Board at Work

“He relies heavily on the advice and guidance of the board members, and they collectively make all the decisions … The generals are the board members.” There’s been a regime change of sorts in Iran. The question is how the new regime differs from the old one. It’s being led by a new Khamenei, who has a very different leadership style than his father. That could be because of his current predicament. He has almost no direct contact with advisors because of fears that Israel “may trace them to him and kill him.” And his health is bad. “One leg was operated on three times, and he is awaiting a prosthetic. He had surgery on one hand and is slowly regaining function. His face and lips have been burned severely, making it difficult for him to speak, the officials said, adding that, eventually, he will need plastic surgery.” The NYT (Gift Article): A New Era and New Leadership: The Generals Who Are Running Iran. “President Trump has said that the war, along with the killings of layers of Iran’s leaders and security establishment, has ushered in ‘regime change’ and that the new leaders are ‘much more reasonable.’ In reality, the Islamic republic has not been toppled. Power is now in the hands of an entrenched, hard-line military, and the broad influence of the clerics is waning.” (This makes negotiations difficult. It also doesn’t bode well for the Iranian people who may be left with an even harsher political environment.)

+ Maybe Trump is right when he says: “Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know! The infighting is between the ‘Hardliners,’ who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY!” (In America, by contrast, we get conflicting signals, different stories, changing negotiating positions, and contradictory updates … but it’s all coming from the same person.) Here’s the latest from The Guardian, NBC, and BBC.