Slim Shady

I spent much of this afternoon listening to speeches by one of the most peculiar players on the current world stage. In the Western world he is portrayed by the media as the sinister pilot of the current Iranian regime -- a regime which the media and the west seem increasingly to be willing to forgive. But we rarely see the actual events played out in speeches and rallies in Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is one the most cunning and dangerous and sinister members of the Iranian government, but he mixes a humble and rational rhetoric -- in which he deliberately seems to embody the more moderate angles of the regime -- with a fluid and impassioned gift for dramatic oration, which he uses to imprint the most radical notions on the population of his country.

Ahmadinejad is a small and wiry man, rarely seen wearing anything more formal than a light jacket and a scruff beard, and appeals directly to the most common citizens of Iran. His simple Farsi leaves out the most Arabic words, and is easily understood by uneducated people. But his speeches are always spoken in a language as eloquent as it is simple, and his rhythms reflect caution and reason and calculation. He reduces all his statements to simple arguments that seem irrefutable and rational, and then sells them with a sort of "humble arrogance." He smiles and says he knows these things because he is a teacher, not a quarrelsome politician, and he knows the spirit of the Iranian people.

Despite this approach, which makes his words compelling to the poorest Iranians and the educated mullahs, he continually culminates his speeches in the vast and damning sentiments and claims for which he has gained international infamy. In fact, someone watching one of these speeches might not even notice as the gentleness of the address melts into an almost furious defamation of the West, until it is invariably greeted with cries of "Death to America." At times like this, Ahmadinejad borders between the height of oratorical achievement and appearing as a Hitler-like demagogue.

Either way, he is a gifted, cunning, and compelling speaker. And dangerous.