The Large Pistachio Nuts of Iranian Foreign Policy
The UK Guardian keeps trying to convince us to leave Iran alone. In this op-ed, which gets bogged down pretty quick, the point laboriously arrived at is that international pressure (Great Satan) will rescue Ahmadinejad from his public’s annoyance with his failure to come through domestically:
Ironically, it is this very international crisis that may serve to save Ahmadinejad’s presidency, a reality that the president undoubtedly understood all too well. As domestic difficulties mount, the emerging international crisis could at best serve as a rallying point, or at worst persuade Iran’s elite that a change of guard would convey weakness to the outside world.
This conclusion ignores reports that one of the big reasons Ahmadinejad is in trouble at home is that his buffoonish, bellicose posturing is scaring everyone and sanctions are worsening an already lousy economy. Now, those facts may have been mentioned somewhere in the article. It was so badly written I was forced to skip over the more obtuse parts. But we’re not done yet:
There can be little doubt that US hawks will interpret recent events as proof that pressure works, and that any more pressure will encourage the hawks further. Yet the reality is that while Ahmadinejad has been his own worst enemy, the US hawks are his best friends.
Doubt no more! Iranians’ proxies in Iraq are running for cover and the Iranians themselves, as their agents being rounded up and threatened with death, have turned on a charm campaign to convince everybody what great, aboveboard guys they are. Here’s the New York Times:
BAGHDAD, Jan. 28 — Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad outlined an ambitious plan on Sunday to greatly expand its economic and military ties with Iraq — including an Iranian national bank branch in the heart of the capital — just as the Bush administration has been warning the Iranians to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs.
I like the next graph. It’s hard to tell whether the slam at the U.S. is something the Iranian said, or if the NYT is just being helpful, perhaps encouraged by Iran’s generosity:
… The ambassador, Hassan Kazemi Qumi, said Iran was prepared to offer Iraq government forces training, equipment and advisers for what he called “the security fight.” In the economic area, Mr. Qumi said, Iran was ready to assume major responsibility for Iraq reconstruction, an area of failure on the part of the United States since American-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago.
As the following graph explains, the Iranians know their business.
“We have experience of reconstruction after war,” Mr. Qumi said, referring to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. “We are ready to transfer this experience in terms of reconstruction to the Iraqis.”
There is no qualification added as we saw in the preceding graph … you know, something like “Iran, however, is a third-world economic basketcase that can barely maintain the infrastructure necessary to pump free money out of the ground” … so I have to assume that means NYT agrees the Iranians will do a better job:
When you read the New York Times, you learn many important things. Among them, today, I learned that Mr. Qumi has “large pistachio nuts.” No kidding!
WaPo: Some of our Gulf allies are concerned about the size of the Pistachio Nuts of Iranian Foreign Policy.
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Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:43 pm Comments (19) on Monday, January 29, 2007
19 Responses to “The Large Pistachio Nuts of Iranian Foreign Policy”
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January 30th, 2007 at 1:48 am
Meanwhile, back on the home front:
“Police are on the lookout for a man described as being of Middle Eastern descent who tried to gain access to a firearms plant in Murfreesboro. Rutherford County sheriff’s deputies were called to the Barrett Firearms Manufacturing plant Thurday. A plant employee reported on Wednesday that a Middle Eastern-looking man had tried get inside the building
Barrett Firearms makes 50-caliber rifles for the military, which has used them in combat since the 1991 Gulf war. The powerful gun is also sold to the general public. Critics have warned that the rifle could be used by terrorists to bring down commercial airliners or penetrate rail cars and storage plants holding hazardous materials.
The plant worker said the man had asked questions about the plant and began demanding access when the employee did not respond. The man was asked to leave after he became upset when the employee began to examine his pickup truck. The sheriff’s office was working with officials at Barrett Firearms and the US Department of Homeland Security to pursue any leads.”
WBIR, Knoxville TN (http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=41691)
January 30th, 2007 at 2:33 am
As opposed to the economic powerhouse America has turned Iraq into?
50% unemployment
70% inflation
One of only seven countries whose economies shrank last year
Yeehaw!
We’ll fix it up real good!
January 30th, 2007 at 2:46 am
The Large Pistachio Nuts of Iranian Foreign Policy
The Large Pistachio Nuts of Iranian Foreign Policy Jules Crittenden The UK Guardian keeps trying to convince us to leave Iran alone. In this op-ed, which gets bogged down pretty quick, the point laboriously arrived at is that international pressure
January 30th, 2007 at 6:46 am
[...] Jules Crittenden isn’t too happy with Ali’s op-ed either and writes: This conclusion ignores reports that one of the big reasons Ahmadinejad is in trouble at home is that his buffoonish, bellicose posturing is scaring everyone and sanctions are worsening an already lousy economy. [...]
January 30th, 2007 at 7:04 am
alphie,
Enough with the disinformation, I can not find anything about Iraq’s economy shrinking since 2003. I may be wrong, could i get a reference? Thing are bad enough in real life without making things up.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Here’s the cia:
http://www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/wofact2006/geos/iz.html
look at gdp growth…
January 30th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Newsweek recently covered this. “Shrinking” is not the correct verb:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16241340/site/newsweek/
January 30th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Web Reconnaissance for 01/30/2007
A short recon of whats out there that might draw your attention.
January 30th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Alphie,
50% unemployment
70% inflation
as per cia link you referenced.
The link showed 25% unemployment and 40% inlation, estimated in 1985.
Their economy has improved much since then, according to another leftist organ Newsweek.
Gad, can’t you leftist loonies not lie about anything??
January 30th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Here’s the 70% inflation rate report, lars, right from Iraq’s finance minister:
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070129-071823-7910r
January 30th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
The Guardian and the New York Times: holding hands while they tiptoe through the tulips.
Yes, yes, alphie, you’re anti-American and anti-Iraq, and you love the insurgents. We get it.
January 30th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
[...] 5. A few years ago, a letter to the editor called our illustrious attorney general a cashew. Since the letter was signed, we let it through. Jules Crittenden cuts on the pistachios of Iran’s government. Worth a reading. [...]
January 30th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Reb,
You got me all wrong.
Just pointing out that even in the unlikely event we can pacify Iraq enough to pull out…whatever government we leave behind will soon collapse because the neocons have looted Iraq.
Quite a scam, steal everything in sight, then blame Iraq’s poor economy on the “terrorists.”
January 30th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
I repeat: anti-American, anti-Iraq, love the insurgents. And a wailing Cassandra besides.
January 30th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
I love this ability to spin anything that comes down the pike into something against Bush. I’m no fan of Bush, either, but I have to wonder what the hell they’re going to do when he leaves office.
Their fear is palpable, their cowardice, blatant. Where will it lead when they no longer have Bush to blame, I wonder.
January 30th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Don’t you guys see the beauty here?
Pull off the biggest scam in history with the help of an army of willing idiots ready to bark “why do you hate America?” ever single time someone points out the crime.
Pure genious…
And they don’t even cut you fools in on it.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
“Pull off the biggest scam in history with the help of an army of willing idiots ready to bark “why do you hate America?” ever single time someone points out the crime.”
“Pure genious”(sic)
Well the U.N. was slick, I’ll admit that. THEY (the U.N., gotta’ ’splain everything to you) were actually THE *Weapons of Mass Destruction*, (see below) in Iraq…”willing idiot”…new nomenclature? Use to be “useful idiots” all you up and coming commies were. HEY, maybe you aren’t you “useful”?
Pure “genious”…Nahhh, just *common god damn greasy thieves and willing participants and collaborators in the death of hundreds of thousands of people, just as long as they got their cut*. They still are, “willing idiot”.
Is Kofi in Ghana, yet?
January 30th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Oil for food, Cliff?
The Australian government made more off that scam than everyone else combined.
A fact the right “forgets” because…two(2) Aussies gave their lives in support of Operation Iraqi “Freedom”
January 31st, 2007 at 4:06 am
Take note of the method used by the simpletonian: First and foremost, mouth only assertions; and B., never name names, there are no individuals–except Bush, of course. It’s “the neocons” and “the Australians”. He leaves out “The Annans” and “the Husseins”, and he doesn’t even mention, using his own method, “the French,” or “the Germans”, or “the Africans”, “the Russians.” Collectives are all they can handle in the Simple world.
Oh, yeah, and no proof required at all.