Akbar Ganji in Foreign Affairs

I know, I know. I want to read more about Sanford, too. But Akbar Ganji, the Iranian dissident I spoke with last week, has a powerful new Foreign Affairs essay describing the emerging trends within the Iranian regime:

Their ideal regime would create a state-run capitalist class eager to profit in international markets to the detriment of blue-collar workers in Iran and any independent private sector. It would be a rentier state based on political allegiances, brimming with discrimination and corruption and maintained by the machineries of oppression. If left unchecked, Khamenei’s efforts would further consolidate power in the hands of a select few — all but guaranteeing the ultimate triumph of sultanism in Iran.

You can take five minutes away from Sanford, can’t you?