MATT STEINGLASS: I just can’t see Ahmadinejad holding on to power in the face of this

"It’s just too big, it’s going on for too many days, it’s in too many cities, and it’s too all-embracing. The regime has completely lost control of the space of public politics, and the opposition has been very skillful in taking it over. You can’t allow your opposition to develop a message so simple that everyone can embrace it. When you have a situation where all anyone needs to do to signal they’ve joined the opposition  is to step into the street and start walking, where all they have to do is cry “Allahu Akbar” and it means they want the President to resign and cancel the elections, you’ve lost. Who knows, maybe I’m wrong. But I just can’t see Ahmadinejad holding on to power in the face of this."