Econ 101 and Iran
Posted by Richard on March 22, 2007
The Watcher of Weasels chose Big Lizards to fill the last vacancy on the Watcher's Council, and it looks like a fine choice. Check out, for example, The Contranomics of Global Jihad, nominated by the Council as one of this week's most link-worthy pieces of writing. Dafydd's excellent post argues that Iran is in the process of being defeated in the same way that the Soviet Union was defeated — by economics, not military force (emphasis in original):
Force projection is dreadfully expensive, even if you call it global jihadism: Iran is supporting Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon, the Qods Force in Iraq, a war against Israel a few months ago, assassins all over the world, and Shiite revolutionary movements from Malaysia to Venezuela. But at the same time, the drain on their resources from trying to develop a nuclear "Qods bomb" and buy a delivery system from North Korea, Russia, or Red China has caused Iran to stop investing in its oil infrastructure.
Totalitarian, anti-capitalist societies, Dafydd points out, simply can't afford the technological development and force projection that Iran is trying to pursue. Only free, open societies that grasp Econ 101 can do that.
Read the whole thing. And browse some of his other stuff, too — it's a good blog, once you get past the blinding banner!
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