castanyes blaves

The Iranian issue I don?t think has much to do with nuclear weapons frankly. Nobody is saying Iran should have nuclear weapons ?nor should anybody else. But the point in the Middle East, as distinct from North Korea, is that this is center of the world?s energy resources. Originally the British and secondarily the French had dominated it, but after the Second World War, it?s been a U.S. preserve. That?s been an axiom of U.S. foreign policy, that it must control Middle East energy resources. It is not a matter of access as people often say. Once the oil is on the seas it goes anywhere. In fact if the United States used no Middle East oil, it?d have the same policies. If we went on solar energy tomorrow, it?d keep the same policies. Just look at the internal record, or the logic of it, the issue has always been control. Control is the source of strategic power.

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if the United States controls Middle East resources it?ll have veto power over its industrial rivals.

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Shank: Venezuela has been successfully defiant with Chavez making a swing towards socialism. Where are they on our list?

Chomsky: They?re very high. The United States sponsored and supported a military coup to overthrow the government. In fact, that?s its last, most recent effort in what used to be a conventional resort to such measures.

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America is all moving to the left, from Venezuela to Argentina with rare exceptions, but there?s a good left and a bad left. The good left is Garcia and Lula, and then there?s the bad left which is Chavez, Morales, maybe Correa. And that?s the split.

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I don?t think any of the outside commentators at least as far as I?m aware have taken very seriously the idea of bombing nuclear facilities. They say if there will be bombing it?ll be carpet bombing. So get the nuclear facilities but get the rest of the country too, with an exception. By accident of geography, the world?s major oil resources are in Shi?ite-dominated areas. Iran?s oil is concentrated right near the gulf, which happens to be an Arab area, not Persian. Khuzestan is Arab, has been loyal to Iran, fought with Iran not Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. This is a potential source of dissension. I would be amazed if there isn?t an attempt going on to stir up secessionist elements in Khuzestan. U.S. forces right across the border in Iraq, including the surge, are available potentially to ?defend? an independent Khuzestan against Iran, which is the way it would be put, if they can carry it off.

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