A coup in his d'etat: Over on protein wisdom, Jeff post this article from the Guardian re: Iran's president Ahmadinejad.

Iran is facing political paralysis as its newly elected president purges
government institutions, bringing accusations that he is undertaking a coup
d’état.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s clearout of his opponents began last month but
is more sweeping than previously understood and has reached almost every branch
of government, the Guardian has learned. Dozens of deputy ministers have been
sacked this month in several government departments, as well the heads of the
state insurance and privatisation organisations. Last week, seven state bank
presidents were dismissed in what an Iranian source described as “a coup d’état”

The guy is getting bolder and crazier and, hopefully, more people there will get fed up with him and bring his career to a sudden end. This line, though, is what I really found odd.

Mr Ahmadinejad drew international condemnation after he made comments about
wiping Israel off the map.

If that's true, it was the quietest condemnation in history. I couldn't get away from coverage when Pat Robertson said we should bump off Hugo Chavez (or now, as he stumps for creationism). Bush's motives for liberating a people from a first rate dictator are questioned in the harshest terms with no proof of bad faith. But I didn't hear word one, offline anyway, about the president of a huge country in a critical region unequivocally express his desire to eliminate a country. And I don't count this, since Annan clearly found the whole thing rather unimportant and even found room in the statement to remind Israel of its "obligations."

I'm sure his statements need to be understood in context, though.