Reform takes on a new face in Iran...

[cantwealljustgetalong]

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"Iran is on the brink of a kind of social collapse," warned Mohammad Ali Namazi, a member of the reformist fraction that currently controls the majlis, calling on officials to pay more attention to domestic problems, particularly social factors, than political and international issues.

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Aware that the survival of their regime is directly linked to the state of relations with the US, the world's undisputed master after the fall of the Soviet empire, the conservatives have appointed Mohammed Javad Ardeshir Larijani, one of their best and most trusted brains, to lead the campaign for the conquest of the majlis as the first step towards restoration of ties with America.

"Larijani, an ardent defender of Islamic values, educated in sun-bathed California, and his team of strategists not only do not consider the 'Great Satan' as an enemy of the Islamic Republic, but as a political and trading partner in the future," wrote Der Spiegel, one of Germany's most influential news weeklies in a recent article.

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Directly controlling all the regime's levers of power, including the armed forces, the security and intelligence services, the economy and the judiciary, the conservatives call all the shots. Thus, they could, should they seriously want to remain in power, yet improve relations with the US, take a number of steps. These could include: order the Revolutionary Guards back to their garrison; rein in the activities of pressure groups; enforce more privatization of the economy; bring the huge wealth of the bonyads - foundations - under government control, such as making them pay taxes; improve the country's human rights record, and stop supporting radical Islamist and Arab groups opposed to peace with Israel.

"If they do that, and the odds are that they will, a new map will emerge for the region comprising Iran, Turkey and ... believe it or not, Israel, the three linked to Washington at the expense of Europe in one hand and some Arab states, like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, on the other," an Iranian scholar following the situation in his home country told Asia Times Online on condition that his name not be mentioned.



http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EK19Ak03.html