Corruption Debate Rises

Even if Abbas Palizdar's recent accusations weren't the opening salvo of Iran's 2009 presidential elections, and I suspect they were, they have become an early issue:

"Last week, the fiercest battle of ideas about corruption and Palizdar's comments took place between Ahmadinejad's presumptive rival in next year presidential election and newspapers such as 'Kayhan,' which strongly back the hard-line president.

"Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the charismatic mayor of Tehran, wrote in his blog that 'just talking about corruption and accusing people without any basis is by itself corruption and the main crisis of today's Iran is that morality is absent from the political scene.'

"In response, pro-Ahmadinejad newspapers attacked Qalibaf. But they may have missed a key sentence he also wrote: 'Don't chop down a tree branch if you're sitting on it.'"

The fact coverage of these explosive allegations has been absent from the American media shows just how little we keep up with what's actually happening inside most Middle Eastern countries.

(Crossposted to American Footprints)