Did Mahmoud Omygodwhatanutjob win Iran’s Presidential election fair and square? I don’t know. Nor do you, unless you’re a mullah insider. What we do know is that his reelection was not displeasing to the “Supreme Leader”, Ayatollah Ali Hoseyni Khamene’i, and that fact suggests that the mullarchy is happy with the current trajectory in Iran’s foreign relations. It wouldn’t have been difficult to secure the election of an ostensible “moderate”, second place finisher Mir Hossein Mousavi. It was, in fact, the obvious course of action – “a sweet-talking Mousavi who again lulls [the world] to sleep, even as thousands of centrifuges whir away”, as Daniel Pipes put it – obvious, that is, if the mullarchs have any real worries about provoking effective American action against their plans to become a nuclear power.
Somehow Barack Obama’s appeal for peace and understanding neither charmed Tehran nor made it apprehensive. In a sense, he cleared the way for Ahmadinejad. Why not stick with the extra-chromosome Islamofascist when his antics arouse so tepid a response from the Leader of the Free World? Installing Mousavi in his place would bring no appreciable gain and might inspire unwelcome expectations of liberalization.
Well, perhaps the President is playing a really clever game of Smart Diplomacy: Looking like a jellyfish encourages the mullarchs to reelect Ahmadenejad. His reelection sparks outrage on the “Iranian street”. The outrage leads to the overthrow of the mullarchy. Quod erat agendum.
Yeah, and maybe Government Motors will be a really terrific investment for our tax money.
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