Iranian Power Struggle Gone Insane

Power struggles usually result in one side bad talking the other with all sorts of insults and such. But never have I seen such an utterly hilarious power struggle in my life.

Somehow, these two have managed to turn a dangerous political situation into one giant joke.

Oh Iran.

I think both Ahmadinejad and Khamenei both believe their own propaganda now, and that is just...well, there is no other outcome for this than one of three things:

1) Democratic Revolution

2) a new dictatorship

3) Ahmadinejad summons Satan to kill Khamenei.

I'm impressed by this whole circus, it makes me feel sympathetic for Mahmoud.

I hope he summons Satan.

And yet we are forced to take people like this seriously on a global political playing field.

This saddens me.

Wait, if Ahmadinejad can control Genies, and he has a guy with connections to aliens...

Oh, Crap!. If Iran should control and use this new sorcery they have attained, then we are well and truly fucked in an armed confrontation. I don't care what military training you have, when the enemy summons Bahamut, you run.

edited 17th May '11 7:30:25 PM by NickTheSwing

Don't be ridiculous. As long as you have a final attack materia linked to Phoenix, you're good to go!

Iran appears to be rushing headlong into the 17th century. Unfortunately, for the A-Man's friends and supporters, this is probably quite serious. There is nothing on Earth quite so dangerous as a bureau of superstitious fanatics...

Look on the bright side, the people who say "make love not war" and cut the military budget are gonna get fucked over again!

Pity there aren't more Zoroastrian / Persian mythical figures as summons. I'd take Ishtar over Shiva any day!

Um, what? Tom, I'm not seeing how your comment relates to the issue at all.

^ When you get situations like Iran is in, it never ends peacefully.

They could collapse by themselves, the regime nearly fall during Green Revolution.

Hold on, Tom, are you telling us that the tensions between Khamenei and Ahmadinejad can't be solved with an epic makeout session?

Of course not. It has to be solved with an epic Starcraft session. (Which means they'll lose to S. Korea, but whatever.)

Oh yay; best possible thing for Iran at this point is for the conservative bloc keeping the protesters down to eat itself.

Not to mention if the average Iranian is sane, Ahmadinejad probably has more credibility at this point, which is good. Ahmy is not a nice guy but he's at least a step up from the Ayatollahs.

^

Exactly, Mahmoud is a douche, but at least he still has both feet firmly planted in reality. The Ayatollah and his cronies, however, are just as evil and certifiably insane, and I want the secular sane dude to be the one controlling the economy of force in a country over a bunch of unpredictable nutjobs any day.

With Iraq out of the way, Iran is in a position to assert influence that has not been seen since it was known as "Persia".

You've seen those Wikileaks, all the other countries in the region are FREAKED out about what Iran may do.

We need to have Nixon go to China again and bring Iran to international recognition, even if it is a naughty country, like China. There is already a burgeoning democratic-friendly generation getting more influential as we have seen during the past several years.

An armed struggle with Iran would be stupid beyond imagination because Iran would probably not hesitate to use nuclear weapons unlike the game of chicken the US and USSR played for 50 years.

Uh...Nixon? You be about fifteen years too late.

And Iran doesn't have nukes. Some assert they want them, they assert its just friendly, but either way, they don't have them.

> With Iraq out of the way, Iran is in a position to assert influence that has not been seen since it was known as "Persia".

I dont think so

Actually collapse of Saddam enhance the status of ayatollah on Najaf and Karballah ( and reducing Qom status, which traditionally lower than Najaf and Karbala ) . Green Revolution also severely weakening the regime reputation among its own people, among shiite, and on Middle East. beside its economy is in shambles.

Current Iran is far less powerful than Sassanid or Achaemenid predecessor.

edited 17th May '11 11:19:08 PM by PhilippeO

So, Dinner Jacket and company are loony?

Nothing new.

If it's not nukes, it will be something else.

A country in shambles is the best time for the leadership to attempt something bold. When you're at the bottom, there's no where to go but up.

edited 17th May '11 11:21:33 PM by victorinox243

Iran Elite have quite comfortable life. They clearly far away from the bottom. i dont think they want to risk that. some minority might be crazy, but most don't (especially the rich bazaari class).

Err no, actually the Supreme Leader guy is insane and goes against Armoured Dinner Jacket.

Not that Khamenei really believes the accusations himself, most likely. Let's not just dismiss the Iranian elite as primitive. They simply throw the law books at each another, it just so happens that the law books contain different things than here.

I've read the real split between A. and Khameinei is ideological: The former is apaprently a Shi'ite mystic and claims one does not need the clerics to communicate with God, and the latter... well, IS a cleric. Also the guy who A. wants as successor, who is also... uh is son-in-law or father of his son-in-law or something? He said Iran should return more to his pre-islamic, Persian roots. Of course the ayatollahs just love that. Hence the feud.

Iran is one of the few Arabic petrostates that doesn't share its wealth with the lower classes, and if lower class Iranians woke up to how badly they're being screwed compared to their neighbors, things could change a lot.

Iran is neither Arabic nor a "petrostate" per se. It has oil, but not enough to keep the entire citizenry wealthy like Qatar, the UAE or Oman do. And the Iranians already tried a revolt not too long ago, as you may recall. Didn't turn out so well.

Oh good grief. How the Iranian leadership expects the international community to take them seriously when they come out with shit like this beggars belief.