Dysfunctional Politics

Submitted by Aidan Maconachy (Canada), Nov 1, 2005 at 11:34

Ahmadi-Nejad is a thug and the puppet of conservative clerics.

It's no coincidence that this obscenity was voiced at a time when the Iranian economy has been rocky. If they do nothing else, mass rallies that invoke the "death to Israel" slogan diverts, at least temporarily, from the total mess created by grotesque mismanagement of the economy.

Ahmadi-Nejad is a throwback to a previous era. Yesterday's man. A jaded fanatic who is distrusted and disliked by a large minority of forward-thinking Iranians. A recent reorganization of the power structure suggests that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei feels he needs to tighten the rein on Ahmadi-Nejad, who doubtless is capable of other acts of lunacy at short notice.

He clearly thinks the USA has been critically wounded by the Iraq war, and that he has a platform for ranting that won't be assailed any time soon. With projections that Iranian nukes are in the offing, there may soon be powerful incentives for military action on the part of Israel and the West.

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