Cohen explains how the recent election protests have revealed the inherent contradictions in Iranian society: between an entrenched, isolationist, autocratic theocracy and a technologically savvy, inherently democratic and cosmopolitan generation that came of age since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The situation as the lines are drawn in the sand "isn't pretty", but could be the harbinger of real change in Iran.

The End of the Beginning
By ROGER COHEN
Published: June 23, 2009

TEHRAN — Iran’s 1979 revolution took a full year to gestate. The uprising of 2009 has now ended its first phase. But the volatility ushered in by the June 12 ballot-box putsch of Iran’s New Right is certain to endure over the coming year. The Islamic Republic has been weakened.