The Axis of Pomo

The New York Times for once conformed to reality in palpably painting the atmosphere of melancholy that has descended on the city of Tehran like a suffocating blanket. Reuters relays Human Rights Watch reporting that "paramilitary Basij forces stage nightly raids in Tehran, invading private homes and beating residents in an attempt to stop protests against Iran's disputed election."

"Witnesses are telling us that the Basijis are trashing entire streets and even neighborhoods as well as individual homes trying to stop the nightly rooftop protest chants," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a June 26 report by the New York-based group.

State terrorism has been part of Marxist revolutionary theory from the outset. One might translate the justification into what Alexander Solzhenitsyn called "the lie": the ethics of our goal is so noble, that all live by the convention to pretend we reached "cosmic achievement", if not .... 

Reality is incontrovertible, but lies and pretence can be extorted. The pretence of having reached the culmination of human makeability never fails to sharply contrast with the reality of poverty, misery, oppression, and amorality followed by spiritual death.

This is all made possible by the fallacy that thought creates reality (leading to pretence, wishful thinking and make-believe), resting in turn on the omission to distinguish between metaphysical reality and man-made reality (notable exception: global warming).

We've written extensively about the relationship between coercion and Utopian ideology in a series entitled "The Left's* Default Position: Coercion" of which the third part is yet to be posted. 

Not all may have gotten the picture at the time, but the Islamic Revolution in Iran was heavily injected with the serum of Postmodernity. The result is a highly corrosive potion of Islamism, Socialism and Fascism, also known as the Unholy Alliance. Waller R. Newell explains it brilliantly in "Postmodern Jihad" in The Weekly Standard.

But back to updating the situation, there's some breaking news vying with events involving President Zeyala of Honduras, yet another Postmodern, Chavist President displaying the usual contempt for the Constitution of his country, and whose army doesn't intent to wait till freedom has been forfeited altogether (we'll pick up that story elsewhere; Fausta has more on what is by now is a full blown coup; WH reiterating polylogistic Prime Directive).

CNN: "Iran allows demonstration despite weekend clampdown"

It may well be a ploy, but the regime will allow a demonstration at Tehran's Ghoba mosque Sunday, CNN has confirmed.  The gathering is officially meant to honor Mohammad Beheshti, a hero of the 1979 Islamic Revolution who was killed in a bombing on this date in 1981. (...) A post on a Web site associated with opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi urged people to go to the rally. (...) >>>

Also, local staff members of the British Embassy in Iran have been arrested. (...)  "The Foreign Office did not confirm the number of people held. Last week, Tehran expelled two British diplomats. London responded by booting two Iranians. Iran then recalled its ambassador to Britain, saying it would reconsider its diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom."

- Caption: first image from Ghoba Mosque. Also watch Twitcaps for the latest tweet pictures. First video on YouTube - 

! The latest: AP: "Iranian police clash with up to 3,000 protesters"

The reports could not immediately be independently verified because of tight restrictions imposed on journalists in Iran.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.EDITOR'S NOTE: Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.

The reason why the golden opportunity to steer Iran off its nuclear collision course with history was squandered, is that it sadly coincides with a Postmodernist currently occupying the White House. Enough has been commented on the failed Iran policy over the last few weeks. But no mistake: this is a wake-up call. It is not all that difficult to peek into the future by the art of extrapolation. If so, do Gird Your Loins! The forces of retrogression are gathering.

* "the Left" here stands for Leftist and Rightist Socialists