Interesting Iran Developments

12/15/11- In recent days, several developments have occurred concerning Iran that bear some consideration.

The first issue is the ongoing drone saga that has added an interesting wrinkle to Iran's relations with West. Of course the United States continues to insist that computer error brought the drone down, thus implying that Iran doesn't have the capability to execute such a manoeuvre. Regardless of what happened to cause the drone to come down, the entire episode has been very positive for Iran. The Iranian side has shown itself to be capable, vigilant, and professional. For one thing, this episode shows that the Iranians keep a keen eye on their airspace and know full well what is going on above their heads.

The next interesting Iran-related development is Europe's apparent reconsideration of all-out import sanctions on Iranian oil. It seems as if the great minds of Europe have taken a break from driving their economies into the ground with absurd policies. A total import ban on Iranian oil would be catastrophic for Europe's most vulnerable economies, i.e. Greece, Italy, and Spain, who are heavily reliant on Iranian imports. In addition, it seems as if Sarkozy, Merkel, and the rest of the motley crew have recently taken a crash course in global commodities, because anyone with an even cursory knowledge of the sector knows that any oil that  Europe refuses to buy from Iran will be greedily consumed by China, India, and the rest.

The third interesting tidbit relating to Iran is news of the Department of Justice's latest propaganda indictment with Iran connections. Readers may recall the phony assassination plot "uncovered" back in October by the ever vigilant Department of Justice in which an Iranian-American used car dealer apparently tried to hire Mexican gangsters to blow up the Saudi ambassador to Washington, a laughably nonsensical scenario surely concocted in some Washington backroom. Notice how you haven't heard much about that business lately? That's probably because it was contrived from the start and it didn't catch on and cause the mass hysteria they were hoping it would, so they conveniently buried it.

Well, the DOJ is back with another phony indictment, this time linking Hezbollah with Mexican drug cartels in an international money-laundering scheme. The story this time is that a Lebanese businessman indicted in Virginia has been running drugs and laundering money for Mexican drug cartels. That certainly seems plausible and not too far-fetched. Yet, what does that have to do with Hezbollah? Apparently, this Lebanese businessman has "links" to the militant group. Ah, the ever-convenient "links" language. This is what the DOJ is up to: they found a Lebanese drug dealer doing business with the cartels, indict him, arrest him, and then claim that he has "links" to Hezbollah, thereby implicating the militant group in drug trafficking. It's just that easy to magically create "links" where no actual links exist. The only evidence they have presented that Hezbollah was involved with drug dealing is that one of this suspect's associates is an alleged Hezbollah sympathiser. That's it. There are millions of Hezbollah sympathisers inside and outside of Lebanon, which renders this type of evidence meaningless.