http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-tanks-roll-and-guns-fall-silent-but-the-clichs-go-on-for-ever-1731283.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-tanks-roll-and-guns-fall-silent-but-the-clichs-go-on-for-ever-1731283.html <p>Clichés are poison. They seep into our language like defoliants, pesticides that reside in our imagination, slowly destroying our power to express ourselves by dehumanising language, by industrialising speech. Newspaper and television reporting are to blame. We are all guilty. So why do we insult you, reader? And why do you put up with this?</p> Robert Fisk Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisks-world-the-jury-is-out-on-the-iranian-model-of-religion-and-politics-1721566.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisks-world-the-jury-is-out-on-the-iranian-model-of-religion-and-politics-1721566.html <p>The most nauseous photograph to come out of the Iran tragedy was not the bloodied demonstrators in Tehran, but a Reuters picture of former Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, "fighting back tears" in Washington as he declared that Neda Agha Sultan, the young woman shot dead by Ahmadinejad's thugs a week ago, "was now for ever in my pocket". I bet she is, by God! "I have added her to the list of my daughters," the son of the brutal and merciless late Shah, told the world.</p> Robert Fisk Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-symbols-are-not-enough-to-win-this-battle-1714153.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-symbols-are-not-enough-to-win-this-battle-1714153.html <p>You don't overthrow Islamic revolutions with car headlights. And definitely not with candles. Peaceful protest might have served Gandhi well, but the Supreme Leader's Iran is not going to worry about a few thousand demonstrators on the streets, even if they do cry "Allahu Akbar" from their rooftops every night. </p> Robert Fisk Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-battle-for-the-islamic-republic-1711554.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-battle-for-the-islamic-republic-1711554.html ]]> <p>Now that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has placed himself shoulder to shoulder with his officially elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the very existence of the Islamic regime may now be questioned openly in a nation ever more divided between reformists and those who insist on maintaining the integrity of the 1979 revolution. Had Khamenei chosen a middle ground, some small compromises towards the countless millions – for in the election, it appears, they were indeed uncounted – who oppose Ahmadinejad, then he might have remained a neutral father-figure. Mir Hossein Mousavi and his supporters had religiously – in the most literal sense of the word – refused to criticise the Supreme Leader or the existence of the Islamic Republic during last week's street demonstrations </p> Robert Fisk Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-khamenei-is-fighting-for-his-own-position-as-well-as-ahmadinejads-1710746.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-khamenei-is-fighting-for-his-own-position-as-well-as-ahmadinejads-1710746.html <p>It was predictable, ruthless, alarming, intended to put the fear of God – yes, God indeed – into his enemies. "The time for competition is over," the Supreme Leader told us. "If street protests don't stop, there will be other consequences ... They will be held accountable for all the violence and blood and rioting ... There will be a reaction." It was a threat. Enough is enough. Or else.</p> Robert Fisk Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-in-tehran-fantasy-and-reality-make-uneasy-bedfellows-1710762.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-in-tehran-fantasy-and-reality-make-uneasy-bedfellows-1710762.html <p>At around 4.35 last Monday morning, my Beirut mobile phone rang in my Tehran hotel room. "Mr Fisk, I am a computer science student in Lebanon. I have just heard that students are being massacred in their dorms at Tehran University. Do you know about this?" The Fisk notebook is lifted wearily from the bedside table. "And can you tell me why," he continued, "the BBC and other media are not reporting that the Iranian authorities have closed down SMS calls and local mobile phones and have shut down the internet in Tehran? I am learning what is happening only from Twitters and Facebook." </p> Robert Fisk Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-dead-of-iran-are-mourned-ndash-but-the-fight-goes-on-1708971.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-dead-of-iran-are-mourned-ndash-but-the-fight-goes-on-1708971.html ]]> <p>"President" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – and the quotation marks are becoming ever more appropriate in Iran today – is in real trouble. There are now three separate official inquiries into his supposed election victory and the violence which followed, while conservative Iranian MPs fought each other with their fists at a private meeting behind the assembly chamber, after Ahmadinejad's members objected to an official's reference to the "dignity" with which the opposition leader, Mirhossein Mousavi, answered parliamentary questions. Those close to the man who still believes he is the President of Iran say that he is himself deeply troubled – even traumatised – by the massive demonstrations against him across the country. </p> Robert Fisk Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-secret-letter-proves-mousavi-won-poll-1707896.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-secret-letter-proves-mousavi-won-poll-1707896.html ]]> <p>They were handing out the photocopies by the thousand under the plane trees in the centre of the boulevard, single sheets of paper grabbed by the opposition supporters who are now wearing black for the 15 Iranians who have been killed in Tehran – who knows how many more in the rest of the country? – since the election results gave Mahmoud Ahmadinejad more than 24 million votes and a return to the presidency. But for the tens of thousands marking their fifth day of protests yesterday – and for their election campaign hero, Mirhossein Mousavi, who officially picked up just 13 million votes – those photocopies were irradiated. </p> Robert Fisk Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-fear-has-gone-in-a-land-that-has-tasted-freedom-1706912.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-fear-has-gone-in-a-land-that-has-tasted-freedom-1706912.html ]]> <p>The fate of Iran rested last night in a grubby north Tehran highway interchange called Vanak Square where – after days of violence – supporters of the official President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at last confronted the screaming, angry Iranians who have decided that Mirhossein Mousavi should be the president of their country. Unbelievably – and I am a witness because I stood beside them – just 400 Iranian special forces police were keeping these two armies apart. There were stones and tear gas but for the first time in this epic crisis the cops promised to protect both sides. </p> Robert Fisk Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-irans-day-of-destiny-1706010.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-irans-day-of-destiny-1706010.html ]]> <p>It was Iran's day of destiny and day of courage. A million of its people marched from Engelob Square to Azadi Square – from the Square of Revolution to the Square of Freedom – beneath the eyes of Tehran's brutal riot police. The crowds were singing and shouting and laughing and abusing their "President" as "dust". </p> Robert Fisk Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:39:37 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/ahmadinejad-whips-crowd-to-frenzy-as-opposition-muzzled-1705296.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/ahmadinejad-whips-crowd-to-frenzy-as-opposition-muzzled-1705296.html <p>It was a surreal day, an ominous day in Tehran yesterday, of censored newspapers and of soft words and threats against Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's political opponent, Mirhossein Mousavi. We didn't even know where Mousavi was – in custody or house arrest – nor whether a hundred of his election campaign workers had been arrested. It was a day heavy with plain-clothes policemen, blocked roads and jeering supporters of the government. No, there will not be another revolution in Iran. But this is not quite the democracy that Ahmedinejad promised.</p> Robert Fisk Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-iran-erupts-as-voters-back-the-democrator-1704810.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-iran-erupts-as-voters-back-the-democrator-1704810.html ]]> <p>First the cop screamed abuse at Mir Hossein Mousavi's supporter, a white-shirted youth with a straggling beard and unkempt hair. Then he smashed his baton into the young man's face. Then he kicked him viciously in the testicles. It was the same all the way down to Vali Asr Square. Riot police in black rubber body armour and black helmets and black riot sticks, most on foot but followed by a flying column of security men, all on brand new, bright red Honda motorcycles, tearing into the shrieking youths – hundreds of them, running for their lives. They did not accept the results of Iran's presidential elections. They did not believe that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won 62.6 per cent of the votes. And they paid the price.</p> Robert Fisk Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-the-world-may-be-one-but-you-need-a-visa-to-get-around-it-1704162.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-the-world-may-be-one-but-you-need-a-visa-to-get-around-it-1704162.html <p>Ernest Bevin, I think it was, once said that in an ideal world, you could buy a ticket at Cannon Street station to anywhere in the world and travel there without a passport. My father actually believed this was the case before 1914; it wasn't. Even to sail to Beirut, you needed a piece of paper from the Sublime Porte. I guess the European Union, with the Schengen Agreement, is now closest to Bevin's aspiration – but you still need an identity card or a passport to cross many EU frontiers. And the madness of foreign visas haunts all us journos.</p> Robert Fisk Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-irans-old-guard-are-poised-to-crush-any-hope-of-revolution-1703225.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-irans-old-guard-are-poised-to-crush-any-hope-of-revolution-1703225.html ]]> <p>All the world wants to know the results of today's presidential election in Iran, not least the Republican Guard supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But will it make a difference, either to the Iranians or to the rest of the world?</p> Robert Fisk Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100