News

Ahmadinejad seems to have believed his own hype that he actually won the last election. Based on that mandate, he decided to challenge Khamenei.

By law, there is no comparison between the powers of the unelected, "divinely anointed" leader – now Khamenei – and those of the president. The leader controls the military, the Revolutionary Guards, the paramilitary forces, the state-controlled media, the judiciary and about 30 to 40 percent of the economy.

Khamenei unleashed a remarkable barrage of attacks on Ahmadinejad. Overnight, the once-pious and populist president and his most senior aides and advisers were called lawbreakers, agents of American imperialism, rapists, practitioners of dark arts like conjuring and consulting with the devil and, of course, massive financial corruption. One aide was even accused of raping 340 virgins in one year!

The president's opponents are now claiming that the last contested election – the one Khamenei had called divinely inspired – was in fact stolen by Ahmadinejad. Impeachment proceedings have begun.

Ahmadinejad saw the writing on the wall. He realized that no one is going to come to his aid. He had apparently assumed that the billions of dollars of no-bid contracts he had given to the Revolutionary Guards would convince them to side with him. He was wrong. He threw in the towel and there is now a temporary lull.

What the next few months will bring is anybody's guess. But K... >>>