ariane

You've got to give it to the IRI think tanks. They have propaganda strategies that makes Goebbels and his Nazis look like a bloody rookie!

Their survival strategy which is a combination of brutal suppression and mass psyche manupolation has managed to keep them in power for the last 3 decades and if you ask me they are going to stick around for a while to come.

This how they have done it since 1996;

It all began with Khatami, the regime almost certain of the fact that people are so fed up that they won't turn out for the 1997 presidential election, they introduced the Seyyede Khandan, Khatami. With his charming looks and soothing words he made people believe that a change might be possible within the regime. It worked! Massive turn out was followed and for 8 years they kept us busy with reform movement. Off course there was no reform and Khatami didn't even put up a decent fight. Which gives strength to the assumption that he was part of the overall game.

Then when the regime was convinced that no one buys that idea anymore, they surfaced Ahmadi Nejad, a penniless crusader supported by a much neglected Iranian demography, the poor. They put him against Hashemi Rafsanjani, a man whose personality is the by word for corruption. Turn out followed and Ahmadi Nejad won the game (all be it with some divine assistance).

Then they brought Mousavi and karrubi! That kept us busy for a while then didn't it? When that got a bit out of hand, the regime resorted to another one of its useful tactics, mass brutal suppression.

Ready for the next portion of this brilliant play? Here it is; Now they are trying to fabricate this elusion that Ahmadi Nejad is at cross with Khamenei. They know both these man have no public support among the masses, they also know that in public opinion, Ahmadi Nejad is slightly lesser of two evils, so they are trying to create this "jange zargari" between them. The old "good cop, bad cop" show. What better to turn people into ballot box than portraying a group who wants to make changes and the other group won't let them? It has worked before! It will work again! This is the only way that one can sell IRI and sell someone like Ahmadi Nejad for yet another 4 years? Come next election, they will put someone like Mashai on the stage and that makes sure crown turn out. Even if they don't get the result they want, they will put another scheme and suddenly their guy will come out of the hat. Turn out secured, regime claims legitimacy, and just like the last election and as far as the regime is concerned, anything else is just mere technicality.

Seriously, they are good! Much smarter than many people give them credit for.