Re(2): 'Warriors and Wusses', Left Angeles Times, Joel Stein
Re(3): 'Warriors and Wusses?', BlackFive, Uncle J
Re(4): 'CIA Fact Book', www.cia.gov, Some Spooky Guy
An Important Prediction for 2006!!! Just a month or so late :-(
The United Nations will attempt to impose their normal weak sanctions program on Iran. The problem is that Iran is functionally surrounded by, oh shall we say, fanatically aggressive enforcers of sanction programs targeting Iran. I will not speak for the thirty-something year old captains and majors and SNCOs in the military, but I am guessing that their ‘political’ teeth were cut during the Iran Hostage Crisis. Maybe some of the old geezers remember that year with less than fondness. Just a guess. Take a look at a nice map from the CIA’s factbook.
Hhhhmmmm…
To the west are 130,000 front line American soldiers and Marines. Also to the west are 290,000 increasingly effective American trained Iraqi troops. These half-million soldiers might play a role in enforcing a sanctions regime against Iran.
To the south we have the United States Navy. Every day of the year there is a nearby carrier and a battle group of frigates, destroyers, cruisers, and submarines. There is a reasonable assumption that such a force could effectively blockade Iran’s oil exports. Nothing to see here folks, move along…
To the east is Pakistan. Who knows… But, recent rending of clothing aside, I think it can be demonstrated that Pakistan will be of little or no help to Iran. Apparently, there is little or no trade between Iran and Pakistan anyway. Thus there will be little or no opportunity for George Galloway to make a quick Sterling Pound or so through graft and corruption. With American troops in Pakistan, and our current agreements with Pakistan, I do not think Iran will look east to break an embargo.
Also east is Afghanistan. There are thousands of American ground forces sitting around taking their GED for the eighth time (or whatever Joel Stein thinks they do – such the expert). They might, just might, get annoyed at anyone trying to break a UN embargo in their part of town. Those GED tests are expensive, and our gullible underclass need all the study time they can get.
Now to the weak point – the north. There are no pipelines for Iran’s major export – unlike that which traversed Syria to the Mediterranean. Syria’s pipeline was used by Saddam to continuously pump the oily sludge Galloway was slopping up – years before his recent fine television appearances!!!
Thus, we have an effective blockade – even though the UN is wary of anything effective against their club of corrupt kleptocracies.
Concerns:
Today, foreign nations purchased significantly less American debt than expected. Is it because the interest rate wasn’t competitive – or because they want to hit us using our debt load as a weapon? Regardless, it is time to reduce our debt creation by at least 20%. Now, right now… Hey Libs, be happy. We will have to sacrifice something to win this war against Islamic Terror.
May Libs and Buchaninites seem to think Israel shares a border with Iran. That Israel can deal with this problem without waking us from our nice nap. Guess what, any Israeli attack on Iran would require American acquiescence. See above. Can you think of any way Israel can strike Iran without American support? Eh…
Interesting Times…
Faster Please…
No comments:
Post a Comment