JUDE'S PROFILE

author=Holbert link=topic=4044.msg82270#msg82270 date=1245714778
This off-topic, but it has occurred to me that if RMN wants the forum-goers to post more comments on the main site, perhaps we should consider having boobledeeboo post the news article.

I never even look at the main site. My bookmark is for the forum.

In what universe is this game anything but terrible?

I don't think people fathom the amount of funding and research that goes into pioneering the CDMA cell network. You have to recoup the cost and turn a profit before the competition pushes out the next generation of cell phone technology. Your oldschool 2G networks couldn't handle the kind of texting traffic you see today, so that high cost might've been based on bandwidth availability then, and remained due to precedent. I don't really know for sure, but there are several contributing factors that sound valid to me.

I find some of these races to be really hard. I can barely break 80 wpm because the pacing is awkward. I find myself trying to type the sentences as I would form them, which only digs a hole. I'm not the greatest copier.

author=kentona link=topic=4003.msg80950#msg80950 date=1245167425
So what supposed to happen? Is a country with a bigger stick supposed to invade then?

You don't understand Iran very well, and I pretty explicit said we shouldn't invade. Iran will fold to international and internal pressure, because both its leaders and people want their nation to be an important player in the world, and actively seek to become such. On one side you have the theocratic Ahmadinejad/clerics/Supreme Leader who act out to garner international attention, and on the other the more moderate Mousavi/reformists/Khatami who choose a more diplomatic course. The people themselves, particularly the younger generations, have rejected the stylings of A-jad not so differently from Americans who lashed out against GWB for making them look bad.

The vote was rigged--there's no question about that. Mousavi was dominating polls a week earlier and a landslide victory was almost inevitable if voter turnout was high. But instead the impossible happened, with 40 million votes in the first two hours for Ahmadinejad, hand counted (yeah, right). Our election machine in the USA isn't even close to that fast. So the clerics have chosen Ahmadinejad to spite the west, not anticipating the massive backlash they would receive from the populace. As much as they want the incumbent to stick around, they themselves want to stick around even more.

The Supreme Leader has all ready called for a recount to try and tame the population and keep Tehran from burning, the results of which may be interesting. To keep Ahmadinejad is the likely outcome, except with more believable odds than 2:1. They don't want to appear weak by completely overturning the results. A-jad's base is strong enough that he could've won given low turn out. Some predicted as much as a 70% turn out would be needed to secure Mousavi's victory. This would go a long way to settling things down.

The west is all ready doing what needs to be done, with media coverage, condemning the violence against Iranian citizens, and by emboldening protesters with words like "the world is inspired by your rallies." Washington just recently booted the current Iran adviser, who often served to incite animosity between nation states with his perspective.

What remains to be seen is whether or not the Guardian Council (six clerics, six lawyers) has the balls to admit Mousavi won and declare him the new president. If civil war does erupt, which I don't expect, you can bet more involvement from the west in the form of tighter Iraq/Afghan border controls and a stronger naval presence in the Straight of Hormuz to blockade weapons trafficking. Don't be surprised if we supply reformists in some capacity either.