Iran After The Elections; Now What? By: George Moore, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Yes, as you noted, the elections in Iran is over and the predictions were easily projected. The question is: What now? The expectations amongst the Iranian people is high. That expectation is that this government must find a way to lower the poverty rate and to reduce severely the power of the mullahs. Therein lies the problem. As I stated before, a state cannot exist that is trying to mix a theocracy with a democracy [in the Western sense]. By their very nature, a theocracy is founded on dogma and cannot change basically. Therefore, Iran must become all one thing. That is either a truly democratic state or face a revolution when or if the needed reforms are not instituted by the new government. However, when you have a group of elders who have veto power over any reforms that threaten their wealth and power, then this elections takes on the all the reflections of a fraud perpetrated on the voters. One cannot address the multi problems in Iran in a short essay or letter of this type. This especially from an "outsider" who has no family or close ties to Iran. My ties are confined to a few knowledgeable Americans of Iranian descent. As Mao Tze Tzung is reputed to have said,"Political power comes out of the barrel of a gun". If this be true then how does Iran differ from China or any other nation whose fate, for good or ill, was decided not at a ballot box but in a civil war? I do not know who controls the military in Iran but if the president does not control them, then he has no chance of enforcing his reforms. If however, the military backs him, what then? Do we go back to the same ways that led to the downfall of the Shah? History is replete with middle of the road "reformers" such as the present ruler and it also shows them ground under by extreme pressures from those who want reforms and those who oppose them. Oft times, the people are out in front of their rulers as to the needs and desires of the people, and I am afraid that President Khatami is too closely tied to the class he sprung from to oppose them with force. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, he once said that he did not dictate events as much as he was dictated to by events. So it will be with the present government in Iran. They can seize the moment as they have the people on their side for now, but if they don't, then Kerinsky and other ghosts await them in a hell reserved for those who vacillate. I look at Demavand peak as an allegory for today's Iran. This great and majestic peak may  slumber forever or then again as a volcanic cone lying in a notorious fault zone it may explode with tremendous violence. The people of ancient Persia did not build their greatness by lying dormant. I do hope that peace between America and Iran may soon come so my friends can go home to those that love them without fear. Bless you. By the way, I still consider myself an expert in football! (End)