nCa Analysis
Continued from Part One
Ashgabat, 5 April 2012 (nCa) — Before we look at the oil sanctions and their likely impact on Iran, and the other methods that are being used to soften Iran ahead of a direct confrontation, it is necessary to digress a bit.
There are different theories about the extinction of dinosaurs. One of them contends that when dinosaurs grew beyond a manageable size, they took the wrong turn on the evolution highway, and that proved to be their undoing: Instead of improving the capacity and efficiency of the brain in the head they decided to cultivate another brain in the tail.
When two brains fight for control of a single body, the results can be fairly predictable.
This is, more or less, what is happening to the USA. The brain in the head is the vast array of think tanks such as Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the brain in the tail is what is best symbolized by the antics of the likes of Madam Clinton. The frustrated lady would happily go where the likes of DoD-CIA fear to tread.
Speaking of the CFR, its controversial but brilliant president has said recently that Iran is not the main threat to the national security of the United States. He asserts that United States is the main threat to the national security of the United States.
More about the statement of Haas can be found here:
America’s Biggest National Security Threat: U.S. Debt
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/biggest-threats-u-national-security-142943020.html
Haas says, “The most important national security question for the coming year is actually the domestic set of issues that involves the economy.”
In his opinion, the monumental debt, the crumbling healthcare and education systems, the unwholesome financial and banking structures and other domestic troubles are what may eventually bring down the empire.
If CFR says something, the world listens. If the world is reluctant to listen, CFR has a huge foghorn called Foreign Affairs through which it can continue to make the noise for as long as necessary.
The push for Iran, as we have said, is connected to downfall of Syria. If Syria of Assad doesn’t fall, Iran would be an extremely tough nut to crack.
As the things stand today, Syria is in no imminent danger of falling. In fact, the clatter made during the so-called ‘Friends of Syria’ conference in Turkey recently falls in the category of ‘desperate’ rather than ‘sane.’
Even the corporate media, usually the mouthpiece of the American establishment, admits that if Assad is coming to the negotiation table, he is coming on his own terms.
More about this can be found here:
Syria: As His Adversaries Scramble for a Strategy, Assad Sets His Terms
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-adversaries-scramble-strategy-assad-sets-terms-105405273.html
War needs money. It certainly needs patriotically inclined people to lay their young lives for an ambiguous cause but above all it needs money, lots of it. Where is that money?
As we learn from the alarm raised by CFR president, there is no spare cash in the USA for giving better education and healthcare to the kids much less waging a war against the 17th largest economy in the world.
If the USA doesn’t have the funds to wage a winnable war against Iran, does Europe have it?
At a time when the whole question of whether the Euro was a good idea is under debate, no one can be expected to come up with the kind of dough required to smash Iran. The intellectual bankruptcy in dealing with Euro crisis is evident from the fact that an 11-year old Dutch boy has the brightest idea on the subject.
More about the Euro trouble and the solution offered by a Dutch boy can be seen here:
10 Reasons the Euro Was a Dumb Idea
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2100059,00.html
It’s Time to Admit the Euro Has Failed
Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2011/09/12/its-time-to-admit-the-euro-has-failed/
Dutch boy’s pizza plan to save euro commended
http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/8446571/dutch-boys-pizza-plan-to-save-euro-commended
If the USA and Europe are not in a position to fund an open-end conflict, can the Gulf countries, so eager to start a civil war in Syria, be expected to pay for the war, frist against Syria and then against Iran?
The Gulf countries have promised US $ 100 million, mainly to fund and arm the opposition in Syria. However, from the past experience in Iraq and Libya we know that money has a way of disappearing fast when in the hands of artificially manufactured oppositions.
The pockets of the Gulf countries are not quite as deep as they used to be a couple of decades ago. The still-lingering financial and economic crisis and the huge resources required to pacify the agitated populations at home have depleted the capacity of Gulf countries to pay the mercenaries for bloodshed in foreign lands.
The point here is, no one has the capacity to wage a long and sustained war against Iran, or for that matter, against Syria.
With this in mind, we shall turn next to whether the oil sanctions on Iran will serve their intended purpose.
To be continued . . .