Iranian minorities seem to be on the move. Some claim hundreds of thousands demonstrated. Four Azeries died and dozens injured. Visits with the Spirit of Man and the Gateway Pundit should make clear that something is afoot in Iran and it's not all about insulting cartoons.

Abbas William Samii explains:

Ethnic Persians make up a little more than half the total population of 69 million, but there are sizable minorities - in addition to the Azeris there are ethnic Arabs, Baluchis, and Kurds, for example. Some of these groups, furthermore, practice Sunni Islam instead of the Shiite branch of Islam, the state religion. The Iranian Constitution guarantees the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, but in reality the central government emphasizes the Persian and Shiite nature of the state.

Hence, the rub. Frieda translates the popular Iranian blogger "billy and me" more emotional take on the unrest thus:

Iran is not my country,
Iran is country of Ayatollahs Iran is Rafsanjani's and Khatami's country
No! Iran is not my country anymore.
My birth place is Lorestan.. it's been years that I have been away.
Why should Iran be my country? Iran belongs to Hamas, Lebanese Hezboulah and Al Qaeda

I am a Lor (a minority group in Iran), and this is all I have...and even that will slowly become a dream like memory..but I am proud to be a lore

why should I be proud of being Iranian, when Iran is not my country anymore
Iran is for Ahamdinejad, Kathami, Karoubie, etc, etc.
Iran is not my coutnry, it's not the Kurd's, turk's, Baouchi either...and it's not even Manab Nistani's (the cartoonist who is jailed now)

She also reports that the posting hit a nerve. So? Michael Ledeen is right to suspect that if the Iranians are waiting for the US, they may as well wait for Godot. The Iranians will have to take matters into their own hands and they will need somebody to lead them. They need an Iranian Yulia Tymoshenko.