Iran

I'm not sure if you've kept up with what is going on in Iran, but it's something worth reading about if you have not yet. There's actually not a lot of information available because Iran is doing everything in its power to keep information from leaving the country. This summary will get you up to speed (begin reading at "Suppression of Dissent - The Players"); this would be a good place to start if you knew very little about what is going on. Another good overview by NYTimes.

This CNN article gives eyewitness descriptions of the beatings taking place in Iran right now. And I have no words in response to this:

During a Saturday afternoon news conference Ahmadinejad compared the violent crackdown against the protesters to a citation after a traffic ticket.

A lot of the atrocities government officials are ordering in Iran remind me of the Tlatelolco Massacre in Mexico City in 1968. After hundreds of unarmed high school and university students were killed, surrounding apartment buildings were raided and witnesses were killed--all by government-ordered military forces. Phone lines and power were cut off in the area, much the way all methods of [non-government] communication have been cut off in Iran now.

I don't quite understand the thought processes that go into repressing people with violence to maintain power and control. If you don't have the support of the very people you govern, what's the point?

Assuming the accusations of election foul play are true, I'm not so sure Khamenei and Ahmadinejad foresaw this type of disaster. Let's at least hope not.