I tried as hard as I could but the Iranian demonstrators didn't listen

Some of the best reporting I have seen on the topic is done by http://opensourcegeopolitics.blogspot.com/. While I'm a agnostic of histoorical interpretation I typically want to point out aside from primary sources and texts it is hard to generalize about Iran now. I almost balk at the comparrison with the Endlish Civil War due to a close examination of the reasoning behind the contemporary writtings.

Russell was a prominent historian on the origins of the English Civil War. His major works include Crisis of Parliaments: English history 1509-1660 (1971), Origins of the English Civil War (edited, 1973), Parliaments and English politics, 1621-1629 (1979), Unrevolutionary England, 1603-1642 (1990), and Fall of the British monarchies, 1637-1642 (1991). His work on early Stuart Parliaments was profoundly influenced by the work of Alan Everitt, who had argued that the English gentry were preoccupied with defending their positions in the localities rather than responding to the demands of the Crown. This no longer seems entirely plausible in the light of the work done by Richard Cust, Peter Lake and Christopher Thompson. Russell argued that the English civil war was much less a result of long term constitutional conflicts than had previously been thought, and that its origins are to be sought rather in the years immediately preceding the outbreak of war in 1642 and in the context of the problems of the multiple kingdoms of the British Isles, a hypothesis for which he was indebted to the pioneering study of H.G.Koenigsberger. This area is still being explored by historians like John Adamson and David Scott even if their detailed conclusions vary from those reached by Russell.

wiki

The point is this, most of the people during the English Civil war were ILLITERATE! They did not have a notion of the Parliament rules or structures, giving ordinary Americans a game show question on the US government or geometry demonstrates the awareness if you will the difference between the educated political animal ascribing events and that of the members of the crowd.

It would be conveneint to say that the slogan "remember the alamo" or that George Wahington tossed a dollar over the potomac were pivotal moments in US history, they were not!

Not only has Iran done a poor job of responding to the crisis by blaming the US for it.. a hallmark of the belief that Al Gore invented the internet, or the myoptic view that only governments get stuff done.. but the US press has been poor in explaining what is happening in Iran.

That is why good sources and sound reasoning are valuable.

Now I think Fruede ascribes much more intelligensia to the crowd (mod) than is warranted.. I think there is a sense of change in the air.. a unexplainable "Zeitgeist" that westerners don't get.

I mean looking back to 2003 and the US push to war, I see people at USNI arguing over the cause/reasoning of the war and that was only five years ago..

There is no reasoning in the crowd of parliamentary issues.. it is a "Zeitgeist" of change where the institutions of the Iranian government either stand up to the people expectations of respnsiveness or they do not.

I see no winner unless there is a secondary election, where the votes are all really counted, where the "Zeitgeist" is that there was a fair election, else the institutions of governmet take a credibility hit.. that simple.

There is a "Zeitgeist" that the US cannot influence, that the Iranian institutions cannot influence, that only a fair election can settle.

I guess what gets me is that Persians are not Arabs.. and there has been many statements that Arabs can't do democracy... are incapable of it.

Seems to me Persians have a deeply rooted sense of democracy, and the "Zeitgeist" is that that the democracy has been ignored.

Laughably there has been more demonstrations in Iran that in the US between Gore AND Bush..

So really the US media has had this wrong..

Nobody in Iran tuning into CNN or FOX to get the message to dress in black, wear green, or march in silence...

The "Zeitgeist" just demanded it.

Finally at 7:50 6/18 the US press states the patently obvious:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i2nLN4ZQox1u86JhXYpCrPFQsK2QD98TCSG80

Neither countries press much to brag about, no wonder fish wrapper sales are down