Call the Godfathers together first

Submitted by Roger Andover (United States), Feb 2, 2010 at 19:42

Iran has godfathers, some large and some small. But they all give moral and mostly economic power to this new Persian expansionist empire. What they most have in common is not any concern for "peace" anywhere in the Middle East, or any concern about Palestinians. They only care about oil. As long as they can guarantee a study supply to their growing economies, they will not act against Iran or any of its proxies.

IMO, what's needed urgently is a clear-headed Kissinger." Someone who can talk straight to Iran's godfathers, and let them understand that the survival of their so-far "growing" economies is being threatened by the expansionist war-mongers in Iran. How? Because the $768 billion military budget that's being requested by the U.S.-- 3.4% above last year's, and $400 billion more than not many years ago-- is being paid for by these same godfathers. These same hundreds of billions of dollars that we use to build defensive weapons and protect moderate Muslim countries can no longer be used to bankroll their factories, technologies, and growing employment.

Who are these "godfathers?" China, #1; Russia, #2; Europe, #3. Each in their own way is acting as Iran's reliable umbilical cord for things like oil money, technology, military weapons and intelligence, and of course defiance against America's desire for peace and stabililty. China thinks that access to oil is a good trade off instead of friendship with the West; Russia thinks that Iran makes a nice proxy and that Iran is too nearsighted with its power-complex to see the large bear sitting on the branch above it, salivating; and the EU wants to have it both ways: make America and clear-headed Europeans think it is against a nuclear Iran, while at the same time pretending it doesn't know its major corporations are making trade deals with it. It were countries like Germany, after all, who built Saddam Husseins bombproof underground tunnels, who also patted pres. Bush on the back when he had to go in and take them out, saying "Go gettem' Mr. President, you have our support." And they said it with a straight face.

China, as a primary economic trading partner with the enemies of peace, as they were in the war with Korea and Vietnam, should know that it was their growing economic alliance with the West, especially America, than allowed their economy to skyrocket. Our inventors and Nobel Prize winners keep the technology moving; our bankers grease the wheels of our corporations, distributors, retailers, and consumers.

The same money that America and England now diverts to self-defense and to protect the energy lifelines (the ones that also feed China,) will no longer be used to buy Chinese goods: smaller homes mean less furniture and fewer clothes closets; higher oil prices mean smaller and fewer cars, less auto parts and repairs, and fewer trips to the mall to buy all those Chinese goodies, 90% of which are toys for adults. China needs to know that there is a direct link between the average American's forced downsizing of its consumer culture with the tens of thousands of Chinese factories that will continue to close due to overcapacity.

If China wants to keep its growth continuing, to keep its factories open, it population employed and productive, and its cities growing, then it should stop forcing the West to build weapons and fight wars. The same equation in different ways relates to the other oil-hungry godfathers of Iran.

The equation also works in reverse. If China and Russia put pressure on Iran to stop its new imperialism and hoped-for hegemony over the oil routes, than the West can get back to business and keep the world's stores and factories growing, instead of closing down. The money spent on the military can be put back into the economy, so people can buy homes, furniture, clothes, and Chinese products. If the Chinese think they have a problem now, with tens of thousands of newly-built factories sitting idle and millions of newly unemployed, the new "Kissinger" should clue them in that "They ain't seen nothin' yet."

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".