Notations From the Grid (Special Thursday Edition ): On #Iran

 

As we noted historic developments earlier with the signing of the Abraham Accords, there has been a lot going on in Iran.

Iran executed a championship wrestler, Navid Afkari, in spite of pleadings for mercy from throughout the World.   This is as the leading Iranian Civil Rights Lawyer, Nasrin Soutodeh, continues her hunger strike and another one of the leading activists, Mohammad Nourizad, is in poor health based on the report we received from his wife.    Our team is continuing to assess it all as we leave all with a sense of the true realities in Iran right now:

Reza Pahlavi, the Son of the Late Shah of Iran, released an editorial for the Wall Street Journal regarding Navid Afkari:

 

Notations On Our World (Special Edition): Weekly #RandomThoughts on Our World

The Prime Minister of Lebanon has resigned as protests continue.   Hassan Diab admitted the corruption and the ineptitude in his final speech as the future of Lebanon is murky--especially as in our view Hezbollah will not go quietly.  Al Jazeera's Marwan Bishara underscored it: 

   As our team continues to assess it, we decided to feature these clips from the 2019 protests by the Revolution DJ Madi Karimeh  that is so poignant for the moment:

This is as our team has been assessing the on-going developments in India & Turkey and analyzing the latest from the Financial Times' Gideon Rachman as , "..  Narendra Modi and Recep Tayyip Erdogan have grandiose views of themselves as refounders of their own nations. In rejecting secularism, both the Indian and Turkish leaders are remaking their countries as faith-based states..."  

It has also been quite a week On the US Political Scene--We hereby present a sampling of the discourse over Social Media along with the on-going situation in Iran as COVID-19 rages and nationwide strikes continue--The National University Exams was postponed in light of the raging pandemic as we went to press: 

Notations On Our World (Weekly Edition): On the #IranProtests

Iran Protests 

Scenes from The Streets in Tehran: 
People Shut off Their Cars and simply sit in their Cars

"We Bled Blood For 40 Years--It is Enough--We will Resist"

President Rouhani of Iran: 
The Price Increase Was Approved by the Head of the Three Branches

Member of Iran's Parliament (Majlis) Mahmoud Sadeghi: Decision to increase fuel was incorrect--The protests were Expected--A caution to Security Forces to not deal with people in a violent Way

University of Tehran Politics Professor Sadegh Ziba Kalam:  The Government drank the Poison of increasing the price of Gasoline

As we went to press, Protests in Iran continued in the aftermath of a sudden decision by the Government to raise the price of Gasoline.    Our team captured a sampling of the discourse before the Government turned off the Internet.    Netblocks reported that every day the internet was shut down, it cost the Iranian Economy over 360 Million Dollars.

We found it quite laughable how the Minister of Telecommunications claimed he was working on restoring the internet even though  the Government continued to double down on its' decision--including the Supreme Guide (referred to as the Supreme Leader in the Western Media) calling them thugs.    We saw reports of innovative non-violent civil resistance including handing flowers to police officers and shutting off cars and playing soccer (Football) or just simply shutting off vehicles and simply staying in cars.  

Our team will continue to assess it all over the ensuing days as we note this which in our view captured the aspiration of all Iranians for a better tomorrow:  

Notations On Our World (Special Thursday Edition): On Europe Right Now

 

As we went to press, we were assessing the latest move by the UK Prime Minister to by-pass Parliament to force through a No-Deal Brexit.   The European Union is interestingly silent on it as British MP's begin moves to try and stop a deal.   Whether it will mean a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson's Government remains to be seen--what is clear is that battle lines have been drawn as the United Kingdom deals with the looming October 31, 2019 headline.   President Trump--through his Twitter Feed that reflects his thinking--chimed in on the debate with a response for the UK Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn.   This is as there have been dire reports of a no-deal Brexit underscored by this we just received courtesy of the team at the Financial Times as we regularly feature their front page daily on our Twitter Channel:

myFT Instant Alert Global Economy The British economy is not ready for Brexit Even if the disruption is contained, it could cause a meaningful drop in output AUGUST 29, 2019 by Chris Giles

Meanwhile, back on the continent of Europe, Italy avoided a snap election as the Democratic Party and the Five Star Movement struck a deal to avoid an election with the caretaker Prime Minister Conti asked by the Italian President to form a new Government.      We view it as a good development for the sake of Italy and Europe.