A story by Parisa Hafezi at Reuters knocks the wind out of the expectation that, if Dr. A'jad loses his re-election campaign, Iran's nuclear policy will be changed. These matters rest in the head and hands of the Ayatollah Al Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, successor to the revolutionary founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini. At least, so said the leader's media spokesman Mehdi Khalor who, we are told by Hafezi, was sporting a pony tail at his press meeting. Does this mean that he is a hippie or that Muslim men have a wide range of hair styles from which to choose?
Actually, this is not exactly a fresh angle on the elections. We've known for a long time that elected leaders do not carry the weight of those who have been anointed.
Anyway, it looks like Ahmadinejad will be re-elected, perhaps by a larger margin than last time.
And that, whatever the United States has done to influence the elections in Lebanon--like batter Israel a bit--another ayatollah, this one Nasrallah, will also walk away with a Hezbollah victory. Either a real victory, or significant increase in the party's representation in the Beirut parliament.