Jim Angle, last night:
Iran’s status as a Persian Gulf power fueled by oil revenue could collapse without any push from the U.S. or other nations. That according to a new study from the National Academy of Sciences which says restrictions on foreign investment, a focus on short-term profit and just plain mismanagement could eliminate Iran’s oil exports by 2015 — costing the country an estimated $50 billion a year. The report concludes that Iran’s hard-line politics have driven away many potential investors and that the welfare state has siphoned off oil profits that should have been reinvested in production. In the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program — which it claims is for nuclear power not weapons — the analysis suggests Iran might be increasingly vulnerable to international pressure and have less money to devote to radical Islamic groups abroad.
Well, clearly the actions of Iran, in the NAS’s view, don’t make sense in light of the money they’d lose. And I guess the idea here is that money motivates everyone. Indeed, if you consider that money is a motivation for ANYTHING regarding Iran’s government, it DOESN’T make sense.
But what if money isn’t what’s motivating their actions? If world domination by radical Islam is the goal, the actions that don’t make sense in the light of the money lost, start making an alarming amount of sense. As an example, if they gain Nuclear weapons prior to money becoming a serious issue….
Tags: BitsBlog, Middle East Affairs
