So who’s got the last laugh now? Iran’s reputed nuclear bomb, even if proved in the making today, would take a year to build. Yet, the more potent bomb, and less lethal to humans, is paying in gold for Iran’s oil, as India, China, Russia, and even Europe plan to do. This simple exchange could neutralize the military saber dance in the Strait of Hormuz, the central transportation link of oil from east to west and back. In fact, gold prices could spike with speculators, along with oil prices, causing more pain at home.
What’s more, as the dollar dives in value, it would dive harder and faster, being upstaged by a non-US petrodollar, Iranian gold. So, despite Israeli paranoia that four Iranian nuclear bombs are in the works, it’s time for the US and Israel to get a grip on their fears. The real threat is economic not nuclear.
It’s only Israel and the U.S. who are obsessed with Iran’s nuclear plans and a few of our ditzy presidential candidates. There is no evidence to support these additional weapons claims, and statements by Israeli General Aviv Kochavi, echoed by President Obama, that “The Israeli government will stop Iran one way or the other” belong in a Clint Eastwood movie not the likes of CNN, Fox-News and Republican presidential debates, all beating the war-drums. We’ve got enough war to bury us now.
In fact, if the US and Israel are so worried about Iran, let them consider that Israel from the late 50s on has been developing and producing some 300 to 400 nuclear warheads at its leaky Dimona reactor in the Negev desert. It also has a storehouse of US weaponry thanks to $3 billion in credits’ worth added each year. Also, Israel continues to pursue its apartheid policies with Palestine, wishing to reduce the population to China-like cheap laborers to meet some of its production needs. So, before we throw stones, we should look in the mirror.
Also, don’t count on nearby Syria embracing the US any day soon after the Libyan affair. Factions may not favor the Assad government and others pose as rebels (more likely CIA soldiers of fortune). Nevertheless, Syria saw hundreds of thousands of refugees flee from Iraq during our ruthless war against it and wants no part of the US or NATO. In fact, with firing one shot, an Iranian surface-to-surface missile on Iran’s state-run Arabic-language Al-Alam TV on August 20, 2010, Israeli security’s angst level has spiked. Get a grip, guys. It’s just a test—of nerve.
And as threats fly like sparks around an open pit of dynamite concerning Iran’s ambitions, secret or not, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on Thursday that Iran was planning to double its military spending over the year, a sign naturally interpreted as taking a stand against the West. My advice to the feisty Ahmadinejad is to cool it. He already has the best possible weapon in his arsenal, one respected around the world: oil. And oil for gold becomes even more potent than his or anyone’s rhetoric.
As to our lingering fleets in the Strait of Hormuz, I wonder how much oil and petrodollars they are burning up every day to carry on this game of “chicken.” Gold for oil trading in the Far East, Russia and Europe, might present a convenient reason for dialing down (not up) the US rhetoric all around, because the power of each precious commodity speaks for itself.
Also, Iran has a population of 80 million people, a sophisticated quasi-Islamic-European, cum US culture, with an ‘elected’ president whose authority is topped only by Iran’s religious leader, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i. It’s not relatively tiny Iraq, a lamb waiting for the slaughter. It would also be wise to stop murdering Iranian nuclear scientists. Not only is it illegal, think of reciprocity. Moral: war begets war and peace begets peace. That should be our secret weapon. And that goes for all of our presidential wannabes.
Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer, life-long resident of New York City. An EBook version of his book of poems “State Of Shock,” on 9/11 and its after effects is now available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. He has also written hundreds of articles on politics and government as Associate Editor of Intrepid Report (formerly Online Journal). Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.
I cringe at the use of the word “weapon”, with its implication that Iran is pricing their oil in gold out of pure spite, when common sense says that Bernanke’s pouring of newly created dollars all over Europe to stave off collapse and protect those New York banks that issued 97% of the credit default swaps means the value of the dollar is falling rapidly. Iran, out of their own economic preservation, has to move away from using the dollar as do India, China, Russia, and Europe. Frankly, Iran has already won this war because our leadership, far too cowardly to face up to the reality of the 11th marble, will ride the hyperinflation down to utter ruin before they grow a pair of Andrew Jackson big ones and pull the plug on this century old Ponzi scheme called the Federal Reserve.
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Dear Mike,
Whether or not you like the word “weapon” (it’s used metaphorically), I’m in total agreement with you as to why it is has come to this point where Iran has to sell off its oil for gold and divorce itself from US petrodollars, i.e. US fleets are in the Strait of Hormuz, including our largest aircraft carrier, waiting to turn Iran into another Libya. Gaddafi, too, would have requested gold if they let him, as well for Libyan oil. So we may take slightly different routes but we arrive at the same destination. The US does not like to be one-upped in any way. That’s its true Exceptionalism.
Regards,
Jerry.
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