Then there is Iran
The Islamic Republic of Iran, meaning “Land of the Aryans (Indo-European),” known as Persia until 1935, has a population in the range of 65 million to 70 million, and is a bit smaller than Alaska in area. Iran is a puzzlement. Various scenarios have cast this country as being THE Middle East by 2050, first, because it has that intention, and two, because of its central location. Its neighbors are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iraq. Across the Persian Gulf you will find Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. From the 9th to 11th century, Persia was the heart and mind of the Islamic Golden Age. The current goal is to seek nothing less.
In 1921, Reza Shah Pahlavi gained control of the country, but was forced to abdicate by the British and USSR in 1941 in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was more malleable...to the Western World. After WW II, in 1953, Mohammed Mossadegh won a democratic election and forced Pahlavi to leave the country. However, Operation Ajax, a British Intelligence Service led, CIA cooperated, venture, overthrew Mossadegh (who had his own ideas on how to proceed), and the Shah returned later that year.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, meaning “Land of the Aryans (Indo-European),” known as Persia until 1935, has a population in the range of 65 million to 70 million, and is a bit smaller than Alaska in area. Iran is a puzzlement. Various scenarios have cast this country as being THE Middle East by 2050, first, because it has that intention, and two, because of its central location. Its neighbors are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iraq. Across the Persian Gulf you will find Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. From the 9th to 11th century, Persia was the heart and mind of the Islamic Golden Age. The current goal is to seek nothing less.
In 1921, Reza Shah Pahlavi gained control of the country, but was forced to abdicate by the British and USSR in 1941 in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was more malleable...to the Western World. After WW II, in 1953, Mohammed Mossadegh won a democratic election and forced Pahlavi to leave the country. However, Operation Ajax, a British Intelligence Service led, CIA cooperated, venture, overthrew Mossadegh (who had his own ideas on how to proceed), and the Shah returned later that year.
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Twenty-six years henceforth, in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini led the Iranian Revolution, and the Shah again fled the country. This is when the American hostage incident took place, and lingered for 444 days. In 1980, with favorable signals from Uncle Sam, Iraq invaded Iran, initiating a war which lasted eight years and killed up to a million Iranians. It is reported that the Americans provided chemicals for weapons of mass destruction, providing a historical footnote on why there was so much certainty about Saddam still having them.
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Is there any wonder about why the U.S. is mistrusted in the Middle East? Overthrowing a democracy and supplying materials for weapons of mass destruction? Us, the freedom fighters? I guess so.
The Supreme Religious Leader is Ali Khamenei and the President, the secular leader, is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Who is in charge? Well, there are a lot more portraits of Khamenei throughout the nation, plus, he has definite seniority.
In comparison with the U.S.:
......................Iran..........................United States
Age.............9000 years..................About 200 years
Size.............1.648 million sq km..9.826 million sq km
Population..69 million....................302 million
GDP...........$562 billion.................$13,000 billion
GDP/Cap...$8,300........................$44,000
Military
The Supreme Religious Leader is Ali Khamenei and the President, the secular leader, is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Who is in charge? Well, there are a lot more portraits of Khamenei throughout the nation, plus, he has definite seniority.
In comparison with the U.S.:
......................Iran..........................United States
Age.............9000 years..................About 200 years
Size.............1.648 million sq km..9.826 million sq km
Population..69 million....................302 million
GDP...........$562 billion.................$13,000 billion
GDP/Cap...$8,300........................$44,000
Military
Exp...........$4.3 billion....................$528 billion
Mil. Exp.
Mil. Exp.
%GDP......3.3%.............................4.1%
We spend 100 times more than Iran on our military, so why is that country a concern? From all reports, there is now a new developing axis of evil: Iran, Pakistan, and Russia. Russia is in it for oil and has the technology to share. There are some disturbing rumors about Cuba and Venezuela being courted. Hizbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine are being funded by Iran. Then there is that nuclear issue that comes, goes, returns and continues to irritate the free world, even if we have ours and they don’t. Thus, from a "Free" World perspective, Iran is today the most prominent catalyst for evil.
What nurtures the influence of Iran are oil (second largest OPEC producer) and natural gas (second to Russia in terms of reserves). But there is a limit of how long these fossil fuels will produce, making a nuclear future understandable. One would hope, of course, that solar energy could, instead, dominate. This almost never comes up for discussion in our talks with Iran.
The notion of the entire Middle East becoming the Iranian Empire is not far-fetched. The lightening rod for unity is Israel. Everyone else in the region is an enemy of this “American satellite.” Ironically, the U.S. eliminated the Iranians two worst enemies, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. President Ahmadinejad has unwisely and royally ticked off Israel with statements like calling the Nazi Holocaust a myth and boasting of the need to wipe Israel off the map. One more provocation and a surgically precise bombing of potential nuclear or rocket launching sites by the Israeli Air Force could serve as a useful warning shot, except the latest intelligence is that they don’t really exist, yet.
On the peace front, though, on May 8, 2006, President Ahmadinejad sent an 18-page letter to President George W. Bush, the first such communication between Iranian and American heads since 1980. While the letter was generally courteous, it criticized Bush for attacking Afghanistan and Iraq, supporting Israel and other nit-picking subjects, and wondered how Jesus and his prophets would have judged these acts. Ahmadinejad simply asked Bush to justify his Middle East policies and those of his predecessors.
This would have been a golden opportunity to first question Iran’s sense of equity and freedom, but, then, state the obvious validations and propose a sincere dialogue on various important issues. As far as I know, Bush’s only response was at a press conference with Tony Blair later that month, indicating that he had read the letter but expressed distaste that the nuclear matter was not addressed. Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, there came no official response, further reinforcing the common belief that the U.S. blatantly ignores the concerns of the Middle East. A telling comment came from think tank Chatham House: “While the U.S. has been playing poker in the region, Iran has been playing chess.” Barack Obama has indicated an intent to communicate.
Finally, further embarrassing our intelligence experts, late in 2007 it was determined that Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program four years earlier. I guess the pressure is now off, for now. Well, then, again, maybe not.
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After dropping 200 points, the Dow Jones Industrials recovered to only a minus 45 at 8078. World markets mostly dropped, although Belgium, again, was one of the very few exceptions. Crude oil rose almost 3 bucks, and is now at $45.88/barrel. Gold jumped $43/toz to $898.
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NAMING OF OCEAN STORMS IS ALMOST PERPLEXING. Most of the systems are alphabetical, but some are not.
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On Sunday, Tropical Storm / Cyclone (maximum velocity of about 70 miles per hour) Eric hit the east coast of Madagascar, causing one death, and on Wednesday, Cyclone Fanale (which means this is the 6th storm of the year) at 130 miles per hour struck the west coast of Madagascar, killing 9. Seventy percent of the population live on less than a dollar a day, and for a variety of reasons, I have been told not to go there. Here are two more. La Reunion Island is located about 500 miles east of Madagascar and Mauritius is another 120 miles northeast of La Reunion. These countries are covered in Chapter 6 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity. The Indian Ocean is particularly warmer this season, so many more of these disturbances are expected. Australia has gone through Anika, Billy and Charlotte this season.
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The hurricane season for the U.S. begins on June 1. The first tropical storm in the Atlantic will be named Ana, then Bill, followed by Claudette. In the Eastern Pacific it will be Andres, Blanca and Carlos. Names of typhoons in the West Pacific originate out of the Japan Meteorological Agency, and depend on where they form, for 13 countries participate in the naming. There seems to be some consensus, though, that the first one will be named Kujira. The Philippines, though, has it's own system, and uses an alphabetical order, with the first for 2009 to be called Auring. Thus, you'll note that many typhoons might have two names. Conversely, there is no system for the south Atlantic. The most recent, in 2004, was named Catarina because it made landfall in Santa Catarina, Brazil.
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