Meet President George W Ahmadinejad

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GH17Ak01.html





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Unlike traditional conservatives, (principally the merchant class and the clerical hierarchy), Ahmadinejad and Iran's neo-conservatives have cobbled together an electoral base comprising the revolutionary military establishment, war veterans and the economically disenfranchised to trumpet a message that is as threatening to capital interests as it is to supporters of democratization and pluralism.

Implications for the US
What does this all mean for Washington's own neo-conservative administration? The night before the first round of Iranian elections, George W Bush described the election as lacking "the basic requirements of democracy" and predicted that "the tide of freedom sweeps this region ... will also come eventually to Iran". It is correct to criticize Iran's electoral process as less than free and fair since unconstitutional interference during the first-round balloting was particularly troubling.

However, Bush's harsh words and threats seem awkward in a region where Washington's closest allies (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia and Jordan) hold utterly meaningless ballots. Moreover, in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian Occupied Territories elections have only taken place under highly restricted conditions. Nonetheless, if Bush's "tide of freedom" is to wash away the Islamic republic any time soon, it will have to contend with the election of Ahmadinejad and the 17 million Iranians who voted for him in the second round of the election.

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Detente or democracy?
From the perspective of democrats in Iran, detente is a frightening scenario and one that has generated considerable debate among politically astute Iranians, the majority of whom do not trust the Bush administration's intentions and good will "in standing with the Iranian people". A neo-conservative rapprochement between Iran and the US would lock out democratically minded political figures from the negotiating table. Issues such as freedom of speech and assembly would be downplayed, and regional strategic concerns - including promises the US would neither invade Iran nor establish bases from which to launch attacks against it - would be the dominant points of discussion. If this occurs, "the tide of freedom" could be stymied by the short term pragmatic interests of both countries' "neo-conservative" presidents.
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this is a long article, the snips are big

hey, oil and money are involved, anything can happen