Late Night Developments

A couple developments being reported:

Andrew Sullivan's blog links to Der Spiegel which is apparently reporting that Iran may bring in 5,000 Hezbollah troops for a "showdown".

Publicus thinks that the success of Twitter in Iran could end up being shut down:

Twitter is obviously one of the big stories to come out of the Iranian election. And it's been a remarkable development -- no argument there. The tweets have been inspiring and courageous. And there's an aesthetic dimension to them that's hard to resist.

But understand... the tweets could be stopped (more on that below). In fact, I worry that Twitter's success in Iran will create a false confidence that the Internet can't be stopped, and that people's digital voices can't be silenced. They can -- and we should understand that keeping an open global Internet requires aggressive effort and activism.

There are even apparently rumors within Iran that certain tags are being blocked on some feeds. Here is a Tweet from IranRiggedElect:

Still not confirmed if the #iranelection hashtag is blocked. KEEP USING IT. Could be a propaganda to disperse everyone.

and an interesting piece just up at the New York Times:

But many analysts say the differences between factions have never been quite so pronounced nor public as in the past few days. Former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, once a close Khamenei ally who helped him become supreme leader, sent an open letter to him in the days before the election warning that any fraud would backfire, Mr. Milani noted. If he allowed the military to ignore the public will and to destroy senior revolutionary veterans, the decision would haunt him, Mr. Rafsanjani warned: “Tomorrow it is going to be you.”

Everyone speaking of Ayatollah Khamenei tends to use the word “cautious,” a man who never gambles. But he now faces a nearly impossible choice. If he lets the demonstrations swell, it could well change the system of clerical rule. If he uses violence to stamp them out, the myth of a popular mandate for the Islamic revolution will die.

“The Iranian leadership is caught in a paradox,” said Ms. Nafisi, the author of memoirs about Iran.