Shoop de woop

The discord in Iran is both scary and encouraging, given it could end with either a semi-legit democracy in an area of the world that could badly use one, or it could end with nuclear annihilation*. It's like trying to turn a double into a triple with less than two outs at this point - a crazy risk that either pays off spectacularly, or (more likely) ends any chance of progress.

Fun part about it is that it puts the amateur Iranian photoshoppers back in the news. Remember this from last June?















It's from last summer, and at a quick glance it looks like four SCUD-type missiles being launched. Hurrah for the mighty power of Iran. Except...













Clearly shooopped. Those of us whiling away our days looking at pictures of kittens online can spot this stuff pretty quickly. And Iran's propaganda machine was, well, ridiculed:













What's that got to do with the current civil unrest after an obviously rigged election? One in which the ostensible victor claims to have had rallies of several million supporters showing their utter devotion? Well... take a look:



















Remember to enjoy your news, kids, but believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see.

*Or it could end somewhere in between. Which is the most likely outcome, but as a blogger I'm duty-bound to present only the most extreme options.