Apparently that's what my subscription to "
Foreign Policy" says about me.
However, I want to point out something I found very telling and relevent vis-a-vis Iran. Especially in light of the
billet-doux from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. You can read about
The Letter over at
Blackfive. But this article was more background on why Iran feels that way they do.
This is the part I found to be important.
"Why the hesitation to take stronger action? One reason is certainly that China and Russia have been reluctant partners in the business of pressuring Tehran. China expects to sign long-term agreements for Iranian oil worth an estimated $100 billion. Russia is building nuclear reactors in Iran for which it is receiving billions of dollars as well. But the West, including the United States, has an even stronger and more direct incentive to talk instead of act: Any misstep in the campaign to deter Iran from developing nuclear technology that might be used for an atomic bomb could lead to an explosion in the cost of oil.
The Iranians know that, of course, and as soon as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in August, the regime began performing as if a higher law—supply and demand—would protect it no matter how much it provoked the international community.
As Iran’s delegate to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said bluntly in March, Tehran estimates that “the United States has the power to cause harm and pain, but the United States is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if that is the path that the U.S. wishes to choose, let the ball roll.”The basic arithmetic is simple. There is just barely enough oil in today’s market to meet the global demand for about 85 million barrels a day. With almost all oil producers pumping every drop they can get out of the ground or from under the sea, a margin of roughly 1.5 million barrels a day is left over. Iran exports about 2.7 million barrels a day. If an international embargo, a military attack, or a political decision in Tehran took that Iranian oil off the market, prices could well soar from the current price of around $60 a barrel to $90 a barrel or higher. Adjusted for inflation, that would equal or surpass the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979. Painful indeed."
The entire article is
here.
If you have the time there is also a very interesting article on Petropolitics and of course this issue has the Failed States Index.
