Tiefer und tiefer

Amir Taheri schlägt in der New York Post kritischere Töne über Rafsanjani an, als man das aus den deutschen Medien kennt. Insbesondere stellt er heraus, dass Rafsanjani es tunlichst vermieden hat, Khamenei anzugreifen:

In his sermon, Rafsanjani went out of his way to reassure „Supreme Guide“ Ali Khamenei that the opposition movement isn’t seeking regime change. Instead, he directed his attacks against Ahmadinejad (whom he did not mention by name) as a power-hungry individual prepared to provoke a civil war to remain in power. […] The bad news for the opposition is that Rafsanjani did not even hint at the possibility of challenging Khamenei’s position as „Supreme Guide.“

Was Ahmadinejad selbstverständlich nicht davon abhielt, Rafsanjani als „Feind des Islam“ zu bezeichnen:

Twelve hours earlier, however, in a speech in Mashad, Ahmadinejad had rejected Rafsanjani’s peace offer as a „trick by those who have plundered the nation’s wealth,“ promising to deal with them and „other enemies of Islam“ with even greater vigor.

Nach Mashdad war Ahmadinejad geflogen (besser: geflohen), um nicht an Rafsanjanis Auftritt teilnehmen zu müssen. Aber auch dort war er nicht gerade willkommen; es bedurfte im Gegenteil einiger tausend bestellter Demonstranten, um auf eine halbwegs ansehnliche Zuhörerzahl zu kommen:

In Mashad, the provincial governor, Ayatollah Va’ez Tabassi, refused to greet him at the airport and was conspicuously absent throughout the president’s 24-hour stay. More important, perhaps, the „holy“ city became a scene of a series of anti-Ahmadinejad demonstrations. The authorities had to rely on a rented mob to provide a crowd of 10,000 to listen to Ahmadinejad’s first major speech since his re-election.

Die Risse im System, sie werden tiefer und tiefer.