Iran Feature: Is This How Tehran Took Down the US Drone? (Peterson/Faramarzi)

Iran guided the CIA's "lost" stealth drone to an intact landing inside hostile territory by exploiting a navigational weakness long-known to the US military, according to an Iranian engineer now working on the captured drone's systems inside Iran.

Iranian electronic warfare specialists were able to cut off communications links of the American bat-wing RQ-170 Sentinel, says the engineer, who works for one of many Iranian military and civilian teams currently trying to unravel the drone’s stealth and intelligence secrets, and who could not be named for his safety.

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Catchphrase of "Many Dead"

2329 GMT: Two important visual pieces of evidence from Bahrain. The first, too graphic to post here, is a picture of the body of young Ali Al Qassab, who was reportedly killed earlier when he was run over. Activists claim he was run over by a police jeep, the government tells a different story.

The second piece of evidence is a video, reportedly taken today, that claims to show a police jeep accelerating towards a group of protesters who are near the side of the road. We've seen many videos like these in the past, and have already posted another video that shows a near-miss between a police vehicle and a pedestrian (see video at 1918):

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The Latest from Iran (15 December): A Bigger Question in the Saudi Mystery

Iran Feature: The Economy --- The State of the Nation
Iran Feature: The Economy --- Assessing The Real Rate of Unemployment
Iran Feature: The Supreme Leader Is Worried --- Three Developments You Probably Don't Know
Iran Feature: The EA Story That Made It Big in Iranian Media
The Latest from Iran (14 December): Tehran Loses Another Friend?

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Iran Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi & Saudi Crown Prince Nayef1541 GMT: Economy Watch. A member of Iran's Development Commission has a solution for economic difficulties: rely on the investments of Iranians living abroad.

1531 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Yaghoub Maleki, a member of Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign staff, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

1321 GMT: All-is-Well Alert. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the head of the Basij militia, has claimed that more than 20,000 people, given the proper "guidance", have repented for the errors of their protests after the 2009 Presidential election.

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US Opinion: So American Citizens Can Be Detained Indefinitely at Home....

I could invoke Benjamin Franklin, who once said, "People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both."

But Benjamin Franklin does not live in America any more. And those of us who are not willing to trade our freedom may now lose it at any time.

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Iran Feature: The Economy --- The State of the Nation (Khajehpour)

For decades, the Iranian economy has produced mixed signals which are difficult to interpret. On the one side, the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) keeps growing (at an average of about 5 percent over the last decade and about 3 percent over the past 3 years), which is mainly explained through the country’s vast resource base and the higher than expected oil prices in recent years. On the other side, the economy produces alarming indicators in inflation, unemployment, budget deficit, etc. as it continues to suffer from a host of internal and external processes such as the consequences of subsidy reforms, the effect of sanctions, as well as quasi privatization.

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Bahrain Video: Amid Protests and Tear Gas, "It is Essential That We Speak Out" (Kristof)

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Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times was allowed back into Bahrain last week to observe the situation on the ground, although he and his cameraman were briefly held by police amid secuity forces' attempts to disperse protests. His report on the clashes and political situation accompanies his column today, "If this repression were unfolding in Iran or Syria, the White House would thunder with indignation. When it is our pals who behave this way, it is even more essential that we speak out."

Among those interviewed by Kristof are regime supporter Saqer Al Khalifa, activist Zainab Alkhawaja, Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahrain Center of Human Rights, and Sadiq Al Ekri, a plastic surgeon severely beaten this spring by security forces.

Syria Video and Document: 74 Commanders and Officials Named For "Shoot to Kill" Orders

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The statements of soldiers and officers who defected from the Syrian military and intelligence agencies leave no doubt that the abuses were committed in pursuance of state policy and that they were directly ordered, authorized, or condoned at the highest levels of Syrian military and civilian leadership.

Human Rights Watch’s findings show that military commanders and officials in the intelligence agencies gave both direct and standing orders to use lethal force against the protesters (at least 20 such cases are documented in detail in this report) as well as to unlawfully arrest, beat, and torture the detainees. In addition, senior military commanders and high-ranking officials, including President Bashar al-Assad and the heads of the intelligence agencies, bear command responsibility for violations committed by their subordinates to the extent that they knew or should have known of the abuses but failed to take action to stop them.

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Iran Feature: The Economy --- Assessing The Real Rate of Unemployment (Salehi-Isfahani)

The Statistical Center of Iran report for summer 1390 (2011) puts the size of the active labor force at 23.4 million, lower than the same figure reported for spring 1390 (24.4 million).  Assuming a small growth rate of 0.5% in the population of the 10+ age groups over one quarter, if the participation rate had not decreased we should have seen a labor force of about 24.6 million for last summer.  This leaves a rather large gap of about 1.2 million ‘missing workers’ who could be safely assumed to have been discouraged and therefore in fact unemployed.  So, instead of 2.6 million unemployed counted in the survey we could have as many as 3.8 million unemployed, in which case the real unemployment rate would be — deep breath! — as high as 15.2 percent.

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The Latest from Iran (14 December): Tehran Loses Another Friend?

See also Iran Feature: The Supreme Leader Is Worried --- Three Developments You Probably Don't Know
Iran Feature: The EA Story That Made It Big in Iranian Media
The Latest from Iran (13 December): Shoes Are Thrown at the President

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1855 GMT: Elections Watch. Ali Mohammad Gharibani, the head of the Coordination Council of the Reformist Front, has said that, that in the “absence of any possibility for the reformists to inform and campaign,” the reformists will not present a list of candidates or endorse any candidates in March's Parliamentary elections.

The council's announcement asserted, "After months of anticipation and struggle to open the political arena to fair elections and to provide a transparent election process, the situation is in effect becoming more and more restrictive.”

In addition to the standard vetting of candidates by the Guardian Council, the regime has suspended and suppressed major reformist groups such as the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution, and Etemade Melli.

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Iran Feature: The Supreme Leader Is Worried --- Three Developments You Probably Don't Know

Followers of our daily coverage of Iran will be aware of the political tensions that have gripped the Islamic Republic's establishment. Those battles, from charges of corruption to warning of a "deviant current" affecting the Government, will only grow in intensity before next March's Parliamentary elections.

Yet EA sources have given us a story that goes even farther. The core of the tale is the belief amongst many observers in Iran that, despite all the attacks upon it, the President's camp will be the winner in the elections. Whether or not that assessment is correct, the Supreme Leader's advisors are concerned.

In recent weeks, those advisors have taken several steps. Among those measures are the pursuit of a new political ally --- at least in the short-term --- to check an Ahmadinejad success at the polls in March, Ayatollah Khamenei's people are seeking out reformists to call for their participation in the elections.

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