Hitchens and the many others who have written this same appraisal are of course right. But something else to be said. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a relatively young man, but he is essence little more than the front man for a gerontocracy of mullahs and similar old men, whereas the bulk of Mousavi's supporters represent a new and upcoming generation. The situation, therefore, is somewhat like that of the Soviet Union in its final phase, which was also a gerontocracy. And the basic fact of the situation is that when the old generation dies off, as it will fairly soon do, it will be replaced by a new and younger leadership echelon which very likely will lack both the same commitment or the same heart to enforce the current repression. That's why gerontocracies tend to be a losing proposition. So, although God knows what's going to happen in Iran in the short run, its long-term prospects are fairly clear.

Your hypothesis re:age is quite correct. I understand that about a quarter of the total population is under 15 and the median age about 24. Apart from the politics there will soon be tremendous pressure to provide for the economic welfare of these demographics...thru job creation. Iran is currently too dependent on oil revenues and opening up their economy is the only way....not particularly the mullah choice.

Well dfs, In the 60’s the kids wanted more freedom too. And now that that generation is in power, we have more wars, free speech zones, warrantless wire-tapping and more repressive laws than ever before.

It’s all about greed and the desire for power. The Iranian youth will do it too when it’s their turn.

Was the election stolen? An independent, objective poll was conducted in Iran by American pollsters prior to the election. The pollsters,Ken Ballen of the non profit Center for Public Opinion and Patrick Doherty Of the non profit New America Foundation, describe their poll results in the June 15 Washington Post. The polling was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and was conducted in Farsi "by a polling company whose work in the region for ABC News and the BBC has received an Emmy award......"

"Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by more than 2 to 1 margin - greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Fridays election.

"While Western news reports from Tehran in the days leading up to the voting portayed an Iranian public enthusiastic about Ahmadinejad's principal opponent,Mir Hossein Mousavi, our scientific sampling from across all 30 of Iran's provinces showed Ahmadinejad well ahead.

"The breadth of Ahmadinejad's support was apparent in our pre-election survey. During the campaign,for instance,Mousavi emphasized his identity as an Azeri,the second largest ethnic group in Iran after Persians,to woo Azeri voters. Our survey indicated, though, that Azeris favoured Ahmadinejad by 2 to 1 over Mousavi......

"The only demographic groups in which our survey found Mousavi leading or competitive with Ahmadinejad were university students and graduates, and the highest income Iranians. When our poll was taken, almost a third of Iranians were also still undecided. Yet the baseline distributions we found then, mirror the results reported by the Iranian authorities, indicating the possibility that the vote is not the product of wide spread fraud......"

The author makes no attempt to show any evidence of fraud.

It is sad to see what the author has turned into, he had potential, but is now just like so many other "high minded" sell outs and churns out the same predictable, pretentious and elitist guff....