No one knows what political epitaph would eventually describe Mahmound Ahmadinejad’s colourful tenure as President of the Islamic Republic in Iran.
However, judging by his Panglossian optimism, which borders on naiveté, one may suggest the following: ‘ He was undone by his illusions.’
To hear him tell it, the Islamic Republic is now one of only two powers offering mankind rival visions for the future. (The other one is the American ‘Great Satan’.) On his return from a recent visit to New York, he also claimed that he is more popular among ‘the American people’ than President Barack Obama.
(Don’t say: that’s no surprise!)
Many Iranians have decided to treat ‘their’ president as a stand-up comedian whose chief function is to provoke and entertain.
To some Iranians, however, fear that Ahmadinejad’s cocktail of empty boasts and dangerous provocations, which may end in war, has already led the country into what could be its most serious economic crisis since the early 1960s.
