The Latest from Iran (12 August): The Opposition and the Question of Elections

1655 GMT: Secretary-General Mohammad Reza Bahonar, last night at a forum of the Islamic Society of Engineers, said that the principalists haven't been this unified since May 23, 1997, the election of President Khatami.

1643 GMT: Students at Sharif University have witten a letter to Sadiq Larijani, complaining that the judiciary is suspicious of Academic Elite and treats the universities harshly. The students' claims are largely focused around the arrests of Omid Koukabi and Ali Akbar Mohammadzadeh, and the letters asks for their release.

1544 GMT: Principalist MP Hamid Reza Katouzian said that Ahmadinejad has crossed several "red lines," Ahmadinejad and his cabinet "don't believe in expertise and do not employ collective wisdom."

Speaking to Kabar Online correspondent, Katouzian who is the head of the Majlis energy commission explained why after Ahmadinejad didn't attend his office for 10 days, the Principalists began to criticize him.

"They finally realized that Mr. Ahmadinejad has already crossed several red lines and it's regrettable that they confronted him simply as he resisted approving the decree issued by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei not sooner," the lawmaker said.

"Of course there's no doubt that all officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran should adhere to Velayat-e Faqih, but they should also react to the illegal actions taken by the government, instead of remaining silent" he added.

1529 GMT: A dramatic scene, Iranian security operatives repelling from rooftops, smashing things, and hanging in precarious positions. Are they performing a dramatic water or mountain rescue of civilians in need? Are they jumping down from heights to raid a terrorist compound?

Nope, it's just a neat gallery of police destroying satellite dishes, because, in Iran, news is more dangerous than jumping off of a roof.

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: And So Another Friday....

2016 GMT: Hundreds are arriving in Tahrir Square, as police block the gathering crowds from forming:

2012 GMT: The LCCS has this update on Daraa, an important neighborhood of Damascus:

Daraa: In an extremely tense situation, security forces are firing on women participating in a sit-in in Al-Hara city to demand that their detained children be released

Large demonstrations are reported across Syria. Like we said yesterday, this is the "new normal."

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Iran Snapshot: Tehran Offers Basij Militia to Britain as "Peacekeeping Force"

In recent days, we have noted the interest in Iranian leaders and media in the situation in England, from the declaration that the Supreme Leader predicted the unrest as the next phase of the "Islamic Awakening" to President Ahmadinejad's suggesting of referring the matter of "savage" British policing to the United Nations Security Council to the suggestion that Iran could send human rights inspectors to London.

This, however, may be the most generous expression of assistance --- Mohammad Reza Naqdi, has offered the services of the Basij militia as a "peacekeeping force". 

In case, you haven't heard of this peacekeeping force, here is a photograph of members of the "people's militia", established in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini:

And here are Basij militia keeping the peace on 20 June 2009, eight days after Iran's disputed Presidential election, by firing into crowds of protesters:

I'm not quite sure of Naqdi's logic --- is he sending the Basij militia to work with the "savage" and "racist" British police? Or is he sending the militia to work with "oppressed people" in a peaceful assault on buildings, shops, and security forces?

No matter --- I am certain that the commander is making his offer with the very best of intentions....

US Feature: Countering Rumsfeld's Lie --- Detainees Were Waterboarded (Kaye)

In the controversy over whether torture, especially waterboarding, was used to gather information leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told Fox News' Sean Hannity recently that "no one was waterboarded at Guantanamo by the US military. In fact, no one was waterboarded at Guantanamo, period."

In his memoir, "Known and Unknown," Rumsfeld maintained, "To my knowledge, no US military personnel involved in interrogations waterboarded any detainees,not at Guantanamo or anywhere else in the world." But as we shall see, Rumsfeld was either lying outright, or artfully twisting the truth.

Others have insisted as well that the military never waterboarded anyone. Law and national security writer Benjamin Wittes wrote in The New Republic last year that "the military, unlike the CIA, never waterboarded anybody." Harper's columnist Scott Horton also noted last year, "There is no documentation yet of waterboarding at Gitmo, but the case book is far from closed on that score, too."

Yet, though not widely reported and scattered among various articles and reports on detainee treatment by the military, including first-person accounts, there are a number of stories of forced water choking or drowning, both at Guantanamo and other US military sites.

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Egypt Feature: A Guide to the Political Movements (Amr)

I've noticed that most of the foreign media as well as my non-Egyptian friends usually see the political scene in Egypt as a simple bipolar one, Islamists & Liberals, and that's it. That's why I decided to put the Egyptian political spectrum the way I see it.

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The "New Normal"

1756 GMT: Semih Idiz offers an analysis on whether or not a visit by Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to Syria will be effective. His conclusion is that Turkey has little recourse, and Assad is likely trying to bide time for his reforms to kick in (and I would add, he is attempting to discourage the opposition by killing it, a tactic which seems to be failing thus far). However, Idiz offers this interesting paragraph, hinting that even Assad will find it difficult to change Syria:

Regardless of his talk about reforms, Assad is not in a position to allow this even if he wanted to, given the privileges the Alawite minority has secured for itself over the decades and which it is unlikely to give up without a fight. The question for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan then is what happens if Assad does not comply with Turkey’s demands.

1747 GMT: The international human rights organisation Avaaz is reporting that 2 people have been killed today in a renewed military campaign against the city of Hama, Syria.

1743 GMT: US President Barack Obama and Turkey Prime Minister Erdogan conferred today, over the phone, about the ongoing crisis in Syria:

The White House says that in a call Obama made to Erdogan Thursday, the pair agreed that the violence in Syria must stop and the demands of the Syrian people for a transition to democracy must be met. Obama and Erdogan agreed to consult closely in the coming days as the situation in Syria develops.

1709 GMT: The LCCS is reporting that 12 people have been killed today in Syria, 11 in Qussair, outside of Homs.

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Britain Video: Father of Murdered Birmingham Man Pleads for Calm "Respect Our Sons"

Tariq Jahan, the father of one of three men killed by a speeding car in the Winson Green section of north Birmingham on Monday night, made a televised appeal for calm yesterday.

After Jahan's prepared statement, there was a further encounter as youths --- angered over the deaths in a deliberate hit-and-run at 70 miles per hour --- called for a forceful response. Jahan called out ot the men: "I'm mourning my son and you want to start up again. Grow up, guys."

There was no violence in Winson Green overnight. Instead, about 200 people held a candle-lit vigil for Haroon Jahan, Shezad Ali and Abdul Musavir.

Britain Latest: After a Quiet Night, Attention Shifts to Politics and Policing (The Guardian)

Footage and interviews from the candle-lit vigil last night for three men killed in Winson Green in Birmingham

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David Cameron is facing growing cabinet pressure to rethink the coalition's policing cuts in the wake of the deaths of three young Birmingham men, who were hit by a car during violent disturbances in the city.

As the Police Federation warned of a "catastrophe" if similar riots erupted after the cuts were introduced, a senior government source said the Home Office would be advised to take a fresh look at its plans to cut £2bn from police funding over the next few years. "The optics have changed," the source told the Guardian.

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The Latest from Iran (11 August): We Are Special

1450 GMT: Claim of Day. According to Rah-e Sabz, the Supreme Leader may have offered words of wisdom to many university students yesterday (see 0555 GMT), but they were not from Tehran University's Islamic Students Organisation --- Ayatollah Khamenei would not let them participate.

1445 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Asr-e Iran has a pop at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: during the past six years, 30 million people have sent letters of request to the Presidential office -- "these data are a shame, not an honour".

1145 GMT: Cartoon of Day. Eghbal Mahvari offers the Supreme Leader's latest comment on the unrest in Britain.

QUESTION: Seyed Ali, what about violence in London?
KHAMENEI: "Well, I can't see it exactly from this height, but it seems as if the brutal London regime is beating its citizens":

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Iran Special: The List of the 100+ Journalists Detained Since the 2009 Elections --- Part 2 (Alinejad/Irani)

This article has been moved to the entries for 19 August.