Posted on 08/23/2006 10:16:29 PM PDT by Ooh-Ah
Thanks for correcting my mistake. Your are right it should be 'popcorn' and 'beer'. I'm practising my spelling. You have good 'checking engine' on FR. By the way, your comment suggests that you are much better at foreign languages than I am. Not everybody is a genius.
You're right.
No geniuses here.
By the way, the "'checking engine'" on FR is called a spell checker.
Amen!
the "'checking engine'" on FR is called a spell checker.
I didn't know that. Thanks one more time. I'm willing to learn.
Let's stop it here.
By Mullahs not thinking rationally, I mean the Mullahs think in terms of their own self interest, not the broader good of Iran or Iranian people. Self interest and self preservation are particularly applicable to totalitarian regimes such as IRI.
That is why IRI steals & squanders Iran's national wealth (more interested in providing support to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and IRI created Hezbollah), and maims, starves, prostitutes, beats, jails and kills its own citizens and plays power games externally with the West to maintain power and control.
"Compare the power they have with the power and influences the clergy has in western countries."
There is no comparison because the clergy in the West are not in charge of a government of a country.
keep hearin that organized betting exists for possibility OF future events. where can i place a bet on possibility of military action on iran? BIG TX
Welcome to FR.
The way the Iranian regime has "bought" the Russians and Chinese is in the way of deals, mutual investments. So, not buying in the sense that Iran owns them.
Iran also knows that their trade partners, Russia & China, don't adhere to the rules of political correctness, and their much smaller country of Iran would be toast immediately, if they ever tried to pull anything militarily on China or Russia. Also, China & Russia have no problems disintegrating Iran even if they only feel threatened by Iran, and Iran knows that. They know there won't be a John Kerry or Al Gore running either of those countries anytime soon.
btw - your english is very good.
Iran isn't as poor as it should be, because instead of spreading itself too thin, the regime spends the money it should be spending on its people and infrastructure, on outside "investments" (like the ones you mentioned)
Besides all the oil money, they get lots of $ from drugs. And of course when they run out, they print (counterfeit) more. ;~ )
Don't be so hard on yourself. I rarely use the spell-checker here, so I make typos and spelling mistakes. Everyone does. Some typos are funnier than others.
China has been signing long term oil contracts with Iran. As the world's demand for oil continues to increase in China and India, the cushion between supply and demand has narrowed. Countries will be competing to get a reliable source of oil. China has been selling arms to Iran. Russia has been selling nuclear technology to Iran along with military equipment. It has been building the nuclear reactors. The bottom line is that Iran can and has influenced the Russian and Chinese votes on the UNSC. Iraq did something similarly with the Russian and French votes. Remember the Oil for Food program?
1. Significant finances go to Iraq. Don't kid yourself filling the void created by removal of Sadam [the void that US refuse to fill because it is afflicted with political-correctness-madness syndrome - a lethal infectious disease transmitted by left-leaning intellectual elites] was pretty expensive, Especially in the face of long-lasting Arab-Persian distrust, and the memory of the bloody Iraq-Iran war.
Iran can afford it. The increase in oil revenues doesn't hurt either. As long as wealth is concentrated in the hands of the corrupt mullahs, they can spend the money any way they want. The Iranian economy is in poor shape, but the Iranian regime is able to mute domestic opposition and pressure unlike what would happen in democracies. The Soviet Union was really a third world country, but the leadership used its scarce resources to build up a world class military machine while the rest of the country suffered.
2. Hezbollah is also quite expensive pet. The toys used against Israel were very costly and you have to remember that a lot of money was spent to buy the support of Shiite population of south Lebanon [hospitals, schools, TV station, pensions for poor and family of martyrs - it's like financing a state without tax revenue]
Mere peanuts for the Iranians. Iran produces about 4 million bbls of oil a day and sells most of it. That works out to daily revenues of over $250 million a day.
3. Expensive nuclear program. There is a good reason why authoritarian governments in poor countries don't indulge themselves in this way.
Iran is not a poor country. It has the world's 35th largest economy [22nd in terms of PPP]. The corrupt and repressive leadership can establish its own priorties and fund them accordingly.
6. Internal situation. Young urban dwellers are getting restive. They won't put up with deteriorating quality of life. Some money have to be spend on them.
There is no doubt that the Iranian regime is not popular or supported by the majority of the populace. However, as Stalin, Castro, etc. have proven, you can in a police state control the opposition.
If we take into account that Iranian economy is in a shambles [an oil rich country that have to import gasoline!!], we have to wonder how to the hell it can afford this kind of policy???!!
You are viewing the situation through a Western prism. The Iranian regime can do what it wants, including setting priorities on how it spends its money. Iran is not running a deficit economy like we are. In fact, they hold surpluses.
Maybe they look at how Iraq has gone and think, hey!, "post-Mullah Iran will be unstable, won't respect our current Sino-Persian contracts, production will fall, and oil prices will increase even further."
Maybe they think Iran would end up with a bunch of Shiite Muqtada al-Sadr's running around in chaos. Perhaps even Afghanistan doesn't reassure them too much.
Appeasement may be weak and wrong, but it may be logical for short term goals of 10-20 years.
China and Russia are NOT concerned about a Persian nuke threat because the USA is going to play the cop FOR THEM as needed when the time comes.
Walk in their cheap-chinese slippers for a mile and maybe you'll understand why they ain't hopping on the 'coalition of the willing' bandwagon. It ain't ICBM rocket science.
pppp. Don't listen to Cindy. She has no thoughts, just Spam posts. She's not actually a person, just a spam-bot that plasters a pre-assembled mass of links without relevance to the current thread.
You, on the other hand, bring a different perspective that can help people expand their arguments beyond the dull: "Nuke Mecca, haha."
There are only one or two posters on FR that can speak/post in arabic or persian or any language other than English, so your effort is superior to most. Keep up the good work.
Exactly! USA used to have this threat. Murtha & Co. have depleted our deterrent.
The Russians And Chinese want everyone to have a bomb
I agree......... every farm silo in America should have a missle with multiple warheads and computerized aiming programs. Most silos go unused now anyway. A football for every farmer. Then lets negotiate free trade for our ag exports. /s
Your idea of boycotting Beijing 2008 is rude to the Americans who train hard to win gold.
Maybe we are getting a little sick and tired of hearing death to America and death to Israel! We are both here to stay so they better get it through their thick heads. As far as the chicoms are concerned. They want to be considered a major power. Maybe they need to earn that respect.
Ditto That.
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