First, in Iran....elections are coming. The boys from various parties have been active, and there has to be a new President of Iran. Frankly, the head Mullah guy....is bound and determined that the office ends up with the weakest character possible....so that the relgious authority in Iran...runs everything.
You can imagine soap opera-like setting.
The whole election has to look authentic, but they just can't allow hard chargers or strong candidates to be authorized to run in the end.
So a national game is underway....if you want to be a major party....you have to put your candidate up for review. Strangely enough....the last eight guys are pretty interesting characters. Two of them....are considered planners in a 1994 terrorist attack, but it's never been proven over their participation. The other six are calm and collected guys....not really the type that you'd want as a national President.
This all leads to an election. Folks vote. And there's a winner.
In the end, that guy will meet daily with the Mullah-character....take some advice, and just take the position by cues. Iran? It'll be run for the next eight years, by a Mullah....who doesn't ever leave the country, and probably has a working knowledge of the world....that would equal some farmer in Mississippi.
Yeah, it doesn't mean much of any positive direction, but at least it's all scripted and folks like scripts. Call it the "fake Presidency".
The second story? Well....some Chinese guys have discovered Jon Stewart from the Comedy Channel.
Jon is a fairly cynical guy who really doesn't give any government officials much of a serious pat on the back.
These Chinese guys have been waiting two thousand years for a guy who is willing to show up in public....downsize political figures....cast sarcastic comments toward leadership....and just not agree with the trend of national TV. The Chinese public is on fire....for more Jon Stewart.
The Chinese government is beginning to realize that this challenge to authority is like a wave. There are Chinese citizens are now willing to note the same sarcasm.....against their leadership, their own political figures, their own authority.
Whether Jon Stewart agrees with it or not....he's triggered this event. American humor has broken the secret code. It's about to change ways in China that the big guys never dreamed of. Communism had fifty different ways to stop people in their tracks. But stopping humor? Marx, Lenin and Stalin never had to think of a trick against that.