Sociopaths And Grand Ayatollahs

Even the most high minded, charitable sort of person in the US, in the West, anywhere in the world has to grant the recent election in Iran was no more honest than those in Chicago where the dead rose from the grave and voted while the living voted both early and often. Chatham House, a highly respected and notably impartial outfit in the UK has completed a preliminary survey of the votes based strictly on Iranian official sources.

The conclusion?

Ahmedinejad, which is to say the mullahocracy of Grand Ayatollah Khemenei, stole the election.

Beyond stealing a mere election in which the results are far more symbolic than real, Khemenei and Crew stole something far more critical. They robbed Iranians, particularly the sixty percent born and reared since the overthrow of the Shah, of faith in the Revolution and its fruits.

Khemenei has shown himself to be a power-hungry political creature clothed in clerical garb and turban. He has exposed to people already exploited, impoverished and fearful that he and those who surround him as well as those dependent upon the current regime for place, prestige, and power are utterly indifferent to the present and future of those who live under the regime's club and lie-based authority.

As the Chatham House study makes clear, the slogan, "Down with the dictator," which has resounded around Tehran and the rest of the country for days, is directed at the Grand Ayatollah and not his reelected mouthpiece, Ahmedinejad. In common with the general run of dictatorships over the decades, the Khemenei regime depends upon lying and coercing to keep itself in power.

For American policy makers the key word is "lying." As experience with other dictatorial regimes has shown, diplomacy with the dictator consists of two components. The first is listening without questioning to the endless litany of lies used to justify the regime's position and demands. The second is agreeing to the fundamental tenet of diplomacy, dictator style: "What is mine is mine. What is yours is negotiable."

The Grand Ayatollah is a more complete, comprehensive liar than the average dictator. This exalted status accrues from his position as Allah's Representative on Earth. As Khemenei probably believes this as an absolute and unchallengeable truth, he has no constraints acting on him either as a liar or as a killer.

Believing that his position in power as well as his goals are the will of the divine makes Khemenei a far greater challenge than the merely secular autocrats. He--and those responsible to him--will do whatever is seen to be necessary to maintain the status quo and achieve the great ambitions of nuclear status, regional hegemon, and theocratic state.

In order to survive and achieve, the Grand Ayatollah and his underlings--elected and otherwise--will lie, cheat, steal, threaten, bluster, kill, and terrorise. Throughout it all, through all the deeds considered by less abnormal folks as evil, Khemenei and Crew will believe themselves to be fully justified, completely absolved of both responsibility and sin by the will of the deity--as they understand that will.

If the sewers of Tehran are overloaded by the blood of Iranians dispatched by the thugs of the Basji and automatons of the Revolutionary Guard, the Grand Ayatollah and his companions in mass murder will feel no qualms of personal responsibility, let alone guilt. They will believe, truly believe to the depths of their beings, that the responsibility, the guilt, rests with those who have been killed.

Khemenei and his fellows are identical to the armed robber turned killer who protests, "If he hadn't resisted, I wouldn't have killed him. The rapist who echoes the sentiment, "If she hadn't screamed and scratched me, I wouldn't have strangled her."

Sociopaths and True Believers such as the Grand Ayatollah share one factor in common. Neither the sociopath nor the True Believer takes responsibility for their actions. It is always the Other Guy who is to blame.

So, whether it is a demonstrator against the "dictator" gunned down in Tehran or the "international community" slapped in the face with another violation of Security Council resolutions, the Grand Ayatollah and his subordinates never see themselves as responsible. They are merely carrying out divine will. The fault, the blame, resides with the protester or with the countries that imposed the sanctions.

The hypostasis of the Grand Ayatollah Khemenei's world view whether expressed in internal politics or foreign policy is the same. Those who oppose the will of the divine as interpreted by the Grand Ayatollah are doomed. The guilt lies with them. All that is necessary is that they not oppose the will of the deity as understood by the GA.

Or, more bluntly: "Submit to my way or call down death upon your own heads!"

It is not possible to treat with, negotiate with, compromise with the absolute nature of the True Believer who understands himself to be the instrument of divine will. The normal processes of international (or internal) give-and-take, the standard protocols that have governed international affairs (and internal politics), are beyond the mental realm of people such as the Grand Ayatollah Khemenei.

For Khemenei and his cohort any challenge, whether in the streets of Tehran or the plush surroundings of international diplomacy, is an existential threat in the making. The world view of Khemenei and company is too stark, too absolute, too black and white to admit of challenge, response and compromise.

For Khemenei and his ilk those who challenge them are actually challenging the divine. And, one makes no deals with the devil.

For Khemenei and those who follow and support him, life is a matter of kill or be killed, terrorise or be terrorised. The people facing the motorcycle mounted thugs and triggermen in Tehran understand this brutal reality.

Is the Nice Young Man From Chicago now occupying the Oval Office as insightful, as realistic?