Ahmadinejad the Moderate?

For what it's worth - and it is only anecdotal - I had lunch yesterday with my uncle - in - law who lives in Tehran. He said the focus in Tehran was on the upcoming anniversary of the occupation of the US embassy when the protestors are planning to be out in force. He characterised Ahmadinejad as a joke within Iran - a man who is now not able to open the windows of his car whenever he travels and can't speak without someone protesting "where are the votes" behind him.

As for the protests after the election he said that they served one important purpose - to show the opposition and reform minded people that they are actually in the majority - something which was never before clear. Interestingly he said that that would be the case, whatever section of the population you looked at, including the army and Revolutionary Guard.

In terms of the so called public debate about the nuclear talks, he basically said that no-one was really talking about it and that it was a bit of a sideshow, i.e. not that important to the population at large.

Don't forget that Iran is a completely discombobulated, if not unstable, country. The Supreme Leader will do what he can to stay relevant and firmly hold his foot on the masses.

I wonder, what reasons Israel has for its nuclear program?

Iran may advance the same or similar reasons - perhaps with the paid services of some ever-willing, money-worshiping USA neo-conservative strategists to tune and polish up the psyche-war message ...

[Principles? Morality? Patriotism? Ethics? Maybe Not - just greed, money. Note the cursed hatchet job they do on our POTUS - and follow the money ..]

[Of course we know that it really doesn't matter what "reasons" Iran has for its nuclear program. Or Israel, for its offensive nuclear program.]

Mr. Klein,
The ultimate authority in Iran is vested none other than the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He is the final arbiter of all decisions in Iran and constitutionally exercises control over the army, media, parliament and police. However, there are soft-checks to his power. Amongst these are his need to stay legitimate in the eyes of the people, other influential mullahs and, finally, his ability to actually sustain control by making sure that he has recourse for any dissidence at any level.

In understanding Iran, it is important to distinguish the key contrast between that of Iranians and Americans: Iranians remember things for much longer. When Ali Larijani makes such a statement, there is a larger context applicable that the media in the West either purposely ignores or recklessly ignores. Iran has a long history of being duped out of technological advances that goes well back, even over 200 years. If you'd like to me to cite some examples, I'd be more than happy to, but in the interest of saving my own time, I urge you simply and respectfully to "google it". In other words, Iranians have meritorious and substantial reasons as to why they believe the West is trying to dupe them yet out of another technological advance aimed at benefiting its standing in the world and ability to provide its people with a better quality of life.