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The man the West loves to hate
April 25, 2008
Domestically as well, Ahmadinejad has been unable to avoid controversy. In 2006, with Iran facing growing inflation and unemployment, reports said that over 60 percent of the electorate no longer supported him, and wouldn't vote for him again if given the opportunity. He's also developed a reputation as a human rights abuser, and his conduct has been scrutinised by several Human Rights watch groups. In December 2006, student protestors interrupted Ahmadinejad as he gave a speech at Amirkabir University of Technology , though Ahmadinejad showed restraint by allowing the protest, which contained effigies of his person in flames, to continue without arrests.
He's also increasingly been identified as the face of newly formed alliances between Iran and other countries, such as Venezuela and Russia, in response to what he calls America's drive for hegemony. In March of this year, he set a new precedent, becoming the first Iranian President to visit the country's former Sunni-ruled neighbour to the West, Iraq. Moreover, he's attempted to circumvent Iran's economic isolation, by working to create a strategic bloc of trading partners throughout the Middle East and into Asia. Futhermore, his government played an integral role in the formulation of the Peace Pipeline, a proposed natural gas connection that will link Iran and India, through Pakistan. The plan has also been treated with scepticism and caution by Washington.
Image: Ahmadinejad attends a funeral ceremony for 65 Iranian soldiers killed during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war in Tehran in November 2007. The ceremony was held to commemorate the recently discovered bodies of the unidentified fallen soldiers.
Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: The Iran vote and after
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