August 10, 2009 By James Kimer

Iranian Russophobia

Nezavisimaya Gazeta has an editorial advising the Russian government to diversify its ties with the Iranian opposition, so relations don’t go down with the ship if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s political troubles continue.  From the Los Angeles Times:

“The popularity of Ahmadinejad is low,” Aleksey Arbatov, director of the Center for International Security of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told the newspaper. “His policies have brought the country into a deadlock. He will not change his line, especially since there are powerful forces behind him — the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.” 

Arbatov suggests that Ahmadinejad might be pushed aside by more moderate forces, while retaining the presidency as a sort of “bad cop.”