On Jun 13, 2009, at 10:37 PM, KJ wrote:
> .... there may well have been fraud at the margins
> -- something that should be familiar to most electoral systems -- but
> not exactly theft....
With sufficient stupidity it would be possible to say something like that about the 2000 and 2004 US elections. But when the "Ministry of the Interior" of a police state releases, a few hours after the polls close, a precise count of more than 35 million paper ballots; when it discloses no breakdown of those numbers by election district; when the counting process is completely secret and no recount is permitted; when nonofficial inspection of ballot boxes is prohibited; when no opposition observers are permitted inside the polling stations; when electronic communication among the people is administratively shut down even before voting has ended as are pro-opposition media outlets; when the state's repressive apparatus shows up totally mobilized the moment the "results" are proclaimed; when the main opposition candidate becomes incommunicado the moment he speaks of fraud; etc., etc., ad nauseam--this leaves no doubt whatsoever that Ahmedinejad's "election" makes Mugabe's look only moderately fraudulent!
Shane Mage
> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos