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Will Israel Miss Ahmadinejad?

Nadav Eyal discusses whether Israel will benefit from a new Iranian president, who is likely to be just as committed to Iran's nuclear program and perhaps an even more formidable adversary.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waves after attending a wreath-laying ceremony at the mausoleum of late Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi November 10, 2012. Ahmadinejad is in Hanoi on a two-day visit to Vietnam from November 9 to 10. REUTERS/Kham (VIETNAM - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY)
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Both Israel and Iran are in the middle of an election campaign. While Israelis will cast their votes in a few days, the Iranians will vote in five months’ time. However, both campaigns barely grapple with the bottom line that rivets the world, namely whether their outcome will increase or decrease the chances of a regional conflict between the two states — a conflict which may deeply affect international reality in 2013.

In Iran, the elections take place under the heavy shadow cast by the repression of the 2009 Green Revolution. Some reformist candidates from that period remain under house arrest, while others, who are at large, grapple with the question whether running in this campaign could legitimize the regime that has already proven it would not balk at rigging the results.

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