Party-wise, going to the mattresses inside Iran

WORLD NEWS: "Iran's Cabinet Picks Widely Denounced," by Farnaz Fassihi, Wall Street Journal, 24 August 2009.

WORLD NEWS: "Iran Reformists Challenge Supreme Leader: An Open Letter to a Senior Clerical Assembly Demands an Inquiry into Whether Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Is Fit to Rule," by Farnaz Fassihi, Wall Street Journal, 15-16 August 2009.

The Revolutionary Guard and Ahmadinejad are definitely out of the closet on their power plays: a slate of 21 cabinet ministers clearly picked on the basis of political loyalty and not talent. Combined with the show trial of opposition party players, little wonder that even allied factions are speaking out.

But I was stunned to see the letter on Khamenei's fitness to rule. That's like challenging the Pope's infallibility.

Criticizing the supreme leader was once unthinkable, and had serious repercussions. Now, demonstrators regularly chant slurs against Mr. Khamenei and write insults about him in green spray paint on walls in the capital.

So with Ahmadinejad and the Guards suppressing dissent, expect more such open letters, a very Iranian method of expressing dissent (like the one alleging rape of political prisoners).

All good stuff, even as we shouldn't expect any great breaching of the dam any time soon.

Comments

[Louis Heberlein]

I guess birth pangs are painful to bring out democracy too.

[Javaid Akhtar]

Democracies succeed because they are structured ( right winged creatures) edifices that have the ablity to turn around from the cliff's edge and change direction ( the left winged lifejacket)....walking off a cliffs edge is what the Ahmadinijihaddies have....life jackets litter his path ....but he's determined