Howard at Kesher Talk has another piece of the Persian puzzle."Rumors are sweeping Tehran of a failed assassination attempt against Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supposedly plotted by four Republican Guard commanders. The rumors add the four men were captured, but their execution was stopped by guard colleagues who insisted their death sentences be commuted to exile in Afghanistan. The other popular rumor says the elected but powerless President Mohammed Khatami, dispirited and exhausted at the prolonged frustration of his reform plans by the Mullahs, has submitted his resignation to Khamenei. Certainly he threatened to resign, in a speech to teachers last week, but Khatami was in fighting form Thursday in a speech at Khorramshah, celebrating the port's recapture in the 1980s war." Near as I can figure, they've got guys in turbans lined up for fifteen blocks, waiting to take their turn giving orders. When their turn comes, each steps up to the podium and snaps 'em out. None of the orders has any relationship to any of the orders any of the other guys gives. There's probably a Greek word that can be glued to "ocracy" that translates as "rule by opinionated know-it-alls in turbans." |