July 30th marked the fortieth day since Neda Soltan was shot while attending a legal public protest in Tehran, Iran.  In Shia Islam the mourning period for a lost loved one ends and culminates on the fortieth day - the "Celleh".  With respect for the murdered girl and adherence to their religious beliefs, thousands of Iranians went to her grave and to the Grand Mosala prayer complex to pay their respects.

The hoodlums that support the Iranian police-state - operating under a shredding banner of an "Islamic Republic" - contravened the consititution of the country and the beliefs of Islam by attacking the mourners with tear gas, bats and guns.

If my experience is any guide, Iranians outside Iran are living some of the most intense days of their lives. Since the first, disputed results of the presidential election were announced soon after the polls closed on 12 June 2009 and the protests almost immediately started, my waking hours are absorbed- hour-by-hour, even minute-by-minute - in gathering computer-delivered news about what is happening in my homeland

It is compulsive, and also complicated. The intense emotional engagement brings with it far more unease than satisfaction. The process of digesting the news from family and friends in Iran that clogs my inbox, of following multiple links to blogs,of watching sometimes horrific videos, leaves me at once outraged and energised yet also sickened and paralysed into inaction and silence. If there is a pattern to these feelings, it lies in an often wild pendulum-swing between a vague sense of hope and elation, and deep shame and depression.  

Human Events, of all places, has a remarkably sane summation of the Iranian situation written by, of all people, Pat Buchanan.

"Ten Days That Shook Tehran" asks the question:

Where do the ayatollah and Ahmadinejad go from here?

It is Sunday morning in Iran now.  Dawn has crept across the land and is chasing away the shadows that hide the truth.

Here's hoping that our friends in Iran made it through the night OK and that the day brings them peace and freedom.

You can't forget the eyes.

For all the horror of the blood, and consternation and panic in the crowd at the gruesome murder of this young woman, what draws us are those beautiful big eyes, dimmed and then extinguished, forever.

In 1989 the Chinese government had enough of the protesters occupying a huge square in the middle of its national capital, so they kicked out the foreign press, shut down communications and rolled in the tanks.

Well, they almost shut down communications...

In 2009 the Iranian government tried the same thing.  It didn't work any better.

Arbor Networks provides a good view on Iran's connection to the Internet via the Internet Observatory.  The fat healthy traffic to the left of the dropoff is what Iranian Internet traffic looks like at normal times, the cliff denotes the election and to the right of that you see traffic increasingly "leaking" past the imposed restrictions.

Some of the other threads are getting a bit cluttered. Consider this an open thread wherein to continue discussing the Iranian election and protests. Obama's comments and a couple of news clips below the fold.

Breaking News this morning out of Iran: they want to talk to the US.

President Obama has plans for Iran.  During his press conference last night the President said:

In the coming months, we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table face to face.

Well, now the Iranian government is willing.  We will see if they have anything to offer to the world and to their own people.

As the world turns favorable eyes on America again, there is one group that is upset.  Outcast.  Disowned, discouraged and disenfranchised.

Terrorists, Extremists and Despots.

We'll just call them TED.  TED ain't happy.