Iran and dissent: where it counts is at the Ayatollah level: Via Examiner NY.

Now, it's serious.  Not that it had not been serious before, as Iranians were appalled by the results of the recent presidential election and took to the streets and protested, set vehicles and trash cans on fire, were arrested and beaten by police, - and who could forget  beautiful Neda, so brutally shot by thugs, and rising above the violence to represent the voice of the people? But it didn't seem to matter. Five hundred people were imprisoned; Moussavi himself was under threat of arrest for 'disobeying direct orders' from Ayatollah Khameini that Iran had to accept the 'legitimate' results of the election.  That was the turning point of 'serious'.

Though Ahmadinejad was Khameini's little darling, it was perhaps a fatal mistake for the aging ayatollah to align himself with a specific candidate. He lost credibility, prestige, and as reported today, the word on the street in Iran is that people no longer fear him as the voice of ultimate authority. He's just a man. And he's being challenged by one of the most influential and wealthy men in Iran: Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
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