Who Is The Cowboy Now?

I’m sure most people who haven’t been living under a rock for the last decade or so have heard former President Bush being derided as a “cowboy.” (If memory serves, they flung the same accusation at Reagan, though not at the elder Bush… but I could be wrong.)

So, it’s interesting to see this translation of an editorial from an Iranian newspaper whose editor is appointed directly by the Supreme Leader:

What punishments they threaten are to persuade Iran to come to the negotiation table, not in order to punish Iran after eventual failure of negotiations which they themselves know is neither realistic nor effective. For now the situation is this: that the Americans in a very impolite way and like uncivilized cowboys beg Iran to negotiate. Their imperialist nature has not yet taught them that begging someone to negotiate with has its own ways and shouting and screaming in a state of emergency can’t be interpreted as a sign of strength. The final and returning point is…that they have no strategy, but only beg to negotiate. After the elections they for a couple of days wanted to speculate that something had changed in Iran and that they should use a different method, but not much time had passed after which they found out that the governments in Iran only execute the decisions of the Leader…

I guess Obama’s attempt to be the anti-cowboy anti-Bush really isn’t working all that well. Kinda like the rest of his agenda.

Obama’s Worldwide Disarmament Tour—How Many Countries Will Sign On?

The Obama Disarmament Tour

Iranian Election Controversy Isn’t Over Yet

Looks like the next round has just begun:

The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.

A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult — if not impossible.

“This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”

The announcement came on a day when Mr. Moussavi released documents detailing a campaign of fraud by the current president’s supporters, and as a close associate of the supreme leader called Mr. Moussavi and former President Mohammad Khatami “foreign agents,” saying they should be treated as criminals.

The documents, published on Mr. Moussavi’s Web site, accused supporters of the president of printing more than 20 million extra ballots before the vote and handing out cash bonuses to voters.

This is far more problematic for Ahmadinejad and Khamenei than might it might appear at first glance. Iran is largely a theocracy (the full name of the country is the Islamic Republic of Iran), not a secular government like we have here in America. The office of the Supreme Leader, which Khamenei occupies, is largely a religious one, although he also has a lot of political power. Ahmadinejad’s power rests squarely on Khamenei’s; if Khamenei falls, so does Ahmadinejad.

So, if the religious officials start questioning the election results, that is a more direct blow at Khamenei’s power than the public’s reaction.

In short, this ain’t done yet. Stay tuned.