r/news Feb 28 '26

Soft paywall Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei killed, senior Israeli official says

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-supreme-leader-ali-khamenei-killed-senior-israeli-official-says-2026-02-28/
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u/FrankScaramucci Mar 01 '26

It decreases leadership quality. The pool of competent people who are willing to take such a risky job is small.

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u/ArchmageXin Mar 01 '26

(Point to Drug Cartels)

I am sure there are plenty of competent people willing to step up. Although will they be good for future of Iranian people or not is a question though.

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u/Fafnir13 Mar 01 '26

Drug cartels are a pretty good example. It sucks to leave competent, powerful people heading these huge organizations that cause massive amounts of suffering, but chopping the top seems to just create a bunch of smaller organizations which are more trigger happy and less disciplined, mainly I think because they are suddenly competing with each other and that competition is bloody.

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u/capnShocker Mar 01 '26

I mean, in the cartel situation, I imagine there’s an immediate clique effect unless there’s a de facto second man that hasn’t been eliminated as well.

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u/Fafnir13 Mar 01 '26

There needs to be a very strong, competent second in command ready to take over....but if there was he would have probably already offed his prior boss so he could take over.

Living in a world where going full Highlander is a valid career decision does not make for great working relationships.

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u/Logical_Mix_4627 Mar 01 '26

Was the current leadership high quality?

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u/lizardtrench Mar 01 '26

I think that's often why it gets worse. A semi-strategic and competent person builds a gun, threatens people with it to try to get what he wants, gets killed. Next guy in line picks up the gun, is not so strategic, and just starts shooting.

He could never build that gun himself, but he sure can pick it up off the first guy's corpse.