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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/opinion/06sadjapour.html
As Arabs Rise, Tehran Trembles
(New York Times) Karim Sadjadpour - What many young Iranians see as a familiar struggle for justice, economic dignity and freedom from dictatorial rule, Iranian officialdom has struggled to spin as a belated Arab attempt to emulate the Islamic revolution and join Tehran in its battle against America and Israel. Tehran's ascent in the Arab world over the last decade has been partly attributable to Cairo's decline. The potential re-emergence of a proud, assertive Egypt will undermine Shiite Persian Iran's ambitions to be the vanguard of the largely Sunni Arab Middle East. The Iranian regime's curiously heavy-handed response to resilient pro-democracy protests - including the recent disappearance of opposition leaders Mir Hussein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi - betrays its anxiety about the 21st-century viability of an economically floundering, gender-apartheid state led by a "supreme leader" who purports to be the prophet's representative on Earth. The writer is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.