Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Iran: The Caribbean Connection



We may be entering a new, even dirtier period in US-Venezuela/Cuba politics. On top of our Navy getting caught spying, Rumsfeld comparing Chavez to Hitler, and millions proposed for US TV/radio news transmissions (below) - I sense this Iranian issue may begin to raise its ugly head. Even Tony Blair is getting in the act.

We've been noticing increasingly outlandish statements in the news and blogosphere - ie. false WMD claims and headlines like "Hamas Moves into S. America," "plan war on Israel", and "War Planning?"

The main impetus behind the Iran-Venezuela-Cuba axis stories is the UN vote last week where only these Caribbean countries voted against the IAEA resolution (5 others abstained), defending Iran's right to peaceful technology and wishing to continue talks. Of course, this was a huge vote for the US, and it brought up the necessary pressure.

What (boring) cooperation is actually occurring b/w Venezuela and Iran are things likebuilding oil tankers and cement plants. All the rest about weapons plotting and terrorist footholds in the Americas is weak minded garbage.

What more astute observers realize this is really about is (surprise=OIL). Coincidentally(?), this comes on the heels of word that Chavez has said goodbye to the most profitable company on the plant - Exxon/Mobil - because they alone wouldn't agree to the new terms. These types of things, along with OPEC, are Chavez's real mortal sins.

2 Comments:

Blogger leftside said...

Relax Ninja, look at what I said again. I said Cuba and Venezuela were defending Iran's right to nuclear technology by their vote... and pointing out the right's hysteria over this. You do understand every country in the world has an inaliable right to pursue peaceful applications of nuclear techology, right? That should be the basis of talks. The US unfortunately, believes it should dictate who has these rights and for Iran the answer is no, not on any terms. The Iranian people can not accept such hypocrisy.

Whether Iran's nuclear program is entirely peaceful or not is the question that needs to be answered. We've had IAEA safeguards and snap inspections for many years now and they have not found ANY proof of anything other than one suspect document that Iran provided. The actual IAEA report's conclusion is that "the Agency is not yet in a position to clarify some important issues." They cite some relatively non-important information that was not provided up front and one design document that Iran DID disclose. Am I just having deja-vu, or have we seen this movie before?

The phrase "wiping Israel off the map" sounds nuts. But this of course was not meant literally, like US commentators imply. Iran, like many moderates everywhere, support a 1-state solution over a walled-off bantustan, which enshrines the wholesale stealing of land through war and oppression.

8:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ninja:

What exactly do you mean by "the entire world is uniting against this issue"? Do you know how many countries abstained on the issue of Iran? That should tell you something at least! Look, anyone who has nuclear weapons in the 21st century is an idiot -- USA, Russia, Israel, India, Pakistan, ... to name a few. And, it is absolutely dangerous if Iran aquires a nuke! But, Iran, like any other country in the world, has the right to peaceful nuclear energy technology! And, that's what Venezuela and other countries who voted against(or abstained from voting) are saying. But, that does not necessarily mean they support Iran in aquiring nuclear weapons, as you so carelessly suggest!

3:50 PM  

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