This story by Al Giordano (CHT Jesse Walker) gives some interesting info about what’s going on in Iran.
The interaction between the protests from the bottom and the power struggle at the top bears on the whole anti-political debate as well. On the one hand, the situation illustrates the benefit to bottom-up movements of having someone friendly on the inside up top; score one for the partyarchs, I guess. On the other hand, what’s motivating the friendly forces at the top seems to be in part a desire to get away from the “defilement” of politics; score one for the voluntaryists, I guess.
I agree on awarding a point to partyarchs and a point to voluntaryists. But I think that may add up to a score of 2-0 (2 for the people, 0 for the state).
Within another dynamic it would be fair to call it a 1-1 tie. But given the two octopi of the Iranian state(s), I can see one scenario in which it’s different.
“…hardliners now find themselves caught in a cycle of doom: they must crack down on protesters if they are to have any chance of retaining power, but doing so only causes more and more clerics to align against them.”
The government’s head is already entangled in the clerics’ tentacles. So when the government tries to expand the reach of its own tentacles–which it must–I think, it’s either going to (a) be discarded by the cleric’s tentacles–resulting in the 1-1 tie, or (b) rip the tentacles off the cleric’s head–leaving zero popular support and hence, the death of both octopi. (b) is a twofer. And if the clerics don’t decide on (a) sooner than later, then the fallout from a general strike could bring about (b).
Now, all we need is for the head of the strikers to hijack the airwaves and explain that A=A. Wait, wrong story.
Turn the = sign in “A = A” on its side and it becomes A||A. As in “A||A is great!”
It is the right story!