Word: powerfully
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...came a day after Khamenei had forced Ahmadinejad to drop Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie as his candidate for Vice President. But in an act of flagrant defiance of Khamenei, Ahmadinejad appointed Mashaie as his chief of staff. All this suggests that a political brawl is raging within the corridors of power, the likes of which the world has not seen since Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini died...
Khamenei must be considering the risks of arresting Mousavi to put an end to protests. He certainly has the authority and power to do so. Since the election, the Revolutionary Guards, which report directly to Khamenei, have all but imposed a military dictatorship over the country. Its volunteer vigilantes, the Basij, along with the secret police, are the ones beating up and arresting demonstrators. But arresting Mousavi, Khomeini's political scion, would be akin to arresting Thomas Jefferson. (See pictures of the legacy of Ayatullah Khomeini...
Iran is locked in a classic power struggle, pitting the house of Khamenei against the house of Khomeini. It has been simmering since Khamenei was appointed Supreme Leader in 1989, but it is only now that Khomeini's heirs have chosen to finally fight back against a complete takeover of the regime by Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards. The Khomeinists were mistakenly convinced that if they could muster a 70% turnout and win the elections, Khamenei would not dare throw out the results...
...Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and the 1979 revolution. Of the three, he argues, the Green Movement most resembles the social movements surrounding the Mossadegh era, when the Prime Minister attempted to nationalize Iran's oil sector but was toppled in a U.S.-backed coup that restored the Shah to power. Unlike the 1906 and 1979 revolutions, which wanted to change the existing regime entirely (the first wanted a constitutional monarchy; the latter, a republic), the main aim of the nationalist movement surrounding Mossadegh was to fulfill the promises of the earlier struggles: real (not just formal) independence from colonial powers...
...strongest of bargaining positions. The country's Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, may be dying, afflicted with pancreatic cancer, according to some accounts. His designated successor is his youngest son, about whom next to nothing is known except that he is in his 20s. There are reports of a power struggle now under way in Pyongyang, as the leadership faces the prospect of life without...