The Iranian Chessboard
By John A. Ross (12/10/07)
Soon after President Bush informed the world Iran had dropped their nuclear weapons program in 2003, an opportunity presented itself to hear a no-nonsense Iranian doctor describe today's real Iran. In essence, the power the Iranian Mullahs and Ayatollahs wield comes out the end of a gun barrel and through their private army, or Pasdaran, they control most of the economy and all levers of government. Detested by 85 to 90 percent of the population throughout Iran, according to the doctor, they manage to remain in control through intimidation and brutality.
In what appears to be a nuclear baton hand-off to the European Union (EU) Big-Three (Britain, France and Germany), President Bush tacitly empowered them to be part of the solution. Forced to play nice with the Big Three and others, especially Italy, while they benefited from lucrative business deals with Iran, President Bush has, effectively, ceased being their pawn. In this context, the EU has, by and large, used America’s military to help insulate themselves from Islamofascism and Russian predatory (i.e oil and gas) business maneuvers.
Congress recently designated the Mullah’s and Ayatollah’s personal army, or Iranian Republican Guards, Pasdaran, and Qods Force as terrorist organizations, as recommended by President Bush. Declaring the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran had dropped their weapons of mass destruction (WMD) development program in 2003, President Bush has, possibly, set the stage to expose the Mullah’s and Ayatollah’s actual deception. Specifically, not trusting anybody outside of their private army, or Pasdaran, the Mullahs and Ayatollahs elected to secretly use them to develop their WMDs.
By abdicating overt diplomatic responsibility to the European Union, the U.S. can now focus on exposing and eliminating the Mullah’s and Ayatollah’s secret Pasdaran WMD development program. Assigning the EU responsibility for their own strategic security is, however, no guarantee that they will honestly, as demonstrated every since WW I, sincerely assume responsibility for anything. In this area, the aristocracy of Europe has historically elected to throw their young to the dogs of war, when they cannot buy their way out of international problems they usually helped create.
Eerily, just as the French influenced South Vietnamese would not fight for their own freedom and privately espoused that Americans “are without culture,” most sophisticated Iranians are also without backbones. Deceiving themselves into believing that the Iranian constitution developed in the 1920s is in force most Iranians are, in reality, mere pawns in the new empire Persian opportunists are trying to forge. Using the Qu’ran and ignorance, the Iranian Mullahs, Ayatollahs and influential business elites that support the clerics have become a serious threat to the stability to all of the Middle East.
Contributing directly to the international convulsions, China, India and Russia all have irons in the Iranian fire. Like all countries competing in the global market place, China needs reliable and affordable sources of energy to sustain it’s industries. Slightly behind China’s massive thrust to become the world’s premier manufacturer, India has been focusing on developing it’s infrastructure but is now jumping into the world’s markets. Well placed technologically, Russia, however, prefers to play economic games with the rest of the world for its’ energy resources and the control of neighboring countries assets. The Iranian Chessboard is one of many that, obviously, overlap.
John Ross
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