ANALYSIS / Only Netanyahu and Barak can take on Iran
Haaretz / Ari Shavit
26-Mar-2009 (2 comments)

Netanyahu and Barak's immediate mission is Iran. The designated prime minister and defense minister do not have much time. Within a few months they must do what hasn't been done for years - recruit the international community to impose an economic-diplomatic siege on Tehran's ayatollahs

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Daryush

Bedros

by Daryush on Fri Mar 27, 2009 08:07 AM PDT

You said it brother


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Bedros

The Israelis are kidding themselves

by Bedros on Fri Mar 27, 2009 06:37 AM PDT

....[Netanyahu and Barak must] recruit the international community to impose an economic-diplomatic siege on Tehran's ayatollahs....

The Israelis are still clinging to this fantasy that the nations of the world will align themselves with Israel to completely cut off trade with Iran. It's not going to happen.

Iran has a population of 70 million people (or 70 million consumers as the hard-core capitalists would call them) and something like 70% are under the age of forty. Iran possesses enormous petroleum and natural gas reserves that have barely been tapped.

Israel on the other hand has a population of just over 7 million and virtually no natural resources.

From a purely business and economic perspective the saner nations of the world understand that continuing an economic embargo of Iran is ludicrous. Iran is a huge market for all types of manufactured goods and agricultural products and has much oil and gas to export in return.

It's difficult for me to believe that the Israelis themselves believe that they can convince the entire world to further embargo Iran. The Israelis are not popular internationally and they have just about squeezed the last drop out of the guilt/extortion trip they've been running on the Americans and especially the Europeans for the last sixty years. The Germans in fact are one of the largest trade partners of Iran at the moment. The Israelis whinge about that continually but the Germans don't pay a whole lot of attention to it. They continue to  trade with Iran extensively.

In light of the US administration's recent overtures to Iran regarding improving relations the Israelis must surely recognise that their days of stage-managing American and European policy in the Middle East are rapidly drawing to a close.


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