Thursday, June 11, 2009

A Few Notes On Iran's 'Election'

I admit to being surprised at the kind of coverage the Iranian elections, scheduled for Friday, June 12th are receiving. For the most part, the dinosaur press is treating this as if it were an actual western-style elections where the results seriously matter.

There are two contestants for the presidency, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the challenger, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi. Neither one of them would be allowed to run for office without the express permission of the Supreme Council of Guardians and its leader Ayatollah Khamenei. That's where the real power in Iran is situated,and no one would be allowed to run for president unless he clearly understood that and agreed to it.

Mousavi may be being painted as a 'moderate' by some of the western press, but nothing could be further from the truth, as the above clip ought to make clear...he attacks Ahmadinejad for releasing the British sailors Iran took hostage rather than executing them.It might also be noted that one of Mousavi's chief backers is none other than the 'moderate' former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rasfanjani, who famously said that the 'Israel problem' could be solved by one nuclear bomb.

Mousavi is simply a member of the old order that the Mullahs have trotted out in case they decide that it might be better to have a new face up front instead of Ahmadinejad to buy a bit more time until Iran's nukes are completed.

While Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is perceive by many in the west as Iran's 'Hitler' who's
ouster would be a sign of a less confrontational Iran, the truth of the matter is that nothing Ahmadinejad has said or done was performed without express orders form Khamenei and the Supreme Council. If they have decided to make Ahmadinejad a scapegoat and Mousavi takes over the presidency, the same people are still going to be in charge. The only difference will be a different dummy on the ventriloquist's lap.

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