This is the single most important thing happening in the world right now. You're forgiven if you haven't heard much about it, though, because the US mainstream media has done an atrocious job of covering this story.
On June 12, Iran held its presidential elections. The two main candidates were Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the current president and a hard-line Islamic fundamentalist, and Mir Hossein Mousavi, a reformist. After the polls closed, according to inside reports, it was almost immediately clear that Mousavi had won, and he was asked to start preparing a victory speech. Except then, the state-run media suddenly announced that President Ahmadinejad won in a landslide with two-thirds of the vote... and Mousavi and all the other main opposition members were put under arrest. (Mousavi himself was arrested for "running a red light.")
The Iranians-- who
knew who and what they'd voted for-- flipped out, and there have been protests bordering on riots for the past two days straight. Things have been getting truly ugly, especially now that the government has begun to fight back. Right now, there are reports of troops with Kalashnikovs shooting up student dormitories in the middle of the night.
BBC report on protests:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcHT8-ps64wMinute-by-minute coverage here:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/How do you think this will all play out? Who will win? What effect do you think it'll have on Iran's future and on its place in the world? How should the world, and the US, respond?