Ahmadinejad vs. Khamenei?

Good post David, but I'd quibble with the idea that Khamenei can pull rank quite that easily.

With the rise of Ahmadinejad, there was lots of talk about a new political force coming of age in the domestic Iranian political sphere: namely, veterans of the Iraq/Iran war and other military-affiliated interest groups. Formerly, the political ecosystem was seen as made up of devout mullah-types, revolutionary-types, public-sector types, etc. Ahmadinejad who is a populist above all else, was the first to pol represent the "veteran generation," which bears a certain resentment for the chin-stroking theologians, and builds its solidarity on having spilled blood for the Islamic Republic. Therefore I wouldn't be so quick to assume Khamenei can command the full allegiance of the Basij, even though he may pull their strings institutionally. I'm not at all trying to say Khamenei doesn't outrank Ahmadinead in every way that matters, I just suspect that Ahmadinejad's base may be more loyal than we think.

This news (70,000 student signatures) is not a new incident. and like the previous ones this news is not valid, or at least not accurate! Because its hard to believe that, (first) they were students, and (second) they were 70,000! Iran's media declares 10 of thousand of protectors as millions! so it's safe to decrease this number to 700! But this is not the issue, the point is they knew they were never going to go to Israel and kill themselves! You should consider this fact when analyzing Iranians' behavior!

All those (future) students! knew the end game in advance. so why did they do that? first, because of the rent it provides them to enroll in the best universities without taking the necessary and highly competitive entrance exams! all universities should assign extra capacity to Active Besiege members! Second, also this is part of their job as "Active Members of Besiege" to make noise now and then, they are being well paid for it. Third, the election is getting closer and some bullying of the rival candidates is needed, especially when there is not enough money to run a campaign like the one in 2005, and these incidents are actually warm ups for several pressure groups that will be formed in the coming months to attack campaign offices. one can think about these incidents as Job Fairs! these guys are selling themselves to go different cities inside Iran not to Israel.

One last word, If there was a minor doubt in the minds of these guys, that they would actually being asked to do a suicide attack, not a single of them would've shown up! A suicide nucleus does not form in a situation where the person is well paid and has a good hope for the future. It needs an environment that makes people so nihilist. If there is any suicidal thought in some Iranian mind, that would be in the mind of a desperate opposition and it would be plan to attack the Iranian government!