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Despite all the bad-mouthing Iran gets from the West, the Islamic Republic is more democratic than most other nations in the Middle East — that’s why millions of Iranians are on the streets demanding that their votes be counted. Ayatullah Khomeini’s 1979 Islamic revolution produced a hybrid political system combining the principle of giving the clergy ultimate executive authority with holding democratic elections — albeit from lists of candidates restricted by the clerics to those deemed loyal to the principles of the revolution — for parliament and the presidency. The result was a regime comprising competing factions and personalities, with its own version of checks and balances by distributing power across a variety of different institutions, from structures of government to unelected councils of clerics. Even the Supreme Leader, who holds ultimate executive power, is appointed by a clerical body — the 86-member Assembly of Experts — which also has the power to remove him.

The conflict in Iran thus far has been not so much a wholesale revolt of the masses against the system, as it is a complex struggle for power within Iran’s ruling establishment, and a battle over the country’s direction. Here’s a Who’s Who of the players that may determine Iran’s future in the unfolding drama.

(NEW DELHI) — India’s prime minister said Wednesday that his country is again ready to talk peace with Pakistan following a six month freeze between the nuclear-armed rivals in the wake of last year’s terror attack in Mumbai.

But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cautioned that relations between the neighbors remain “under considerable stress” and progress would be slow — with each step forward dependent on Islamabad’s willingness to take on anti-India militants. (Photos: A Jihadist’s Journey.)

If Pakistan shows “courage, determination and statesmanship to take the high road to peace, India will meet it more than half the way,” Singh told reporters on board his airplane on the way back from a pair of summits in Russia. more…

Reporting by Shamim-ur-Rehman

Residents and push-cart vendors sleep on carts outside their houses
to escape the heat during a power outage in Karachi early morning June 18, 2009. — Reuters

KARACHI: Large parts of the city on Thursday afternoon were still without electricity nearly a day after a major power breakdown on Wednesday evening caused a major city-wide blackout.The fault occurred after major transmission lines were hit by a thunderstorm on Wednesday evening. According to KESC sources, the tripping in transmission lines at about 6.30 pm robbed the system of about 600MW fed by Pepco’s network, crippling the entire generation, transmission and distribution network. more…