Theocracy vs. Ideological Military Dictatorship?

Articles & Commentary: "Today, the majority of Iran's grand ayatollahs oppose the concept of theological rule. Not by coincidence, the majority are now in prison or under house arrest."

Shiite Islam is healthier than the theocracy!? I used to think that they have not reached the point where they would separate church and state but that seems to be wrong. However, it seems to be the state that likes it, not the clergy.

The pious workers and rural people that support Ahmadinejad and thus the regime are probably not particularly Western oriented, as would students be. The Chinese apparently helped the regime after the student revolts ten years ago. Opening up Iran probably have to happen via entry of Western businesses that aids Ahmadinejad's supporters. However, it seems like they rather would do business with its SCO partner China.

After this election debacle the Iranian regime will be even more sensitive to influence from the West and it might be very difficult for President Obama to enter into a dialogue with Ahmadinejad and Khamenei. Both Export and Import are the greatest from China and it's only Germany that has export to Iran significantly of the Western nations according to CIA World fact book. Ingvar Kamprad, however, pointed out that he did business behind the iron curtain with IKEA early on.

With Iran's current attitude it really smells a new Cold War situation.