"Speaking of Iranian elites, we might just get saved by corrupt oligarchs. Hooray!"

Jim Geraghty follows up on his previous post that I mentioned yesterday. To wit:

Thankfully, Ahmadinejad does not have absolute power; the Iranian constitution defines the roles of secular and religious leaders and governing bodies, and duties often overlap in their government. In addition to their president, Crazy Ahmadi, they have a national religious leader, the Council of Guardians, an executive branch Council of Ministers, a legislative National Assembly, a Council of Expediency (created by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1988 to resolve legislative issues on which the Majles and the Council of Guardians fail to reach an agreement), a Supreme Court and the four-member High Council of the Judiciary, and of course, the military, with both a regular military and the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which maintains internal security.

That’s a lot of people, a lot of factions, and I’ll bet they can’t all be ready and willing to die in a nuclear blast awaiting the imminent return of the Mahdi. In fact, you’re looking at the cream of Iranian society, the ones who enjoy the best housing, best pay, best food, best life, etc. They may enjoy the here so much, that they’re not itching to leap into the hereafter.

Speaking of Iranian elites, we might just get saved by corrupt oligarchs. Hooray!

Plus some more analysis, of how yesterday's scenario gets changed in this light.

But Ahmadinejad still gives me the willies. Maybe that's why they elected him, after all: "Ah, Fahrouz, he will so enrage the degenerate citizens of the Great Satan!" "Yes, Sayeed, I can hardly wait to cast my vote for the crazy bastard!"