The Ayatollah's Answer--Iran's nuclear strategy is to divide and conquer the U.N.

...mullahs' strategy was paying dividends as Russia and China took the bait and urged further negotiations. These countries have their oil or nuclear energy deals with Tehran, and they don't seem to worry all that much about Islamic radicals getting the bomb. Perhaps they figure that's America's problem, or Israel's, though how an Islamic regime with a nuclear arsenal helps Russian or Chinese interests is a mystery.

... "no good options" available to pressure Iran, but that's more excuse than analysis. Iran's mullahs are unpopular at home and their citizens will notice if they are declared a global pariah state. Sanctions on travel by Iran's government officials, diplomats and sports teams may be largely symbolic, but such symbolism will not be missed on the Persian street.

Iran is also vulnerable economically. Sanctions on banks that deal with Iran can limit the regime's access to global credit markets for trade and other financing. ... Iran also imports some 40% of its refined gasoline. A ban on selling gasoline to Iran would surely lead to gas lines and other shortages there, with possible domestic political repercussions. And it is domestic discontent that the mullahs rightly fear the most.

The worry ... oil card in retaliation, ...sending world oil prices perhaps to $100 a barrel. But the mullahs can't eat oil. Amid other economic sanctions, they would need their income from oil sales more than ever. ... if the world...won't allow them to go nuclear, ...

No one wants a military confrontation with Iran, but those who want to avoid one have an obligation to show the mullahs that continuing on their current path will lead to isolation, economic suffering and worse. A U.N. Security Council that passes resolutions it refuses to enforce is itself a threat to global security.

Sorry to interject but I'm interested in the subject matter.

"There's a difference between a caliphate and the Ottoman Empire."

There is. Broadly, Ottoman Empire originated in Turkey and Caliphate is Arab in origin. Islam was conceived in Arabia and later spread, mainly by force, to Asia Minor which includes Turkey as we now know it. Historically, this distinction alone is significant.

The Caliphate
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ISLAM/CALIPH.HTM

The Ottomans
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0860176.html
http://www.cqpress.com/context/articles/epr_saudi.html

"I noticed you changed the name of the PERSIAN GULF to the Arabian Peninsula" ...."the fact that Iranians are proud of their Persian identity."

It is true that the Iranians are proud of not only their 'Persian' identity (one ethnic group approx. 51% of current population in Iran), but also of their 'Iranian' identity (many ethnic groups in Iran including Iranian-Arabs, who fought on Iran side not the Arab/Saddam side during Iraq-Iran War in the 80's).

Secondly, Ahmadinejad would naturally quip about the use of the term "Arabian Gulf", wouldn't he? Ahmadinejad may be viewed as a lunatic, but he knows how to play the popularity game at home in Iran where most Iranian people, despite the insidious efforts of IRI to Arabize Iran and even the Parsi/Farsi language, are, predominantly, still more nationalists than Islamofacists. Even & especially now, alot of Iranians realize that they were first born an Iranian not a Moslem. Thanks to IRI and their savageries in Iran over the last couple of decades for indirectly reinforcing Iranian nationalism rather than Islamisms within Iran.

Thirdly, Ahmadinejad's emphasis on "Persian Gulf" is not about being a proud persian. It is about being a Proud Shiite Moslem vs someone from Qatar, as you quote, who, most likely, is a Sunni Moslem. Syrians, and Hezbollah are Shiites too and Shiites are in the minority in the Islamic world. Furthermore, there is and has been no love lost between the Arab Sunnis and the Shiites which includes IRI.

Lastly, nationalism e.g. "calling oneself a Persian" is not acceptable by IRI wisdom. Khomeini, Khatami, and so on have repeatedly tried to brainwash Iranians and the world by saying that: nationalism has no place in Islam of their creation. Nationalism is a Western plot to undermine Islam.

I've an inkling that the situation is more complex but the above is just a flavor of what is happening.

Thanks for the interesting historical data. Very informative. Times are fluid and contextual, I'm speaking of the quote.....War On Terror.... And the influence China has as a player in all of this not to mention the 4 foot tall menace in N. Korea. The simple point I was trying to make (but decided not to reply to Mr. Abd Al Rahiim due to ideological hopelessness) was the proxy system of terrorists starting with China, rolling downhill to Iran, then to All the little terror groups (cells) in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, (who by the way just attacked the Kurds yesterday probably to provide a faint for Iran taking over the oil refinery nobody's talking about who got the same game plan from Hugo Chavez in Venezuela) All this is not so complicated if one can OPEN ones mind and eyeballs.
Honestly
PEACE ENFORCER

"An oil rich country that has to import its gasoline."
If that was all they had to worry about then the world would really be in trouble, they import one third of there drinking water, food products about 20%,health products 80% (a drug store in Iran is full of American drugs) urban health does not exist, Tehran has 12 million people without garbage collection, go to a restaurant and vomit, tour the country and wonder why they have not rebuilt after the war, then you realize that there has not been a war, children eating out of garbage on the streets of Tehran corruption on a scale that has never before existed on this earth,I have been there many times and this is not even a little of what is happening in that country.

All we have to do is compromise with the Muslims. After all they are peace-loving just like us. All we have to do is give in on a few points and we would have peace. NO BIG DEAL !
First, since muslims believe homosexuality is a crime, all we have to do is agree with them and make homosexuality a crime, punishable by death. NO BIG DEAL,right? Secondly, muslims believe and insist that women are third class citizens, who should be subjugated and treated as chattel. So we just do as they say, don't let women vote anymore, don't let them go to school, kill them if they are not virgins before marriage, promote female clitoral castration to reduce the sex drive, and deny them divorce and property rights. Its what Allah commands. NO BIG DEAL, RIGHT?. Thirdly, let them annihilate the jews. Its only a tiny country anyways, and then we would have peace. ITS NO BIG DEAL, Right????? So all you Jews, Gays and Females, think about it. Its your reward, and its NO BIG DEAL !!!!!

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