Friday, June 5, 2009

Why Russia supports Iran's nuclear program

This is exactly why Russia is helping Iran develop nuclear weapons - so that Tehran and Washington will never normalize relations, and Russia will maintain its grip on natural gas flows westwards from the Caspian:

Iran can participate in the EU backed gas Nabucco pipeline if Washington normalises relations with Tehran, the US Secretary of State's Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy said today.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's no evidence of any nuclear weapons program in Iran, and Russian would hardly want to have a nuclear-armed neighbor. Don't be a silly sheeple.

Stephen Smith said...

1. It's the perception that matters, not the reality. If Westerners perceive Iran as seeking nuclear weapons, they will cut it out of Eurasian energy transit routes, and Russia will hold onto its near monopoly.
2. Russia has nothing to fear from a nuclear-armed Iran. And historically this argument doesn't hold up - the USSR gave weapons technologies to China (albeit grudgingly), and China is an actual threat to Russia/the USSR's world dominance...Iran is definitely not.
3. Russia has a lot to gain from a nuclear Iran. Namely, the fact that it'll put Iran out of the running to contribute to Nabucco or any other Eurasian energy pipeline (though natural gas is obviously the most important, as Russia still has a monopoly on its transit from the Caspian Sea region to Europe). And given that high energy prices are key to the survival of the Putin/Medvedev regime, it's perfectly logical that they'd trade the slight risk of a nuclear Iran for the huge gain of high energy prices.
4. Me being a "sheeple" would imply that I'm parroting someone. Who, pray tell, would that be? Because from what I understand, it's a relatively original (dare I say, fringe?) theory.

Brighid Scanlon said...

I daresay that sheeple is too soft a criticism for this red. I think naysaying pooface is more appropriate.

Unknown said...

I completely understand what your trying to convey Rationalitate. So Alaska and Russia are both racing to build a natural gas line at the same time? Seems like were just trying to 'keep up with the jones'