On July 28th, 2008, the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sat down for a television interview in Tehran with NBC's Brian Williams. I highly recommend accessing the transcript of the pretty fascinating interview using the MSNBC link below...(if you're looking for the REAL thing - a webcast of the TV interview - you should also be able to find it using the below link).http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25887437/
* M.A. on Iran's Relations with the U.S. --> "Well, this question which I am asking from American statesmen, when it comes to the Iranian people, what road do they want to choose? What approach? For more than 50 years now the policy of American statesmen has been to confront the Iranian people. And our people, to a large extent, have become acclimated with this situation, and we have tried to work around it. Today, we see new behavior shown by the United States and the officials of the United States. My question is: Is such behavior rooted in a new approach; in other words, mutual respect, cooperation, and justice? Or this approach is a continuation in the confrontation with the Iranian people but in a new guise? If this is the continuation of the old process, well, the Iranian people need to defend its right, its interests as well. But if the approach changes, we will be facing a new situation. And the response by the Iranian people will be a positive one...I think that if this process is continued by the American government in the not-so-distant future, the situation will change. This means for the Americans to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation, recognize the rule of law, and also recognize a fair and just situation which needs to prevail. These are not difficult demands. I believe that American politicians, statesmen, should not be very much affected by the prevailing media environment. If they want to change their policy towards Iran, well, they have to announce that and take actual steps towards that. I think that this benefits the American government, and it serves the interests of all of us. We'll welcome such an effort."
* Iran's Nuclear Enrichment Program --> "What is there for us to bargain over? Over our own right? The rights of other peoples? Our own independence? No. We can cooperate in an environment which benefits all. All will benefit from such a environment. And there is no need for any party to lose out. In a fair setting, everyone will benefit...we are not working to manufacture a bomb. We don’t believe in a nuclear bomb. We also think it will not effect political relations. The Zionist regime (referring to the U.S.) which you refer to earlier has an arsenal of hundreds of nuclear warheads. Has this arsenal helped the Zionists to prevail inside the conflict inside Lebanon? No. Again, did nuclear arms help the Soviet Union from falling and disintegrating. For that matter, did a nuclear bomb help the U.S. to prevail inside Iraq or Afghanistan, for that matter. Nuclear bombs belong to the 20th century. We are living in a new century. We think that when it came to the nuclear issue, an inappropriate measure or action was taken. Nuclear energy must not be equaled to a nuclear bomb. This is a disservice to the society of man. Nuclear energy is very beneficial and very clean, by the way. All nations must use it. A bomb, obviously, is a very bad thing. Nobody should have such a bomb. If there are parties that claim a bomb is a bad thing, it’s only appropriate for them, as a first step, to destroy their stockpiles. Destroy their bombs and allow clean energy to be utilized by all. I ask you if today, 1,000 nuclear power plants were up and running, would we have seen an increase in the price of oil? I am sure we wouldn’t have had such high prices which is affecting the economies of all countries. It has created problems for their economies. Nuclear energy is a renewable energy. It’s clean. It’s environmentally friendly and all nations must possess it. And there should be a very concrete, if I can use the word, set of regulations, a fair set of regulations which will control the activities of all nations to supervise things, without discrimination. To supervise without discrimination. Allow nations to have access to such clean energy. There are parties, which have bombs themselves, and they have nuclear energy as well and unfair basis and on a discriminatory basis, they are preventing other people — other parties, from utilizing clean nuclear energy."
* The WW Price of OIL --> " Well, a fair price — this has to be determined inside the environs, if I can use the word, of economy. We think that the market should be free and — these commodities should compete in a free setting or conditions. At the moment, the situation is not realistic. It is rather manufactured and the prices are not realistic as a result. Well, I can’t give you an exact figure right now (for the 'Fair' price of Crude Oil) because the market is not a real market. Some powers are manipulating the prices inside the market. Do you really think that the price of oil is the end result of a healthy competition inside the market? It’s not."
* The Future of Iraq --> "Well, in a long-term approach, I believe that the Iraqi people will overcome, prevail over, in other words, their present problems. But in the immediate future, everything depends on the behavior as shown by the American government. If the American government and officials take up a rational, a humanitarian approach, the conditions inside Iraq will improve very quickly. But if not, if they want to impose their will on the nation of Iraq, historical precedence tells them that they will not abide by this. And they will resist. Under such conditions, obviously the Iraqi people will incur some damages. But by the end of the day, they will prevail. They will succeed. But the main damages will be incurred by those parties which decided to disrespect the Iraqi nation."
* Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is running for Re-election in 2009
* Iran is currently experiencing inflation of about 20%
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RTOB on the Significance of GEOpolitics :
While this is not a political blog(site), it is a fact that Politics and related decision-making from those in Power can often directly impact the prosperity and investing climate of a region. In today's increasingly Globalized (and therefore vulnerable/sensitive) world, some geopolitical issues can become derisive enough to threaten the collective relations and prosperity of SEVERAL regions.
If the U.S. were to go to war with Iran (Pick A Reason, Any Reason - 1. Iran won't quit its nuclear enrichment program and is probably developing nuclear bombs, 2. the President of Iran is a sworn enemy of Israel and has stated many times that he plans to 'wipe Israel off the map', 3. Iran continues to fund Anti-American violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.), expect the Global Economy to suffer some Painful and Widespread 'SHOCKS'. Given the fact that Iran is one of the world's largest CRUDE OIL producers (and given the fact that Crude Oil is one of the World's most common and relied upon input materials), a WAR between the 2 countries would create a pretty large mess in terms of disrupting the current functioning of our Global markets (Can you say Economic HeadWIND ?!...More like Economic HeadHURRICANE !).
While I do not believe the U.S. is headed to war with Iran anytime soon (Pick a Reason, Any Reason - 1. that little war in Iran, 2. that little war in Afghanistan, 3. that little housing recession in the U.S., 4. that little deficit, etc.), the possibility still exists and for that reason I chose to reference the recent television interview with Mr. Ahmadinejad above.
Data Courtesy: MSNBC and NBC
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