The speech attributed to Taeb is only published in Facebook pages and sites belonging to reformists. How do we know that Mousavists and Reformists are not playing to create divisions? If we want to believe in conspiracy theories it would be a much stronger case to think Mousavi was created by the regime to destroy the opposition and ensure the continuity of the regime. My point is we have to focus on what we think is right not what someone else wants us to believe, especially when that someone else has such a questionable past.

Nikahang Kowsar: Mousavi talks about the "Golden Years" under Khomeini, Karroubi is nostalgic for the "Dear Imam", Khatami supports Velayate Faghih, Rafsanjani addresses Khamenei as the "Dear Leader".... Now do you get it why Ben Ali escaped and Seyyed Ali is still in power?

Sanctions

While Mandela supported sanctions against the apartheid regime, there were those in the West (mostly on the right) who opposed them by arguing that sanctions would only hurt poor black people. We all know that the opponents of sanctions against the apartheid regime couldn't care less about poor South Africans but worried about their trade with that country. In the same way, many who oppose sanctions against IR worry more about their UAE - based businesses than ordinary Iranians. Now that more countries are joining the sanctions, you see folks who never said a word about the misery of the Iranians in all these years are sticking their heads out and crying bloody murder!

Iranians involved in 1988 massacres remain in public life

Geoffrey Robertson: "Those who conducted the prison massacres in 1988 are not only guilty of directing torture and murder but of implementing a plan to exterminate. That amounts to genocide and there is an international obligation on all nations under the Genocide Convention to bring them to book."

Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the leader of Iran's green movement, was involved in the massacre of thousands of political prisoners.

The Fierce Urgency of Now

There is a group of “veteran” Iranian politicians with a track record mostly characterized by longevity than accomplishments whose idea of nonviolent activism can be better described as some toothless pacifism. Ezatollah Sahabi is an excellent example of such veterans. The sad irony is that someone who published a circulation titled “Iran-e-farda” (Iran-of-tomorrow) is so incapable of understanding that the “tomorrow” has actually arrived and if not seized on today will be wasted as the past thirty one years have. How many opportunities did we miss in the past 31 years? At the time when the end of cold war era was about to bring renewed hope for prosperity and freedom to many nations, we began a backward search in the dungeons of the dark past. The collapse of the former Soviet created historic opportunities for Iran to form strong alliances, cultural or otherwise, with the former Soviet republics in the south and near the Caspian Sea. Instead the incompetence of the regime; its repulsive ideology and the way of life it promotes; its dumb fascination with nuclear program; and obsessive hostility towards US and Israel not only deprived us from seizing on this historic opportunity but even led to Iran’s diminished role in the Caspian Sea area as the Mullahs were desperate for Russian support. And where are we now? We have a population of 70 million, 75% of whom are under 30 years of age, many of them well-educated. The regime does not even remotely understand the desires and aspirations of this population. On the other hand the regime is facing unseen pressure by the international community on its nuclear program. It is reacting by ending subsidies, which will lead to higher prices of basic products and services, creating grounds for an effective large scale civil disobedience campaign. If we cannot seize on these opportunities and the potential offered by this vibrant populace to make political transformation and rebuild our nation now, we will be missing another historic opportunity, this time with far more catastrophic consequences than anything we have seen in the past. “Tomorrow” will be simply too late. Is there anyone who understands “the fierce urgency of now”?

On the 10 commandments of the 5 musketeers!

The more I read the 10 commandments issued by the gang of 5 (Ganji et al), the less it made sense to me. Even if there was a semblance of meaning to be extracted from this 10 point declaration - which only Robin Wright was apparently able to decipher - the follow up interview by a member of the band (Mohajerani) sent me back to square one. Never mind what this declaration is all about. Let’s consider an easier question. Who is the target audience of this declaration? Obviously not me, and most likely not you my dear reader. And absolutely not the Iranian diaspora. Oh, Mohajerani said it in his interview: it’s talking to all the good God fearing people of Iran who according to Mohajerani make up the majority of the people. So let me see if I get it now. People have been risking their lives, tortured, raped, killed because they want Khamenei to answer to the Assembly of Experts. Hmm, are we talking about the same Assembly of Experts whose speaker is Rafsanjani, whose members are tied via a circular process back to Khamanei himself, and which by the way reinstated Khamenei in his position just a few months ago? Of course! How ignorant of me! Now that the gang of 5 has spoken, the Iranian people who have been incapable of expressing their demands by now, have suddenly found a new meaning and purpose in life. Yes! It’s all clear. It all makes sense now! Never mind who this declaration is talking to. Let’s consider another question. What happened to the Ganji of the Republican Manifest? What happened to the person whose courage and intellect broke new grounds? What happened to the person who set a new discourse in the fight against religious tyranny? What happened to the person who you could not stop admiring even if you didn’t agree with a word of what he said? I want that Ganji back. We need that Ganji more than any other time.

Mohammad Khatami is a president for the international affairs and not domestic. He came to power in the aftermath of Mykonos and now in the aftermath of President Obama's election. He is a gimmick, an international ploy to deviate attention from what is happening inside Iran. He is a cover for Iran's nuclear program and a savior of regime in light of the looming economic disaster given the free fall of oil price.

Is it really that difficult to see why the Iranian regime has arrested five Iranian-Americans? After 27 years of the human rights crimes this regime has committed why are actions of this regime so shocking?! Do we forget the summer of 1988  and Khomeini's Fatwa to massacre the political prisoners

Iranian regime has occupied the land and oppressed the nation for over three decades!

Akbar Ganji is held in solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin prison.