buddy larsen: my take from the Iran piece is that Ahmadinejad has nearly completed his bypassing of the Council of Guardians and the Senior Imans [the 2nd tier clerics]. I’ve been following the events in Iran for awhile and this much I know for sure:

A] Ahmadinejad has been installing IRGC senior officers in all the key Ministries and industrial concerns [and putting the Imans-in-charge out on the street]; this includes the nuke program. Both the IRGC and the Basij answer to to him (and are generally regarded to be loyal to him alone…), not to the CoG.

B] Among his many nasty projects, he’s been pouring funds into the city Qom, and subsidizing ‘tours’ for the faithful [i.e.-Twelvers]. In addition [via MEMRI] literature and even cartoons declaring the Mahdi’s return are turning up anywhere there are significant populations of Shia.

Where is this leading to? Ahmadinejad is deliberately fostering millenarianism to undercut the authority of the CoG and bring as many Shia under his direct sway. The reasons for this should be obvious. As you might suspect the Sunnis are getting VERY nervous [Example: http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD202608 ].

How far down the road of madness are we? Your guess is as good as mine. Only Ahmadinejad knows for sure but I’d bet that the nukes are key to the answer. How much does he buy into this BS? I don’t know and frankly…I don’t care.

If I had my way, the nuke program, Ahmadinejad and his cronies would no longer be an issue. And Qom would be utterly erased from the face of the Earth.