TEHRAN – Five weeks after the disputed presidential elections, and four days after former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a controversial speech at the Friday prayers in Tehran in which he sided with the opposition and challenged the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government, the rift between the ruling elites has widened, with some in the …
Continue reading “More Cracks in Iranian Establishment”
The two aren’t entirely different, says Uri Avnery
The armed might of the state (and its auxiliary forces) remains in the hands of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and its “reelected” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has, according to Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times, solidified control over the Interior Ministry (which, in turn, controlled the count for the recent presidential election), as …
Continue reading “The Weeks of Living Dangerously”
Muhammad Sahimi on money, power, and religion
TEHRAN – Eleven days after Iran’s disputed June 12 president election, the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears determined to round up key members of the opposition, journalists, and human rights activists who could play a key role in rallying public support for opposition demands. The streets of the Iranian capital and other provincial cities …
Continue reading “Iran: Harsh Crackdown Extends to Leading Opposition Figures”
The Obama policy of extending an open hand to Iran is working and ought not be abandoned because of the grim events in Tehran. For the Iranian theocracy has just administered a body blow to its legitimacy in the eyes of the Iranian people and the world. Before Saturday, the regime could credibly posture as …
Continue reading “Outlasting the Ayatollahs”
Alan Bock: Normalization good no matter who’s in charge
But how long till we butt in? asks Justin Raimondo
Fears that the state apparatus controlled by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is laying the groundwork for possible fraud in Friday’s presidential election appear to be growing among his two reformist challengers and their supporters. While an incumbent has never lost a reelection bid since the creation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, many analysts believe …
Continue reading “Iran: Reformist Candidates Complain of Too Many Ballots”
In case you haven’t heard, the Iranian “Hitler,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is up for reelection in June. And you would think that nothing could possibly be more important on the international front than defeating “Hitler” at the ballot box. Isn’t he “Hitler,” after all? And not just any old “Hitler” – the way, say, Muammar …
Continue reading “Does Obama Want ‘Hitler’ to Win Reelection?” 
