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Unpleasant Realities

Perhaps it is because I have not been bathed in the soft glow of green enlightenment, but I fail to see what was wrong with this report written on Monday: Mr. Ahmadinejad is the shrewd and ruthless front man for a clerical, military and political elite that is more unified and emboldened than at any […]

Perhaps it is because I have not been bathed in the soft glow of green enlightenment, but I fail to see what was wrong with this report written on Monday:

Mr. Ahmadinejad is the shrewd and ruthless front man for a clerical, military and political elite that is more unified and emboldened than at any time since the 1979 revolution. As president, Mr. Ahmadinejad is subordinate to the country’s true authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who commands final say over all matters of state and faith. With this election, Mr. Khamenei and his protégé appear to have neutralized for now the reform forces that they saw as a threat to their power, political analysts said.

Ahmadinejad is certainly the ruthless front man (his shrewdness might well be called into question at this point), and he is subordinate to Khamenei, who does have the final say. Together, they do appear to have neutralized the reform forces, because those forces have been reduced to protesting in the streets to little effect. It is improbable that these forces are going to acquire power, and they do not have the means to take it from the authorities, and so they have been for all intents and purposes stymied and neutralized. Remember, this is a news report. It is not an editorial opining on whether or not this is a good outcome. But it is the outcome, or at least it was quite reasonable to make such a statement about what appeared to be the case three days ago. Three days later, this description seems reasonably accurate. Unless something dramatic changes in the next week or two, these protests are going to exhaust themselves, peter out and dissipate, which is all that the regime needs to keep going. No one has to like this, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

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