The third stage for Iranian totalitarianism?

Spectator Blogs (U.K.) ^ | June 26, 2009 | Melanie Philips

[Schnucki]

Various people have been pointing out, as if they have only just realised it, that the leader of the Iranian revolt, Mir Hossein Mousavi, is one of the architects of the 1979 revolution that brought Khomeini to power and is thus a Khomeinist and not much of a reformer at all. They therefore conclude – just like Obama – that there’s nothing to choose between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad and so no-one should support the people on the streets. Some also say that it’s better that Ahmadinejad remains in power so that the full impact of the deranged and menacing nature of the regime is not obscured by a ‘reformer’ who would present a more emollient face to the world but would continue to prosecute the jihad with equal vigour.

There would indeed be a lot in that last argument – if the presence of the deranged Ahmadinejad was making world leaders get tough with Iran. But au contraire – as we can all see, the only effect of this patently extreme extremist has been to make world leaders grovel gibberingly before him; and the more extreme and terrifying he becomes, the more they grovel and seek to appease.

So much for that theory, then. As for the rest, I repeat what I said at the beginning of this eruption in Iran. Mousavi may be the leader of this revolt, but there is a vast difference between him and the people on the streets. He is merely an economic reformer who believes the election was stolen from him. From all I have read and heard, most of the people on the streets want an end to theocratic terror; they want freedom, democracy, the rule of law, human rights and an end to the fight with America and Israel. Mousavi doesn’t stand

[JimSEA]

. . . most of the people on the streets want an end to theocratic terror; they want freedom, democracy, the rule of law, human rights and an end to the fight with America and Israel.

No one in the power structure of Iran represents the desires of the people in the streets. This is unlike Burma where Aung San Suu Kyi actively represents Human Rights and Freedom, Mousavi is part and parcel a product of the Islamic theocracy. Iran has a movement without a leader except the image of Neda.