snapped shot

See if you can catch what all of these pictures have in common.









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It seems that a series of supposedly spontaneous demonstrations have broken out around the world. Reports are coming in from places as far and wide as London and Indonesia. Here are some of the pictures sent across the wire—if there are any language experts out there, I'd definitely be interested in seeing the translations of some of the banners shown here. My hunch is that, far from being spontaneous, we'd instead discover that these protests are carefully coördinated. If that's the case, the question then becomes, "By who?"

As an aside, when viewing these pictures, keep in mind:—other than in London, very few of the people pictured are likely to speak English. This means that their signs were written for them by someone who does, and that the messages on those signs are intended strictly for a Western audience. The native-language posters may differ significantly in their message, but we generally don't have any way of knowing that, as the wires only send translations along on occasion.

In any case, I'm sure that Tehran has its hand in these protests. The messages are too similar for this to be "spontaneous" protest.

Indonesian protesters hold posters of world leaders considered opposition to the U.S. during an anti-Israel demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Aug. 11, 2006. More than a hundred people in the capital of the world's most populous Muslim nation demonstrated against Israel's ongoing military campaign against Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon and demanding an end to the violence. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

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