Michael Ledeen reports in NRO that the recent record-low turnout in municipal elections in Iran was in fact a protest (non-)vote, and a resounding rejection of both the mullahs and the faint-hearted "reformers". And as usual, the western press screws up the reportage:

The Iranian people rejected the regime in the most unmistakable way, yet the "story" you read in our newspapers is that the hard liners routed the reformers in something resembling a real election. As if the Iranian people, after years of mass demonstrations against the mullahcracy, after thousands of freedom fighters had sacrificed their lives in protest against Islamic oppression, had suddenly seen the darkness and decided they preferred tyranny to freedom. Or perhaps they had heard the shameful nonsense emanating from the mouth of Deputy Secretary of State Armitage ("Iran is a democracy") and decided that since the Supreme Leader was a confirmed democrat, the best path to liberty was to give the regime a huge vote of confidence.

No way. The elections were a protest non-vote, pure and simple.

The neglect and ignorance of the western press regarding events in Iran is scandalous. One day soon, Iran will free itself (possibly, but probably not overtly, with outside help), and the major news outlets will be taken completely by surprise.

We all have reason to worry as the Middle East remakes itself; such huge political change is never a tidy or painless process. But I remain optimistic; I feel that a thrilling potential is being unleashed, matched in my lifetime only by the fall of the Soviet Union. Millions of people are about to emerge from the darkness, and join us in the free world. No doubt the Middle East will have its share of Yugoslav-like chaos, its Ceausescu-like unrepentant tyrants who must be brought down hard, its islands of lingering Belarus-like tyranny. But it will have its Lech Walesas and Vaclav Havels as well, and its people will prize their liberty all the more for its being hard-won.

We do live in "interesting times"; yet I for one do not consider it a curse.