Tehran Iran Video: 30 June 09 Riot police destroying cars and motor cycles

Why the Ahmadinejad Regime is doomed

These thugs -in this video- are so-called police engaging in wanton acts of vandalism. The Ahmadinejad regime is out of control and at war with its people. Peaceful protesters have been gunned down. Young women have been murdered. Universities have been ransacked and students arrested. Neighbourhoods have been targeted by the so -called forces of law and order on the basis that protesters may be in residence. Many journalists and bloggers are missing. The prisons are torture chambers. 100,000 men from the paramilitary Basij control Tehran and eight other major cities. Ahmadinejad is also reliant on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. There is some evidence that not all members of the Basij and Islamic Revolutionary Guard are loyal to the regime.

60% of Iranians are under 35. The majority of this age group seeks democratic change and will eventually bring down the regime. Many in this age group are computer literate and well educated. Women who are second class citizens in Iran are no longer prepared to tolerate repression. In 2006 Iran's Supreme Leader declared that women are not allowed to watch men's soccer games in person. The Campaign for Equality, an Iranian women’s rights initiative was launched in 2006. Members have been harassed and in some cases imprisoned. Women have been empowered by education and have played a major role in the protests. They will not tolerate inequality. The power structure of the regime has begun to rot from within and without. It lacks democratic legitimacy having stolen the election. It is living on borrowed time.

Beijing facing an environmental Armageddon?

Today the authorities in Beijing introduced new traffic regulations which it is hoped will remove more than 1.65 million cars from the roads each day.
The rules, in effect until September 20, ban cars with odd- and even-numbered licence plates from the roads on alternate days.

They are part of a wider drive to clear the air in Beijing, which is one of the world's most polluted cities and is regularly enveloped in an acrid smog- a product of humidity, traffic and industrial pollution. So bad is the situation that the New Zealand Olympic team will wear carbon filter masks around the Olympic village to help them cope with the pollution.

After September 20th it is back to normal as an estimated extra 1.65 million cars will go back on the streets of Beijing. Obviously the health of the 17 million inhabitants is of secondary importance. Failure to tackle this problem on a permanent basis will result in catastropic health problems in the future for a large proportion of the population. The financial implications will be horrendous as authorities struggle to wrestle with the consequences.

For the duration of the Olympics it is much more important to showcase the Communist system and enforce higher environmental standards. In the aftermath of the Olympics many of these standards will be dispensed with.

Beijing faces an environmental Armageddon unless the authorities plot a new and radical environmental course. Beijing is not an isolated case. It is believed that 99% of the inhabitants of large urban centres in China breathe in unsafe air. In addition most of the rivers and lakes are seriously polluted whilst 37% of the Chinese land area suffers from soil erosion.