What will happen in Iran?

I have been glued to the news coming out of Iran.

I would like to know who was advising Ahmadenijad? Who though it was a good idea to say he won by a landslide? Why would he receive almost twice the number of votes than the last time, when he is less popular now? Or than some of his opponents apparently "lost" in their hometowns.

At first I thought maybe there was some to Ahmadenijad's claim, that the Western press was wrong about the polling which predicted the race would be close and a high turnout would spell defeat for him.

Well there was a very high turnout. His government shut down Facebook and other social network programs. They told people no to protest but as you see from the photo angry voters protested anyway.

What happened to the votes? Many of the protesters are women furious with Ahmadenijad's regime for trying to take away their rights. Even something as simple as what color nail polish you wore was becoming an issue and he also tried to change the marriage laws. The new laws would've negatively impact women. Over 60% of university students are women.

Ahmadenijad must be stunned by what is happening in his country. He probably thought he could do whatever he wanted and the people would just accept it. There are rumors that he actually came in THIRD. If this is true no wonder folks are in the streets. He's trying to ban foreign press, forcing them to stay away from the protests but Iranians are using the Internet to get images out. Several protesters were killed yesterday.

I fear things are only going to get worse. People do not give up power easily.


photo: L.A. Times