Posted on 08/29/2014 12:55:02 PM PDT by Rummyfan
The tired old formula Sunni vs Shia is and has been a propaganda construct. It’s easy to see that when people deny that Alawites are “almost Christian” and unrelated to Shia Islam.
Iran isn’t Arab. The shredding of the Arab world is of very great benefit to Iran.
The shredding of the moslem world is in our best interests, as long as it is done in the right order.
Think of it as a valentine.
Shh! You’ll wake the sleepers. :’)
Iran’s and Russia’s interests are not convergent; they are competitors who happen to have some of the same competitors.
Over ten years ago, OPEC started de facto pricing of oil in Euros, but still uses the USD for the official figure. Other than the slow-but-sure upward march of OPEC oil prices, they make sure their product is price-stable in Europe, which is a big nearby market. The main competition in Europe is Russia.
Lifting sanctions on Iran had an impact on Saudi and other Arabian regimes in OPEC, but in the short run it will have little impact on world oil prices; in the middle-term, as Iranian crude hits the market, probably with production increases with help from both China and Big Oil, Russia’s already declining production will become more of a liability for Putin’s dictatorship, and will directly benefit OPEC’s Arabian and Iranian members.
In the long term, Russia’s valiant effort to create an economic Warsaw Pact and remain outside the EU will lead to a long downward spiral. In 2013 the FSU supplied 42 percent of the EU’s petroleum, compared with over 13 percent from the Middle East and 25 percent from Africa (Nigeria’s been pushing up production ever since that little incident with that KGB boat that ‘vanished’ in the ocean in that part of the world, weird coincidence).
But even Norway by itself (with offshore oil; weird that so many Islamics have migrated to Norway, huh?) supplies 10 percent of the EU’s needs. Currently the US and the rest of the Americas supply but a trickle to Europe, but US production, and that of Canada, has been growing faster than perhaps anywhere else on Earth, and fracking has become of interest to European nations with formerly inaccessible reserves.
Iran’s long been a supporter of Hamas... which is Sunni.
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