As if there was ever any doubt, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has won the elections in Iran. What exactly do elections mean to a government that has an office called the “Supreme Leader”? Very little. In fact, the Supreme Leader’s office selects which candidates can run in the election. that’s what Iran calls a primary: one leader hand-picking names out of a box.
Iran’s Leader Tightens His Grip
“This will change the face of the Islamic Republic forever,” said one well-connected Iranian, who like most of those interviewed declined to be named in the current tense climate. “Ahmadinejad will claim an absolute mandate, meaning he has no need to compromise.”
In many ways, his victory is the latest and perhaps final clash in a battle for power and influence that has lasted decades between Mr. Khamenei and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president who, while loyal to the Islamic form of government, wanted a more pragmatic approach to the economy, international relations and social conditions at home.
Face it — Ahmadinejad has gotten all the attention that the mullahs in Iran want. With his constant anti-Israel and anti-American rhetoric, Iran has grown in strength and influence, though they have little real power. Under his leadership, Iran has shown the West to be a paper-tiger, unwilling to stop them in their quest for their own nuclear arsenal.
And unless Israel acts (assuming America and the West will not), it will become the most threatening nuclear power the world has yet to encounter. The Soviets were frightening, but they were not insane, nor were they run by a religion that glories in senseless mayhem and destruction.
If the civilized world is afraid of Iran before it has nuclear weapons, how much more when they actually have the most destructive technology in the world?
