Kitsch/Posh

…that the recent election in Iran was in fact not subjected to massive fraud, and Mahmoud did actually get the votes of ~60% of the people over there. This isn’t to say that their “democratic” system is free or fair in any sense, but there’s pretty much no evidence, as far as I can see in the usual Western mainstream media, that measures up to the scale of fraud that some people suppose to have taken place.

Even if the other guy won, nothing would have really changed—even all the so-called “discontent” on the part of the educated urban citizenry and the various reports of violent protests are strategically worthless, because none of this is really translating to any significant loss of legitimacy for the regime as a whole. All the talk before the election about how a Mousavi win could mean a thawing of tensions was just wishful thinking anyway.

So it’s at least a comfort to see the U.S. government basically sit down and shut up about it (well, be as quiet as Washington can possibly be about anything) for the time being. People outside Iran who are walking around and alleging fraud are doing it wrong. The last thing you want to do is look like you’re trying to undermine Iran’s government domestically; only a regime that feels safe at home can be convinced that they can afford to negotiate, make some consessions, etc.