Why Iran?

[Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 7/7/06, Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> At his best, Ahmadinejad is more like Qaddafi.

Another thing: who runs Libya has never interested me.  After all, the
country isn't as important as Iran or Venezuela.

Libya — GDP: $ 37,480,000,000
Iran — GDP: $ 516,700,000,000
Libya — Population: 5,765,563
Iran — Population: 68,017,860
Libya — Oil - Proved Reserves (BBL): 38 Billion BBL (2004 Est.)
Iran — Oil - Proved Reserves (BBL): 130.8 Billion BBL (2004 Est.)

Libya just isn't in the same league as Iran and Venezuela, says my
inner great nation chauvinist.  Let Bush and Qaddafi have Libya, the
only neo-con success story.  :->

But we can't afford to let Washington have Iran.

My inner sexist, on the other hand, says:

Cuba is like an old friend, on whom you can count if you get into
trouble, like you can't kick your cocaine habit (Maradona), you get
hit by an environmental disaster (Chernobyl victims), or you are
running from the police (Robert Williams, Assata Shakur, etc.).

Venezuela is like the woman you would want to marry: she is
big-hearted, sound of body and mind, capable of bearing one
ideological child after another, from Bolivia to Nepal (of all
places).

Mexico is like the girl next door you were fond of in high school.
She got married to an abusive man, got divorced, got married again to
another bastard, so you were sad and worried about her.  After all,
she is such a good woman!  What a shame!  Your heart beats a little
faster now, though, for you just heard that she might be getting a
divorce again and her man this time is said to be caring and decent
(better, quite passionately devoted to her, according to your friend
Julio).

But Iran is like the woman you want to have an affair with: she is
mysterious and inscrutable (mainly because you really don't know her),
she is unpredictable, and she's been BAD, but she's endowed with great
assets, which makes her irresistible.

--
Yoshie
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