“Friendship with Iran, rather than Israel, is the key to advancing U.S. interests in the Middle East generally (where it would serve as a counterweight to U.S. dependence/reliance on Saudi Arabia), and specifically in the Persian Gulf (through which something like 25% of world oil flows). U.S. policy goals in Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and Central Asia are probably achievable only with a friendly Iran.”>>>>>>>>

Ditto again.

Unlike some people, I do not find this particularly alarming. I am 100% in favor of doing everything possible to achieve a U.S.-Iran rapprochement. Friendship with Iran, rather than Israel, is the key to advancing U.S. interests in the Middle East generally (where it would serve as a counterweight to U.S. dependence/reliance on Saudi Arabia), and specifically in the Persian Gulf (through which something like 25% of world oil flows). U.S. policy goals in Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and Central Asia are probably achievable only with a friendly Iran.

Sarkozy will be there to help too with his brand new bas in UAE :)

Let’s Roll some mullah heads

And all you lefty lunatics with hair grown under your arm pits can go defend the mullahs — Oh no need to take your joints

Aside from the necessity of diversifying its energy resources, and including nuclear energy in the mix (which I explained in an article in Harward International Review, Winter 2005), Iran is after the Japan model, namely, having the complete domestic industry for producing low-enriched uranium for its nuclear reactors, but also putting it in a position that would enable it to break out on a short notice, if a national emergency arises.

Who can blame Iran? Regardless of how we view its regime, Iran is in one of the worst neighborhoods in the world, with an unstable, nuclear-armed Pakistan on the east (from which the Jundallah terrorists attack Iran), a constantly threatening nuclear-armed Israel on the West, and claims to its territorial integrity by the United Arab Emirate in the south which are supported by the U.S., not to mention a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan (and even in Pakistan).

(Contango is when the spot price is far below the futures price, this means the investor overbid the oil price and will have to sell for far less than he bought it for. Since so much of this is the low interest gov’t loans that bailed out these manipulators we’re paying for the gas manipulation 4-5 times over now. One more bubble pop and our enfeebled economy could collapse–at least the financiers.)

This next contango bubble could see the same convergence of foreign policy at the service of market manipulation. If this sounds a bit conspiratorial I’d direct you to Smedley Butler’s “War Is a Racket,” ask you to reflect on South America and the Middle East. I don’t see these as sole or even primary reasons for this action–hell, when is it a bad time to kill brown people? We have many Machiavellian if myopic reasons to proceed with the status quo, but this market imbalance must be kept in perspective.

While Iran has been under crippling sanctions for some time, the oil glut has no doubt hurt Iran. Sales at the well head are down, as are revenues. And, much of this bubble goes to the financiers not to the producers. After all, the producers are still having to subsidize the gas for domestic consumption.

I also want to point out that Saudi Arabia already likely has nukes though this is not widely discussed. It seems only sensible that Iran get them as well. I don’t know how much longer this country can continue to bully the world. Are we China’s unwitting terrier? How much can we do for Israel, how much more militarism can we afford?

This country can’t afford to run the deficits we’re running. We can’t fight China as they could dump our dollars and cripple us instantly. The Fed had to bail out the 10yr Treasury note when it found few buyers. What I am trying to discern is how much of a bang and puff of smoke will we leave as the American empire succumbs to entropy and Hoyle and finds it’s own reasonable limits.

This will seem very painful here. We will slowly slide a bit while the rest of the world gains and improves. This is a good thing. The best thing would be for us to hold only a Navy, patrol the seas for a tribute and develop our own manufacturing base. We’d benefit from fair trade and real competition. But, these would help us over the long term.

Over the short run our myopic ministers will support what’s most advantageous right now. Increasingly, the advantage is going to political supporters rather than the American people. We are being fleeced. I would like to see liberals engage libertarians and vice versa. They agree on retiring the American empire, sadly we’re represented by the lackeys of the War machine in both parties. The longer we allow this, the further we will descend. When the fight is over, it doesn’t really serve one well to continue the bellicose overtures. Our ugliness (and hypocrisy) is evident to all but ourselves.