No, I do not think that this is the end or even remotely weakening of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad position. On the contrary, it weakens to the position of the pro-neocon agitators.

What is the evidence that this tragic but highly orchestrated event indicates that the end is near for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Or the fact, Americans failure to nuke Iran- to force it to the will of the American imperialism- has lead to need to change tactics by creating local crisis to weaken the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. How large was this demonstration? How many thousands or millions of people were involved? In reality, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s position is strengthened by this foolish as well as clumsily American naked intervention in the internal affairs of Iran. Iranians who do not like President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will now be forced to rally behind him!

I think it is the other way around, I do think that the entire leadership of Iran right now is under extreme pressure, this is the old guard vs the new guard and as the Islamic revolution has completely left the original plan. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. I do not see a small minority taking to the streets any longer, this is the majority of people we see in these escalating protests. Followed RT's program about how Romania got rid of their dictatorship and to be honest I think this start to look like something similar. The protests have not died downed, they have only grown stronger by the month, this is not so much about the Iranian leadership this is much more about the people that is fed up on the oppression. I think it would be stupid to blatantly ignore the voice of the people. From my point of view it looks like the people of Iran is held hostage by its own government and its fundamentalist leadership and their cronies. There is no difference between Iranian leadership and a post Romanian or North Korean leadership or why not Chinese it all seems like it all gets down to one simple point, people evolve, people get fed up on it simple as that. From here the only thing that could save the leadership in Teheran seems to be an armed conflict with an appointed enemy that the people can rally around, why I think they are provoking the world with different acts of missile tests, threatening statements. From my standpoint these protests appears genuine and the people has voice their discontent and I think we should respect that. Just because someone is against the west in general doesn’t mean it is all out ok to just shoot people dead on the streets, putting them in jail, beat them up or torture them. Nothing frankly justifies that kind of behaviour and we that sit in safety far from this should think about that as if one nation can do this, our nations can start do it to us one day, think about that.

Let's hope so, this hothead is a threat to Russia just as to other countries, don't think for one minute that Ahmadinejad won't turn on former allies when it suits his purpose.

Stephen Just How long has President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running Iran? Has he invaded any country during his rule? What about the United States? During the Copenhagen meeting on global climate change guess where President Obama sat? Between Gordon Brown and Meles Zinawi! Do you know who Meles Zinawi is? Why did I mention Meles Zinawi? I mention Meles Zinawi to stress the U.S reference to Iran's "bad" human rights record is a joke because few days after the Copenhagen meeting, Meles Zenawi sentenced key members various opposition parties to either death or life sentences. What was the U.S state Department response to this? Silence. The fact is the United States is the most dangerous threat to global security and world peace- not Iran and the Russians know this. I admit that Russia’s political leadership is under intense campaign to bring wedge between Iran and Russia but if Russia falls for this false seduction, it would be catastrophic for Russia, Iran and the world.

Where on earth are these commentators getting the idea that these protests are massive, and that they will weaken the President. Just the opposite is true. What is at display is the endangered elite, that Ahmedinejad stripped off their perks. It took Ahmedinejad nearly four years into his first term to finally remove the Minister of Oil, the handpicked Rafsanjani hand. The oil money was siphoned off, as is still money from the trade and financial sector. The battle is not between the non-entities such as Mousavi or the former President Khatami. The real battle is between the group of clerics who had held corrupt control over certain sectors of the economy. And the real battle is with former President Rafsanjani. Having ammased fortune, he "cooperated' with foreign intelligence. Both he and Khatami were part of the Nicaragua arms deal, then shipping arms to Bosnia. Ahmedinejad is the first non-clerical president, and known for his modesty. He won with a huge margin, and had the mandate to continue clean up of ministries. The old guard, had to pick a fight with him. Rafsanjani owns dozens of various universities and branches, and his "support" comes from the children of priviledge. These people feel more at home in Paris or London, then in Iran. But they do not have support of workers unions, no support among army or even educated elite, such as teachers or doctors. But until Khamenei settles the score with Rafsanjani, the outside funding will do its photogenic magic.

I apologise for repeating myself here, but the fact remains: The West's putrid, preposterous bluster on various subjects is simply ineffective. With the sole exception of the dumbed-down, ignorant, and essentially indifferent Western populace, the Western corporate media has become the world's laughing stock. So, please allow me to air a few humble opinions with regard to some quoted passages from the article: >> Other countries, specifically the United States and Israel, argue that Tehran is working to secretly develop a nuclear weapon. >> How shocking! Supposedly, Ahmadinejad should ask peace-loving zionism and U.S. imperialism for permission. After all, he only has to look at neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan -- let alone Palestine -- to correct his manners. Indeed, Ahmadinejad should consider the fact that Obama is this year's Nobel peace prize laureate while he himself is not. >> National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer on Sunday denounced Tehran's “unjust suppression of civilians.” >> Makes perfect sense if this gentleman's perception of the word "unjust" is the same as "unconvincing". Again: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine should be examples from which Ahmadinejad could well LEARN something in the fine art of brutal oppression. >> It is telling when governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation. >> It's even more telling when the Nobel peace prize laureate of the year is appreciably more feared and hated as head of state than any of his adversaries.

Very well stated Shilka.maskirovka. Absolutely nothing justifies Ahmadinejad’s thugs from beating and killing people who disagree and just want him to go away. I really believe that Ahmadinejad (Iran’s new dictator) will eventually be dethrone and become a non-factor. The youth of Iran are tired of this dictator’s foolish and irate rhetoric that’s putting their country and its people in harms way. But…as you can see from some of the post on this thread, there are some that do not credit Iranians for wanting change, so instead, they blame the west yet again.

Shilka.maskirovka I’ve mention the United States or the State of Israel. For the last 60 plus years,Iran has been a long victim of American imperialism and this little unholy green revolution is organized by the pro U.S , pro war and pro neocon Iranians and their western friends. It will amount to nothing. Russia must hold firm and the Iranian regime must not use excessive power and must not respond aggressively to deliberately orchestrated provocations.

Shame on Russia for supporting the murderers ruling Iran. Shame on RT for giving a pig like Marandi a platform. Your honeymoon with the Mullahs is OVER!

There is no trust in what the west reports about Iran and further, there is no trust amongst any "leader" in the world push for power in the 21st Century. Should we trust the governments, Pink Floyd? We are all watching, waiting and wondering about this most important question.

People have been preaching that the "END IS NEAR" since recorded history. There is always doom and gloom because it stirs interest and excitement {AND MAKES MONEY FOR THE MEDIA}. Would it really matter that much if the current president of iran was replaced? Remember, be careful what you wish for. You might just get it all, and then some.

see the neocons are such media savvy! They want to bring extra pressure to Russia by other means: by orchestrating little unholy crisis in Iran and than putting the pressure on Russia to “denounce” Iran and then U.S/UK nuking Iran will be made much easier! The Anglo American ruling elite want the Full Spectrum Dominance over Eurasia and the Middle East and there is nothing they will not do to achieve this. Russia is the only power that can stop this. This was the reason why Russia became the object of so much attention since Obama came to power. Russia must know that it is not just Iran but whole world that needs for Russia to stand firm.

I will admit that I don't know much about the power struggle in Iran, but what I do know is that US is a master of character assassinations and the #1 at orchestrating "colored revolutions", like the one in Ukraine in 2004, or the one in Georgia. They are also great at the "wag the dog" scenarios, when something small and insignificant is blown up to seem huge and threatening. Perhaps, that's what is happening in Iran? Small and insignificant protests are shown to seem large and threatening to the ruling regime? What the "free" media here, in the US is counting on is that we, the people of America, don't really know the facts, so we believe our only source - the media! A very nice "wag the dog" scenario with the resulting character assassination of the Iranian president. They tried this game repeatedly with Russia and with Putin, but it didn't really work out for them, because Russia is way beyond their ability. But they succeeded nicely with Ukraine in 2004 with Yanukovich, who blinked first. The thing with the wag the dog tactic is to make your opponent blink first. Yanukovich couldn't sustain the pressure and blinked, so the inept Yushenko came to power as a result of the orange revolution, which of course has backfired terribly for the whole country, as Ukraine ended up with a near bankrupt economy and completely despondent government. So, if this "colored scenario" is being enacted in Iran now, we know that the country will end up weakened and much worse off and as a result, it will be an easy target for the US invasion. And we all know that US would looooooove to have a piece of Iran, both for oil and its strategic geographical position. But I think that Russian leadership is wise enough to understand all the implications.

Right on Sarah. It is just as you said it. The U.S. has not given up trying to destabilize Iran and to foment another "color revolution". The ultimate prize may yet be Russia. U.S. imperialism has always lusted for the rich resources of Russia and the former Soviet Union. The ultimate prize would be a balkanized, weak and resource dependent Russia of fractured autonomous republics and regions selling their resources for ever diminishing returns to foreign multinationals.These mini states would then be forced by U.S. hegemony to support U.S. military adventures abroad just as Georgia has been corralled into supporting the military adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. Acting just like vassal states like Georgia would be the outcome. Russia be ware, keep your guard up. Do not trust those who need continuous war, even if they win a Nobel "peace" prize.

i remember ... during the elections in the US ...there were massive protests.. and the police was beating down and arresting the protesters ... same thing in many other western countries ... UK during the g20 ... even in estonia when people were protesting cause of the "credit crisis" us shouldn't be pointing their fingers at others while they do the same things or worse

Dear all, to those of you that do not live in Iran and are not Iranian let me say what I think as one Iranian. I believe the goverment is afraid of people now, if they were not afraid of us why they ban all the peacfull anti goverment demonstration, why 100s of news papers has been closed why all the mobile phones and internet is disconected on important ocasions. If you read the goverment info about crimes of political prisoners which we have many of them now;( are all like jokes, Iran with a population far less than China has the secound highest number of executions in the wold;( I wish FREEDOM and HUMAN RIGHTS for ALL(iranian and non-iranian) this is my view and I may be wrong, so I suggest that if you do not belive me go to Iran for couple of months to understand what is going on there. Bests Regards

Dave R. Thank you for your comment and number of critically important analytic terms we have provided for us. One term I want to revisit is your reference to the Anglo American project of balkanizing the regions of the world they have geopolitical and economic interests. In fact, this as been the blueprint of the 21 century Anglo American imperialism. But this is not new project- rather it is re-articulation of the British imperialist ideology of the 19th century-which has been updated for current American lead new imperialism. Today, you can the effect of this in the Middle East were the Arabs have turned against each other and as a result, the Israel and the United States are able to starve the Palestinians whilst Arabs states and populations stay silent. The Arab oil resources continue to fuel the American war machine and Hollywood keep turning anti-Arab and anti-Muslim propaganda films so that American people will not see that Arab and Muslim resources are running their economy but that Arabs and Muslims are the enemies of the United States. See recent RT doc “Hollywood Story: Reel Bad Arabs”. In Iraq, after the U.S/UK invasion, systemic vandalism of the national culture and mass assassinations of academics and scientists has been carried out. In the place of a nation and national concerns, to day Iraq is discussed in the language of tribal or sectarian terms. This is exemplary case of the imperialistic strategy of balkanizing specific country and then play up local tensions-which makes exploitation of the area much easier.

Not long ago, Yemen was hailed as a great friend of the United States' war on terror but in the last few days, and few months Yemen has became a target for Anglo American destabilization scheme. The country has both strategic and some natural resources-but it is geo-strategic location then its natural resources that makes Yemen an object to be destabilized. One of the zones of the Full Spectrum Dominance is the Horn of Africa and the Middle East and gaining absolute control of the whole area is key to the strategy of Anglo American Full Spectrum Dominance of the Horn of Africa and the ME. The American base in the former French colonial enclave of French Somaliland[aka.-D’Jabuti] is central to this strategy. Saudi Arabia has now being forced to actually participate in American imperial wars actively-which will be horrific mistake for both the American imperialists and the corrupt Saudi ruling Al Saudi family. What this shows is how desperate the American ruling elite is to quickly realize its dream of Full Spectrum Dominance over the entire world. This is madness that many in the world do not fully appreciate.