[Peace-discuss] Re: Oil, Geopolitics, and the Coming War with Iran

[Paul M. King]

Excellent article, David. Michael Klare gives a very clear
analysis of the situation.

Basically, after taking into account Iran's productive
capacity for both oil and natural gas (which it's not anywhere
near meeting and so has enormous potential for growth), it has
the second largest pool of hydrocarbon reserves in the world
(coming very close to Saudi Arabia).

Also, Iran is a major contributor of oil and gas to China,
India and Japan. I just heard yesterday that China and India
have recently discovered the enormous economic interest they
have in establishing closer business and diplomatic ties (one
offers a huge manufacturing base and the other a highly
skilled knowledge worker base [programmers, etc.]).

China just signed a 25-year contract (one of its biggest
overseas investments) with Iran to develop one of its major
gas fields. India has signed a huge 30-year contract with
them. Pakistan and India are building a gas pipeline. And a
private Japanese corporation has recently been awarded a huge
contract by Iran to recover natural gas from offshore oil
fields. Hmmmm...

And, of course, Iran is forced to pursue ties with other
nations because American companies are prohibited from doing
business with them by executive order due to their uranium
enrichment activities.

So...essentially - it seems to me - by refusing Iran the
option to go nuclear we allow the situation to persist where
our diplomatic and commercial relations to them will not be as
equals but exploitive.

If I were a policy analyst I might recommend allowing them to
pursue their uranium enrichment activies and suggest more
equitable diplomatic ties with them. I know that this is not
an acceptable resolution to many peace activists out there,
though. What other solutions might we look into besides
multilateral nuclear disarmament?

..:: Paul King




---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 09:57:09 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David Green <davegreen48 at yahoo.com>  
>Subject: [Peace-discuss] Oil, Geopolitics, and the Coming War
with Iran  
>To: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>
>Article by Michael Klare:
>
>First paragraph and link:
>
>As the United States gears up for an attack on Iran,
>one thing is certain: the Bush administration will
>never mention oil as a reason for going to war. As in
>the case of Iraq, weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
>will be cited as the principal justification for an
>American assault. "We will not tolerate the
>construction of a nuclear weapon [by Iran]," is the
>way President Bush put it in a much-quoted 2003
>statement. But just as the failure to discover illicit
>weapons in Iraq undermined the administration's use of
>WMD as the paramount reason for its invasion, so its
>claim that an attack on Iran would be justified
>because of its alleged nuclear potential should invite
>widespread skepticism. More important, any serious
>assessment of Iran's strategic importance to the
>United States should focus on its role in the global
>energy equation. 
>
>http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=7619&sectionID=67
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