Does Ahmadinejad's stock now rise?

ARTICLE: "Top cleric praises Iranian president," by Douglas Stanglin, USA Today, 25 August 2008, p. 12A.

Interesting that the Supreme Leader suddenly issues a vote of confidence for Ahmadinejad (bit better than the usual norm), praising him specifically for standing up to West ("some bullying and brazen countries") that try "to impose their will" on Iran.

Ahmadinejad might gain considerably in Khamenei's perceived utility in a world more obviously defined by renewed East-West tension and thus lowered cooperation among advanced nations re: Iran's reach for the bomb.

Such recalibrations might signal a system truly perturbed.

Comments

[Bill C.]

May wish to see my "bullying" comment at Tom's 12 Sep. post below: "Now is No Time to Go All Wobbly" (re: "They Can Only Go So Far" -- by Fukuyama).

I think it is time that we ask: Has our "bullying" international strategy/actions -- and our "brash" economic strategy/actions -- during our "unipolar moment" -- brought about a "new world order" that we had not anticpated, to wit: "The Post-American World?"

Wherein:

(a) "Bullying" reaps the United States military threats from two sources (1) a resurgent/resentful Russia and (2) an expansion of Radicalized Islam. And

(b) "Brash" reaps the United States economic threats eminating from two sources (1) internal errors and (2) external challengers (China, et al.).