I have been meaning to finish my post on China, but instead this article caught my eye. While Khomeini may not have been the most popular of rulers in the eyes of the West, he and his religious revolution had a moral compass to fall back on to justify his actions. Also, his followers and clerical successors have been, dare I say it, more open minded than the current leader of Iran. Their defeat in these elections only serves to strengthen Ahmadinejad's power base, strengthened through a political caste without the sometime restraints of a religious point of view, leaving only a leadership devoted to the altar of realpolitik.