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Ahmadinejad – The Populist and the Pariah
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s second term of office is about to come to an end. James Reynolds, the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™s Iran correspondent, assesses Ahmadinejad’s legacy.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is about to step down as Iran’s President; his two terms of office are up. James Reynolds, the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™s Iran correspondent, looks back at his time in power.
How did a little known local politician with scruffy clothes and a PhD in traffic management, become a superstar, or a super-villain?
Was the West right to take Ahmadinejad’s often outrageous and provocative rhetoric seriously? Or did it overestimate the threat posed by an opportunist with little actual power?