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Iran's Panic
(New York Post) Amir Taheri - The Iranian regime is preparing for another tricky presidential election in June. Though every such election is stage-managed, the 2009 election provoked uprisings that were crushed with massive brutality. Outgoing President Ahmadinejad is trying to retain power by "arranging" a victory for Esfandiar Rahim Masha'i, believed to be his guru. A second source of panic is the economic crisis prompted by continued drop in the value of the rial, which has led to mass unemployment and flight of capital on an unprecedented scale. Tehran is also near the point of losing its chief Arab ally, Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad, as well as Venezuela, as President Hugo Chavez faces yet another round of cancer treatments. The rest of the Chavista establishment has never shared "El Loco's" enthusiasm for alliance with Tehran.