Intimidation in Tehran

""Things began falling apart in the spring when authorities raided neighborhoods all over the city to confiscate illegal satellite dishes, Iranians' link to the outside world. The police swooped down on our building early one morning, kicking the devices down with their boots. Two of my neighbors, using their mobile phones, recorded footage of trucks carting off the dishes, only to have the phones confiscated as well. My 6-year-old nephew wept, desolate at the loss of his cartoon channel and angry that we had not called the police. ?But the police were the ones who took the dish?, I explained. ?It was against the law'." No doubt US bombs falling on their heads will make it all better. Repression is indeed awful, but is typical of governments all over the world. We can expect a lot more of this kind of selective coverage of Iranian state tyranny by the US news media in the weeks and months ahead."