Iran: Never a Dull Moment
The continued psychological warfare between the various factions within the Iranian regime is in full swing. I have been continually seeing the drumbeat against Mousavi and now even Rafsanjani. He has been dropped from the weekly rotations in leading the Tehran Friday prayers and has also stopped seeing Khameini, the Supreme Leader. I have also been monitoring State Media and his name is hardly mentioned. He also was even demoted from his title of Ayatollah back to a lesser title of Hojatolislam. His children have particuarly been targeted. One of his sons, Mehdi, was in charge of Tehran's Metro and also one of the key players in the Islamic Azad University. The government has taken back control ostenibly from local adminstration, as others have been beating the drumbeats about holding Mehdi accountable for some of his activities. Another interesting development, in my view, was how Mr. Rafsanjani was dropped from leading the Saturday Prayers during the Festival of the Sacrifice which signifies the end of the Annual Hajj.
As this factional fights continue on, what I find disturbing is the move to have the clerics take control of the schools. The rationale is to counter western influence. They are blocking websites and installing clerics in schools to "purify" and to further the aim of solidfying their ideological hold on the country. How long they can sustain this will present a profound problem. There seems to be no end to the total lack of regard shown for the Constitution and the true Republican Nature of the system that Khomeini introduced to the World that Khameini now presides as the Supreme Leader.
Ahmadinjead the traveler, though, seems to have had a successful trip. From the smiles I saw with Lula, Chavez and Morales, it seems to be that way. I reviewed the transcript of his interview on State Media when he returned to Tehran, where he again spoke about his world vision. I do think that Ahmadinejad is right when he says that the center of gravity is shifting away from the traditional powers. The problem is that he thinks that the regime he is a part of is part of the solution. What he fails to realize is that he is part of the problem.
As this factional fights continue on, what I find disturbing is the move to have the clerics take control of the schools. The rationale is to counter western influence. They are blocking websites and installing clerics in schools to "purify" and to further the aim of solidfying their ideological hold on the country. How long they can sustain this will present a profound problem. There seems to be no end to the total lack of regard shown for the Constitution and the true Republican Nature of the system that Khomeini introduced to the World that Khameini now presides as the Supreme Leader.
Ahmadinjead the traveler, though, seems to have had a successful trip. From the smiles I saw with Lula, Chavez and Morales, it seems to be that way. I reviewed the transcript of his interview on State Media when he returned to Tehran, where he again spoke about his world vision. I do think that Ahmadinejad is right when he says that the center of gravity is shifting away from the traditional powers. The problem is that he thinks that the regime he is a part of is part of the solution. What he fails to realize is that he is part of the problem.
Mike Pouraryan
