Mousavi held his wife’s hand in public – which is sadly illegal – and yes, now seems to be rallying the people by an wide due to the support he’s getting from the world but mostly because of the fierce determination of the Iranian people. He asked the military to not hurt protesters and they’ve mostly agreed, leaving the radical militias and Hezzbolah out there as the one’s who are killing people; but the momentum may have shifted because the crowd is getting too big and they’re just not afraid to die in the street. Now there’s unconfirmed reports coming in from the cities outside of Tehran that tribal leaders and others are rallying by Mousavi as well.. a rift already has pretty much been confirmed to have opened between #2 Ayatollah Montazeri/Mousavi and Khamenei – all a confirmation that this is a historic time no matter what the outcome. Let’s just hope it’s a good outcome and not one of the biggest slaughters in a long time.

Interesting. This could become something big. With past rallies in Iran, the people hunkered down and accepted the dictators and government without positive change. Their efforts were futile. They became much as the Chinese have 10 years after the Tianmen Square massacre.

Mousavi seemed to do the same a couple of days ago when he asked people not to protest in order to stay safe from pro-government militias. The opposition would have fizzled and the vote rig would have gone uncontested had he continued this route. Same old Iran – not that Mousavi is much different. But the fact that he has gone ahead to continue the protests shows that this resistance may escalate.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Exactly! Remember how long it took in Iraq to count the paper ballots? It wasn’t just two hours, it was days!

The UK Guardian has a live newsblog chronicling the most accurate information to be coming out of Iranians on Twitter and reporters in Tehran.

I’m wearing my green today.

For those who are wondering if the protests are against Ahmadinejad or the Islamic Government, there are elements out there who have wide-spread opinions about what a reformed Iran would be like but what’s uniting them is the universal human craving for liberation. If a revolution is successful it will be likely that we do see another Islamic Republic arise; the legitimacy of which falls on the leaders of the opposition to recognize what liberation really means when one establishes a ruling body of law. This may be difficult for men like Ayatollah Montazeri, who will replace Khamenei, and Mousavi – both individuals whom while they supported more liberal freedoms for their people still could and should be characterized as having done historically wicked things.

If the Mullahs really are facing their overdue repression though and a young Iranian leader of the likes of Reagan rise up from this, then we could be witnessing the most unanticipated and welcome shake-up to Middle East diplomacy since Iraq.

Iraq: It’s been 6 years. No one tell me this isn’t – somewhat at least – because they have a neighboring nation of liberated people next to them.

Not even Allah could manage that.