Hi Everyone,
Here are the readings for this week:
Hoveyda: Organized Corruption (Iran economy beyond repair)
FORBES: Millionaire Mullahs
Current Events:
War with Iran
Ahmadinejad Dismisses Western threats
Retrial for American Marine
See you on Wednesday!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
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The Millionaire Mullahs demonstrated that the officials within the Iranian regime were more concerned with money than strict following of Islam, therefore would have an interest in not going war with the U.S.. I agree that Romney and other Republican Presidential candidates are sending a very dangerous signal to the Iranian regime, rushing them to complete their nuclear program. Although I still do not trust the Iranian government with nuclear technology, or any dictatorial government acquiring nuclear technology in fear of corrupted officials selling nuclear materials, I do think the U.S. needs to tone its rhetoric down and try to talk to the Iranian government about the nuclear program. Maybe Obama's speech at APEC was entirely campaign rhetoric, I agree with his message, which is that, although bombing Iran should be on the table, we should try everything else to resolve the problem before we turn to military actions. And if we do that, I believe that military actions will never be used. ----Wenjia Xing
ReplyDeleteIs it possible documents could be asked for in regards to Iran's plans of nuclear energy? Instead of accusing and if Iran really was planning on using nuclear energy for "Peaceful purposes" wouldn't there be some plan/blue print/economic document proving that they are investing in technology or whatever their purpose is? It may not be accurate but it may lay off pressure from the Romney administration and the world for that matter
ReplyDeleteCool...Iran exports pistachios. I did not know that. Fun fact.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...I agree with Christina but with some minor objections. Yes, it would certainly get the rest of the world off Iran's back if they were to explicitly state their plans or release this "blueprint" or some equivalent. However, looking from Iran's perspective, why would they even want to cooperate with other countries, especially the U.S.?
If we go under the assumption that Iran is indeed developing an energy program, it would help to release their plans, but they may also decline in order to keep their "trade secrets" (kind of like with businesses). If Iran is developing a weapons program instead...well, that doesn't need much elaboration.
Wait...interesting thought: maybe the energy program is just going to be another puppet industry manipulated by the state...? (I don't know. This thought seemed connected to the readings.) Any thoughts on this?
Or any thoughts on why Iran is favoring their oil industry over their pistachio industry? Why are they hatin' on the pistachios?!?!
"They say all options are on the table. Alright, let them be on the table until these options and you (the world powers) rot," Ahmadinejad. First off that's just hilarious. Secondly, he kind of has a point. If the threats are just threats than they can and will just sit and rot. I believe Ahmadinejad knows that the US is reluctant to start another war after Iraq and Afghanistan. He also knows that Iran isn't Iraq and Afghanistan, that Iran will fight back on US soil so the threats are just threats to him. Iran knows where the US stands economically and they know the US can't afford another war so Ahmadinejad is simply playing off that knowledge. It's actually interesting that the US and Israel are the ones threatening "options" at Iran, while Iran isn't making likewise threats. They are claiming that their nuclear program is peaceful and stand by it. Whether that's true or not, it is funny that Iran will just let the threats sit there and "rot."
ReplyDeleteI think the US should tone it down. The stats show that Iran has a young population and clear corruption issues. With economic sanctions and hard politics Iran will be forced to deal with its own issues soon enough. Inflation, young people, authoritarianism... These are all parts of revoltion. I dont care how well the government does in their pursuit of killing opposition, eventually they will lose it all because people need and want their basic freedoms.
ReplyDeleteInstead we have american freaking out, a president acting like he'll actually go to war in an election year, and Ahmadinejad is getting his 15 minutes of fame as that guy standing up to America. We need not fall into the trap of the Bush Doctrine, let's see a real threat from Iran before everyone loses their damn mind. Yaayyy politics!
I agree with the above post. It seems only a matter of time before the large young population will stand up for their rights, so there is no need for the US to act and speak so strongly. I thought the first article came off pretty biased, but I did agree with his point about this regime having organized corruption. In he second article, it spoke about how Rafsanjani and his family became successful from modest beginnings as small pistachio farmers- but it didn't mention anything about how successful or rich he is. In class didn't someone say that he owned essentially all the pistachio farms in Iran?
ReplyDeleteThe people of Iran never seem to get a break, they have been ruled over by rulers and governments full of incompetence. The article “organized corruption” highlighted this exact idea after the overthrow of the Shah the economy went down the drain. I hope to see the day when Iranian people especially those who are not part of the upper class are represented equally, treated well, and prosper because so far it has not been an easy road for them. I find it hard to believe that the Mullahs, who are supposed to be helping the people, can continue to get richer and watch people of their own country suffer. I personally think it’s just a matter of time before the rest of the population is sick of the corruption and perhaps even another revolution occurs in the near future; hopefully this time with better results. It’s only a matter of time before something changes and the friction of a potential war might even help stir some of these changes.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I really agree with Bianca and think it is so sad that the Mullah's keep getting richer and the average citizens are being affected the most. US sanctions are going to continue to impact the people when instead actions should be taken towards the governments, not the populace.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with previous comments regarding Iran's alleged nuclear program. If the international community doesn't have evidence, can we really afford to have another Iraq situation? I think not.
In some respects, I actually agree with Ahmadinejad when he says that other countries should respect Iran's sovereignty. So far, the community can not prove that Iran is not just trying to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, so until they have hard evidence they really should back off.
Lastly, I'm glad that the US marine is having a retrial. Even if he really is a spy, it would be really terrible timing for Iran if they carried out a death sentence for him considering what is going on in the world right now.
It's not all that related, but when I read the millionaire mullah's and the reaction to it, I kept thinking about this article I read a while back about opium mansions. The Taliban in Afghanistan justify themselves to the people by religion (which is supposed to be humble etc.) but these taliban leaders are making money off of opium and living in giant mansions in the middle of all this poverty and the article got similar attention from afghani's.
ReplyDelete-Juliana
The first reading was particularly interesting to me, "Organized Corruption." This is because I have always assumed that Iran's people were all in support of the regime, or at least scared into giving blind support. I was shocked to find out that a large group of people are disappointed in the direction the country is going. I also did not realize how unevenly distributed the wealth is in Iran. The combination of a lack of true democracy and wide-spread unemployment and poverty leads me to believe that the true threat to the regime comes from the people of Iran themselves. I can see the people of Iran rising up and taking their country back well before the West or anyone else attacks. The power of people is much stronger than the biggest Nuclear Weapon, and the regime is giving the people many reasons to rise up in stark opposition.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the rhetoric on all sides concerning a possible war with Iran. Though no one in the United States would actually like to go to war, so many Republican candidates are putting their campaigns on a war footing by promising military intervention in Iran if Iran develops nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad, though he is probably terrified at the thought of US military intervention, is well aware of the pressures the US faces against military intervention, and has his poker face on, saying let all the options sit on the table til they rot. Then there's Iran's Supreme Court, which may be making a diplomatic gesture approved at the highest levels of Iran's political powers, to suspend the supposed CIA spy's death sentence. This is too entertaining.
ReplyDeleteIn one of the articles, a guy was holding a sign that said "save america and israel". REALLY DUDE? This is complete hypocrisy. Iran isn't even capable of having nuclear weapons yet and the Americans and Israelis want to blow up Iran already. But it's so interesting how Israel has had nuclear weapons for DECADES and no one stopped them or went to war with them... Israel is a bigger threat to the international community than Iran right now.
ReplyDelete