IRAN STILL BOILING - AT 9:04 A.M. ET:  We may have taken our eye off Iran, but the Iranian dissidents are still battling, at the risk of their lives.  We thank journalists like Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, who keep us informed every day of events in their native country.  Without them, we'd be getting very little of real depth.

The Jerusalem Post has today's angle:

Iranians prepared for another violent day of confrontations between demonstrators and security forces on Friday, after riot police used tear-gas against hundreds of demonstrators who defied government warnings and swarmed the streets to commemorate the anniversary of a student massacre in 1999.

According to an eye-witness speaking to ABC, two people were killed during protests Thursday.

"The crowds were too large to contain - it seemed like everyone was out on the streets. I saw people parking their cars in the middle of the streets and joining the rest of us," another witness said Thursday.

The demonstrations quickly turned grim. "The basiji were pulling people out of their cars and violently beating them, just because they were honking their horns in support of the protesters. But what really amazed me," said one protester in a phone interview from Teheran, "is that we stood by each other. Many of us selflessly helped our brothers and sisters out on the streets."

At the same time, there is treachery in the West.  One of the worst offenders in terms of collusion with Iran is German business.  There's a great organization in Europe known as Stop the Bomb.  It exposes the awful cooperation between German industry and the mullahs.  Here's an example.  The translation to English is awkward, but understandable:

Andreas Benl, speaker of Stop the Bomb, declares:  "That the lobbyists of the German trade with Iran continue with their business in full peace of mind, while the regime that they supply brutally breaks down the Iranian protest movement is an unbelievable scandal.” According to Benl this counted all the more as the German economy was directly involved in the oppression within Iran: “The regime uses surveillance technology from Siemens as well as electric batons ‘made in Germany’.”  
Especially the activities of the German-Iranian trade chamber have repeatedly been met with strong criticism at home and abroad. Just last year in November the private organization held a seminar at the Hamburg Kempinsky Hotel on how to do export business with Iran successfully despite sanctions. Among other newspapers, the Jerusalem Post and the Wall Street Journal reported on this event. One of the invited speakers was a representative of the Melli bank, on which the EU has imposed sanctions. Also the latest statements by the Tehran representative of the DIHKeV, Daniel Bernbeck, stating despite the suppression of the protest movement he didn’t have “moral problems” doing business with Iran, caused international outrage.

COMMENT:  We quote that to show that there are Europeans who are concerned, and are confronting the moral rot in European countries.   But so far the impact of Stop the Bomb and groups like it has been minimal.  Money talks.  I've always felt it talks louder in Europe than in America.  The lucrative trade with Iran is creating an enormous obstacle to effective action against the Iranian regime. 

July 10, 2009