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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (488855)	6/19/2009 1:46:02 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1576926

The Islamic Republic has lost legitimacy. It is fissured. It will not be the same again. It has always played on the ambiguity of its nature, a theocracy where people vote. For a whole new generation, there’s no longer room for ambiguity. Popular fury confronts the state’s monopoly over force. Who will flinch? I think that depends above all on the leadership of Mir Hussein Moussavi, the reformist of impeccable revolutionary credentials. If he bends, as the legalistic former president Mohammad Khatami did in 1999 and 2003, it’s over. Unlike the student-led protests of those years, a wide array of Iranians of all ages and classes are in the streets. Shopkeepers and students march side by side. Construction workers perched on scaffolding flash them the “V” for victory sign. Protest is broader, and accompanied by more visible splits in the ruling elite than ever surfaced before. These divisions have thrust the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, into the fray from his preferred perch. This is what I see has significant. First the protests have a much broader base than just students. If you look at the crowds, there are more than just a scattering of middle aged people. Secondly, there is schisms within the rulers themselves. The people want democracy within the confines of the Islamic Republic. Some rulers want change for their own self interests.......and not for the benefit of the people. Taken together, I think that can be the catalyst for positive change in Iran. Time will tell.