Ahmadinejad has great appeal among rural voters; he bills himself as one of them, plays to their Islamic conservatism, and lavishes enormous subsidies on them. He is greatly disliked in the cities for those same economic policies, which cause massive inflation, as well as for his repression of modern lifestyles, especially of women's rights. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins
Fred Kaplan can be so deliberative -- even in an essay as short as this one -- that he's almost unquotable. But this is an insightful assessment of the "Obama effect" on the Iranian election.
Kaplan does a solid job of analyzing Obama's impact, or lack there of, in today's Iranian election, Much better than the linked Christian Science Monitor piece that askes the same question.
So-so report. G W Bush was certainly a dunce in his approach to the Middle East, and Senator Jackson (D Washington) was rabidly "anti-Soviet" (and pro-"defense" spending on gargauntuan scale). Kaplan seems to approve of the foolish effort to convince Syria to turn against Iran. Kaplan does not mention that the Hezbollah coalition won 54% of the vote in Lebanon.
No matter who wins the presidential election in Iran, Obama should reopen the US embassy in Tehran. Obama should also send a skilled non-Jewish ambassador to Damascus, and fire Dennis Ross as special assistant for Iran.
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