Another Ahmadinejad move toward loyalty

For those following the roll-over of personnel at the top of the Ahmadinejad regime in Iran, there was this bit of foreshadowing last November, calling the split between President M. Ahmadinejad's faction and that of Parliament Speaker A. Larijani.

We got another look at what was happening when Foreign Minister M. Mottaki got unceremoniously sacked in mid-December.

The next cards to fall have now fallen. 14 Presidential Advisers have been shown the door:

The Peninsula newspaper said the Mehr news agency quoted presidential adviser Mehdi Kalhor as saying he and 13 others had received letters notifying them they had been terminated. Similarly, PBS Frontline's Tehran bureau reported the Iranian Web site Mashregh also announced the firings.

Iran's Press TV reported Ahmadinejad thanked the 14 for their service and wished them well in other service areas.

...

Frontline said most of those dismissed were aligned with Iran's hardliners and had been critical of Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.

So it isn't that anything like reform might be happening; It is more a consolidation based on loyalty to Ahmadinejad and his close circle.

The revolution is dead, and has been for some time. The autocrat and his circle are now attempting to lock in their place at the center of power.

That's nothing but bad news for the people of Iran, and worse news for the rest of us, if that comes to be.