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The beginning of the end?
The Economist ^ | Dec. 30, 2009

Posted on 01/05/2010 7:05:41 PM PST by nuconvert

A floundering regime may have weakened itself with its latest bloody crackdown. Let’s hope so

NO ONE knows whether the Iranian regime’s latest bout of violent repression marks an ill-judged step towards its own much-merited demise or if it will cow the dissenters into sullen but long-lasting acquiescence. But the violence marks a change in the nature of the struggle that has been fought out since last June’s tainted presidential election. The regime may catch its breath before it embarks on another round of shooting and clubbing. But the prospect that it is losing its grip, perhaps even terminally, has now become a lot more credible.

For one thing, the government has become readier to kill its opponents. By its own initial count, 15 people were killed in demonstrations on December 28th, the day of Ashura, one of the holiest in the Shia Muslim calendar; one of the dead was a nephew of Mir Hosein Mousavi, the main victim of the stolen election in June (see article). For another thing, divisions within the clerical establishment have become deeper. Influential clergymen no longer want their religion to be tarred by a regime that would, among other things, punish mourners at services for Grand Ayatollah Hosein Ali Montazeri, in religious terms the most distinguished of the foes of the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ahmadinejadkhamenei; ayatollahalikhamenei; greenmovement; iran; iranprotest; madmullahs

1 posted on 01/05/2010 7:05:42 PM PST by nuconvert
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To: nuconvert
Wishful thinking IMO. Like the Peking massacre twenty odd years ago.
2 posted on 01/05/2010 7:14:37 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: nuconvert

If Iran’s regime does crumble, guess who is going to take credit for it???

You guessed it: President Narcissus!!

He and all of his minions will actually believe that it was his hope & change and gentle weakness that caused the collapse of the regime!!


3 posted on 01/05/2010 9:02:04 PM PST by AlanGreenSpam (Obama: The First 'American IDOL' President - sponsored by Chicago NeoCom Thugs)
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To: jhpigott; 1COUNTER-MORTER-68; MestaMachine; FARS; SunkenCiv; Nachum; Oorang; sonofstrangelove; ...
*ping* - the ECONOMIST
4 posted on 01/06/2010 6:34:05 AM PST by hennie pennie
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To: hennie pennie; AdmSmith; Berosus; bigheadfred; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...

Thanks hp.


5 posted on 01/06/2010 4:43:33 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Happy New Year! Freedom is Priceless.)
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