America. South Africa's brain drain is nothing compared to what they experienced.

 

[TysonRoux]

It is full of contradictions, you see Iranians drinking in Europe, dancing and listening to American music then back home they have the rubbish in charge. Iran is a very educated country, but as soon as someone gets educated they leave for Europe or North America. South Africa's brain drain is nothing compared to what they experienced.

Islamic law/rule, what could be better than that.

 

[ponder]

Sorry to hear man. Whatever snippets of understanding I have about Iran is via youtube videos by armin navabi and the likes. It seems a reasonably liberal country went down the drain because of islamists in last 30 years.

Had you walked the streets pre '79 revolution you could have easily mistaken it for meditarean europe... and then they islamified it properly.

 

[lived666]

Pfft shutting down the internet, trampling on civil rights and killing demonstrators is obviously what makes for a good human rights record.

UN Human Rights Council Session Sees Praise Lavished on Iranian Regime’s Human Rights Record

The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Photo: UN. The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) outraged its critics once …

www.algemeiner.com

Heck, even best Korea had this to say:

Delegates who showered compliments on Iran included the representative of North Korea, who said, “We highly commend Iran for its effort and continued protection of human rights for its people, particularly children and people with disabilities.”

 

[Nicodeamus]

Had you walked the streets pre '79 revolution you could have easily mistaken it for meditarean europe... and then they islamified it properly.

I wouldn't say that it was that simple. People often Romanticism the Shah. He was a brutal dictator and had his own security force that resembles the revolutionary guard today. The mosques were the only way to congregate without being persecuted. The problem was that the most rural and uneducated people of Iran at the time mobilized behind a theocratic maniac. As soon as he got into power Khomeini persecuted everyone who spoke out against the Shah and imposed ridiculous religious laws onto the country. It is the old story where one tyrant is placed with another one that is much worse. Then the war with Sadam Hussein happened and basically France and the USA profited by selling weapons to both side.

Iran's contradiction is that Khomeini did expand education to women, not because he was virtuous, but because most men died in the war. I have not met a single Iranian that didn't lose either an Uncle or Father in the war with Sadam Hussein.

Khomeini went further by giving women grants to have lots of children. Most Iranians grew up in 4-5 family homes. As a result the younger generation is now bigger than the older and they are sitting with a very educated youth that simply cannot find any work. Most Iranians can see right through religion and their government, but the price for dissenting is that you're either executed or thrown in jail.

The whole story is quite tragic. My GF's opinion is that Iranians all want a revolution, but they already saw what happened the last time, so most of them are trying to outlive the regime.

You find intense contradictions in the country. It has for example more women in science and mathematics than most western countries. Every Iranian makes wine in their own private cellars and the country has the largest condom factory in the world.

Iran is not your average Arab backwards country, it is quite technologically advanced, but it has a religious maniac in power.

 

[Polymathic]

I wouldn't say that it was that simple. People often Romanticism the Shah. He was a brutal dictator and had his own security force that resembles the revolutionary guard today. The mosques were the only way to congregate without being persecuted. The problem was that the most rural and uneducated people of Iran at the time mobilized behind a theocratic maniac. As soon as he got into power Khomeini persecuted everyone who spoke out against the Shah and imposed ridiculous religious laws onto the country. It is the old story where one tyrant is placed with another one that is much worse. Then the war with Sadam Hussein happened and basically France and the USA profited by selling weapons to both side.

Iran's contradiction is that Khomeini did expand education to women, not because he was virtuous, but because most men died in the war. I have not met a single Iranian that didn't lose either an Uncle or Father in the war with Sadam Hussein.

Khomeini went further by giving women grants to have lots of children. Most Iranians grew up in 4-5 family homes. As a result the younger generation is now bigger than the older and they are sitting with a very educated youth that simply cannot find any work. Most Iranians can see right through religion and their government, but the price for dissenting is that you're either executed or thrown in jail.

The whole story is quite tragic. My GF's opinion is that Iranians all want a revolution, but they already saw what happened the last time, so most of them are trying to outlive the regime.

You find intense contradictions in the country. It has for example more women in science and mathematics than most western countries. Every Iranian makes wine in their own private cellars and the country has the largest condom factory in the world.

Iran is not your average Arab backwards country, it is quite technologically advanced, but it has a religious maniac in power.

For one Iran isn't an Arab country.

 

[rambo919]

No bloody revolution ever guarantees lasting prosperity even if it happens to be the only option left, especially in the middle east.

 

[Nicodeamus]

For one Iran isn't an Arab country.

I can show you numerous examples where I said to people that I am dating an Iranian and then they automatically think Arab. Once I tell them she is Persian they think that she is white.

There is a massive cognitive dissonance about Iran.

 

[Peon]

@Nicodeamus

Eish, strongs to you and your GF.

 

[Polymathic]

I can show you numerous examples where I said to people that I am dating an Iranian and then they automatically think Arab. Once I tell them she is Persian they think that she is white.

There is a massive cognitive dissonance about Iran.

Well they are Aryan, less incorrect to consider them white than Arab.

 

[Nicodeamus]

Well they are Aryan, less incorrect to consider them white than Arab.

a DNA analysis will put all of that to rest.

 

[Wasabee!]

Al-Jazeera 13:29: 'and Moohamid noted he was the chief of all SJWs, and said while waving his nighty "Verily, I declare a holy war on Twitter on all infidels over the age of 18 that pirate software!"'.

 

[surface]

Well they are Aryan, less incorrect to consider them white than Arab.

a DNA analysis will put all of that to rest.

eh - I had no idea DNA would indicate if one is aryan or not. Is aryan same as persian?

 

[Polymathic]

eh - I had no idea DNA would indicate if one is aryan or not. Is aryan same as persian?

The country's endonym has always been Iran for the last 3000 years. The name essentially means Land of the Aryans in Persian. Aryan and Iran have the same root and refer to the Indo-European people group who moved from the Russian Steppe into what is now the Southern Caucuses, Iran and Nothern India.

 

[surface]

The country's endonym has always been Iran for the last 3000 years. The name essentially means Land of the Aryans in Persian. Aryan and Iran have the same root and refer to the Indo-European people group who moved from the Russian Steppe into what is now the Southern Caucuses, Iran and Nothern India.

sure, I really meant to know if "aryan" is included in modern day DNA analysis. I am aware of aryan term from school day sanskrit studies and some other meanings as you mention above.