The Rewards of Defiance: Iran's Focus
Slightly comforting to read that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being criticized domestically as a result of his government's failure to provide adequately for Iranians throughout a winter somewhat more severe than usual. People in the more remote areas of the country are facing difficulties in heating their homes, a result of what appears to be a scarcity of heating fuel. Gas is in short supply internally.Amply being supplied elsewhere, however. Iran boasts the second most ample natural gas reserves worldwide. Which hasn't helped Iranians too much. Their president imposed gasoline rationing for his people. This, in a country that owns roughly 20 percent of the world's oil supply. And, tch, tch, Mr. Ahmadinejad may be in trouble when parliamentary elections are held in March, as a result of this discomfort being visited upon the populace.
The price of oil and gas is high, and Iran handsomely remunerated for its fossil fuel treasures. Despite which, the economy is hampered by a high unemployment rate, and a 20% rate of inflation yearly. The country is facing its third UN resolution whereby sanctions will once again be imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran. The previous sanctions, although flicked away in a gesture of impotent nuisance value, have had their effect on the economy.
Iran's international economic isolation and the social censure that its actions have imposed upon the country, leading to a deficit in foreign investment, coupled with the current regime's mishandling of the economy places it in an unenviable position. Which its restively critical population blames on its hard-line president with his arrogant dismissal of international concerns.
And additional concerns have been posted with the country's rocket launch in preparation for sending its first research satellite into space. That very technology, after all, can also be used to launch weapons. How perfectly Islamic, to succeed in advancing home-grown technology, with the considerable assistance of China, North Korea and Russia; launching the results while chanting "God is greatest".
Even without rockets capable of carrying nuclear-armed warheads toward Iran's stated enemies - Israel, which it baldly states it intends to obliterate from the landscape, and the United States, which it equates with the "Great Devil" - Iran has perfected a long-range missile with a firing range of 2,000 kilometres, more than capable of delivering deadly hits on Israel and U.S. military bases in the Gulf.
But there is nothing quite like acquiring the ultimate weapon. And with it the prestige and the standing within the Middle East that Iran so craves.
Rationally, it would make sense if the country took steps to invest its state oil- and gas-derived income in building and establishing domestic refineries, rather than shipping the raw fossil fuels out to multinationals who reap the larger benefits of petroleum production. In the process the country would be providing well-paid employment to those many of its citizens who are unemployed.
Instead, the funds are diverted to the internationally unsanctioned and prohibitively expensive development of nuclear technology. The country has made a deliberate choice to avail itself of nuclear technology rather than elaborating its own natural resources. It might make good sense to have nuclear domestic production for power delivery internally to bolster the country's energy needs. If that were indeed the purpose.
But like Pakistan before it, under the governance of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who came to power partly on his pledge to improve the miserable lives of indigent Pakistanis, and who instead diverted scarce state funding toward nuclear technology and the development of a nuclear arsenal, the allure of succeeding in achieving nuclear technology to balance what was perceived of as a potential threat from India's like success was simply too compelling.
Pakistan achieved its successful development of nuclear technology, and the atomic bomb, then went on to proliferate it through the carelessly arrogant adventurism of its chief atomic scientist. The cat was out of the bag and everyone wanted a piece of it. Tellingly, not all nations are the remotest bit interested in producing nuclear armaments; most nations with advanced technologies in fact.
Most democratic countries whose citizens share in the wealth of their countries, whose education system, judicial system, embrace of human rights and freedoms, see no need to impose their egos on an already-insecure world. It is the febrile-minded, antagonistic, belligerent countries of the world who exult in the chase.
Time for another revolution in increasingly dangerous Iran.
Labels: Technology, Troublespots, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, February 05, 2008
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