What Did Ahmadinejad Really Mean?!
Nov 13th, 2009 by pedestrian
Ahmadinejad appeared on Tehran’s channel (IRIB5) a few days ago and spoke about “taking control” of the Tehran metro, … and other things.
Ever since, we’ve all been speculating, and pretty worried.
He also “mentioned” how his projects and plans need at least 10 to 15 years. And this has everyone guessing what he could mean with fear and uncertainty (not really “uncertainty”, if there’s one thing we’re sure of, it’s that it can’t be good.) Is he going to try and change the constitution so he can run for a third term? On the other hand, remember when Mashaie took to his blog to say that the controversy regarding his appointment was because they didn’t want him to be the next president? How does Ahmadinejad plan to takeover the metro exactly?
AyandehNews has more. Possible scenarios:
Ahmadinejad can legally takeover the metro if Tehran’s mayor approves it, and then sends it to the council to approve.
Well, the city council elections are next year. So does Ahmadinejad plan to “win” that too? If his supporter take over the council and change Tehran’s fairly successful mayor, that’s one solution.
The other possibility is that Ahmadinejad really does plan to change the constitution to run a third term. In this regard, you should note that in 1996, some in the establishment, including Ataollah Mohajerani who was then in parliament, tried to do the same so that Rafsanjani could run for a third term, but the leader directly intervened and stopped the plans from going any further and stressed for the need “for power to circulate” (really? Coming from the SL that’s a bit ironic.)
And last but not least, AyandehNews speculates that the most probable scenario is that Ahmadinejad was referring to the next two governments continuing his policies, meaning that one of his closest allies would be required to “win” the next election. Back in July, when there was much fanfare regarding Mashaie’s appointment as Ahmadinejad’s deputy, he wrote on his blog, the disagreements with him are because “he has a good chance of winning the next presidential election.” Ahmadinejad may have been referring to the next two presidents, his “buddy”, Rahim.
I personally like Qalibaf the most in the regime so if Ahmadinejad does step down I hope he wins (I doubt they would allow reformist to even get a good candidate in next time).
However so long as we are talking about the Ahmadinejad camp and the people aligned with him Rahim seems from what I’ve heard of him which admittedly is not much, seems to be the most moderate and least religious so I wouldn’t actually mind him winning.
Ped, I’m a little confused about the metro issue. The dispute is over subsidy payments? Will the metro get less under Ahmadinejad? And how would that affect service and fares?
10-15 year plans. Wow. Here in the US, on the national level, everything is driven by the 2-4 year election cycle, promoting a lot of extreme shortsightedness. We don’t even have a basic strategy for the Afghanistan war, which is now on its ninth year!
I doubt there will be a drive to modify the constitution for a third term for Ahmadinejad. Just my hunch.
Artanian, despite some of his antics, I too fairly like Qalibaf.
As for Mashaie, I know that a lot of his comments are taken as quite progressive. But when I listen to him as a whole, he seems like a psychopath. That is, those and other comments are psychobabble, rather than the words of a real progressive.
Aaaaah, yes, the absurd 2 to 4 year election cycle – the gift of modern democracies.
However Pirouz, Ahmadinejad is also a gift that just keeps on giving. I would have appreciated someone with so much foresight, if I thought he had any.
Hmm . . . perhaps, if he takes over the metro, maybe he can call on the head of WMATA (Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority) for advice? (Note that WMATA has been having really serious issues as a result of poor management)