Interesting facts about Iran...

I heard a couple of interesting facts from William Beeman, an anthropologist and author, about Iran this evening on Background Briefing with In Masters on KPFK. The segment was titled "Did Iran Pull Off a Clever Bluff?'.

William O. Beeman is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota.

He has lived and conducted research in Iran for over 40 years and speaks fluent Persian.

His 2008 book, The “Great Satan” vs. the “Mad Mullahs”: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other, shows how the current nuclear crisis arose.

The sIt is the first segment of the evening's program (July 15, 2015) and can be found at:

www.ianmasters.com...

The facts I'm refering to are:

1) That Iran has an extremely low poverty rate, less then Japan in fact.

and

2) Even with US sanctions, their GDP is at 3%.

This gentleman has exstensive background on Iran and is well worth listening to for those who, like me, don't have good grasp of anything other then the manufactured story line.

He also has a written commentary on the 'Vienna Accords' here:

newamericamedia.org...

Not well known is the fact that Iran has now become nearly self-sufficient in conventional arms manufacture. In fact, Iran is an arms exporter. In the final Vienna accords, a bargain was struck to maintain an embargo on conventional arms trade. This was another bluff. Iran doesn’t really need to import much in the way of arms, but by putting up a big show of resistance, the negotiators created a bargaining chip that really didn’t exist.

That is a load of Persian poop. Iran has a nuclear weapons program, where it is progress wise is the only real debate. And Iran needs development badly both for it oil and it natural gas reserves which have barely been tapped. Iran has survive under sanctions. And that is about it. It's military self dependence is in the are of small arms, artillery and armor. It also makes some naval assets. And it did sell arms mostly to Sudan. The problem for Iran is every else that requires high tech. In that are they have made lots of claims however nothing has ever come of it.

And the US has not given up the idea of Regime change they are just going about in a new way. Iran's isolation helped keep the Ayatollahs in power. They will not last the decade now.

a reply to: MrSpad

That's assuming Israel waits that long......

originally posted by: MrSpad
That is a load of Persian poop. Iran has a nuclear weapons program, where it is progress wise is the only real debate. And Iran needs development badly both for it oil and it natural gas reserves which have barely been tapped. Iran has survive under sanctions. And that is about it. It's military self dependence is in the are of small arms, artillery and armor. It also makes some naval assets. And it did sell arms mostly to Sudan. The problem for Iran is every else that requires high tech. In that are they have made lots of claims however nothing has ever come of it.

And the US has not given up the idea of Regime change they are just going about in a new way. Iran's isolation helped keep the Ayatollahs in power. They will not last the decade now.

Do you have any proof of that? Proof that is verifible and from offical sources?

None of the intelligence agencies, including the US and Israel's do.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Oh really? How would you know that, pray tell...

a reply to: MrSpad
Let's not forget Mr.Spad how peaceful Iran is according to their ATS supporters!In spite of the fact they have founded and continually fund the biggest death dealers in the ME.Hamas,Hezbollah.

originally posted by: TDawg61
a reply to: MrSpad
Let's not forget Mr.Spad how peaceful Iran is according to their ATS supporters!In spite of the fact they have founded and continually fund the biggest death dealers in the ME.Hamas,Hezbollah.

Its a dirty job , but someone has to do it....

The biggest death dealers in the ME right now are IS and Israel. Have you not been paying attention? reply to: TDawg61

originally posted by: Wide-Eyes
The biggest death dealers in the ME right now are IS and Israel. Have you not been paying attention? reply to: TDawg61

I've been"paying attention"since the mid 70's sir.And not from webamites such as yourself without an iota of documentation to support your outlandish accusations.

a reply to: TDawg61

Outlandish accusations? You are telling me that claim is incorrect?

reply to: TDawg61

And what is a webamite? Are you insulting me?

originally posted by: MrSpad
That is a load of Persian poop. Iran has a nuclear weapons program, where it is progress wise is the only real debate.

Well looky what I found and from "The American Conservative" no less:

www.theamericanconservative.com...

Gareth Porter knows the narrative. He has worked tirelessly to pursue the truth of the matter.

His conclusion: Iran never had a nuclear weapons program and, frankly, it doesn’t want one.

Can he prove it? Well he’s got 300 pages representing at least six years worth of work to try to get you over to his side.

Manufactured Crisis: the Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, published this year by Just World Books, is not just some ham-fisted polemic.

It’s a journalist’s read: dense with interviews, reports, citations, notes. He finds obscure sources that would otherwise be lost to history.

He pokes holes in unquestioned news stories, and exposes what he believes is an orchestrated campaign by the U.S. and its ally, Israel, dating back to the 1979 Islamic revolution, to prevent Iran from developing a non-weaponized nuclear power program.

He is not the only one, I referenced another and we also have from this piece dated 4/1/14.

Of course, he’s not the only one to reach this conclusion. Paul Pillar, a National Intelligence Officer for the Middle East between 2000 and 2005, tells TAC that Porter is on the right track. “All indications are that Iran is not developing a nuclear weapon,” he said in an e-mail.

You really should do some homework.

The article is quite detailed with links to people and source.

Hey - I found a reasoned conservative source - I had to find it myself.

a reply to: FyreByrd

You see it's not so much that they do have them but they might get them so it becomes the same thing .. "Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller concluded that, "In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even nonexistent."

The fact that President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and their team knowingly lied cannot be overemphasized.

On January 31, 2003, Bush suggested to then U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair that they could paint an airplane with U.N. colors, fly it low to get it shot at, and thereby start the war. Then the two of them walked out to a press conference at which they said they would avoid war if at all possible. Troop deployments and bombing missions were already underway.

When Diane Sawyer asked Bush on television why he had made the claims he had about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction, he replied: "What's the difference? The possibility that [Saddam] could acquire weapons, if he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger." www.informationclearinghouse.info...

a reply to: TDawg61

"Assertions without proof can be dismissed without proof".

a reply to: the2ofusr1

It seems to me that some members here just want to see a big war with a genuine army. They want to see America flex it's military might against a strong adversary. I think it's very sad that occupants of a world power feel the need to bomb the crap out of someone just to have faith in the nation they live in.

Even if Iran built a nuclear warhead, do you really think they would use it? And on whom? USA? Last I heard, Iran don't have ICBMs, correct me if I'm wrong.

The west has had a hard on for Iran ever since the Shah got toppled. The Persian people are good people but their theocracy is questionable. However, that doesn't affect us in the west at all...

This is why I am confused by all the fuss from regular people like Tdawg, I know what our governments want but the average citizen should want the opposite. Maybe it's been so long since the USA has been attacked that people forget the horror of war.

originally posted by: Wide-Eyes
reply to: TDawg61

And what is a webamite? Are you insulting me?

I'm pretty sure a webamite is an entity or mite that spins "webs" or singular a "weba" (hence its name), in a thread to distract from the actual topic. You see good sir, you are not allowed to make assertions that IS and Israel are the biggest threat without sources but it is ok to make the same assertions about Iran. The easy thing to do is just stop being a webamite. Ok?

A recent report titled Measurement and Economic Analysis of Urban Poverty showed that between 44.5 percent and 55 percent of Iran's urban population lives below the poverty line

www.borgenmagazine.com...

In spite of the State secrecy and lack of official reliable data, FIDH and LDDHI are able to conclude from credible and domestic sources that more than 50% of the 75 million plus population live under the poverty line. Recent investigative reports have indicated that the population’s purchasing power has fallen by 72% over eight years from 2005 to 2013.

www.fidh.org...

originally posted by: MrSpadAnd the US has not given up the idea of Regime change they are just going about in a new way. Iran's isolation helped keep the Ayatollahs in power. They will not last the decade now.

This. It's the same as we're trying in Cuba. Decades of harsh treatment aren't doing anything, it just lets the government remain in power. In the case of Iran they're trying to get them involved with the West. That means trade deals, buying/selling oil, diplomatic relations, and using western consumerism to change the economic state of their country. That has a proven record of non violently opening nations up and making them more stable.

It's worth giving it a shot because what everyone using our other approach knows is that it's just a temporary measure. Eventually it will push Iran to obtaining and using a nuclear weapon. The whole plan was simply to push that day decades into the future.

originally posted by: Wide-Eyes
a reply to: the2ofusr1

It seems to me that some members here just want to see a big war with a genuine army. They want to see America flex it's military might against a strong adversary. I think it's very sad that occupants of a world power feel the need to bomb the crap out of someone just to have faith in the nation they live in.

Even if Iran built a nuclear warhead, do you really think they would use it? And on whom? USA? Last I heard, Iran don't have ICBMs, correct me if I'm wrong.

The west has had a hard on for Iran ever since the Shah got toppled. The Persian people are good people but their theocracy is questionable. However, that doesn't affect us in the west at all...

This is why I am confused by all the fuss from regular people like Tdawg, I know what our governments want but the average citizen should want the opposite. Maybe it's been so long since the USA has been attacked that people forget the horror of war.

They don't have to use the bomb on anyone. They just have to make the damn thing and then give it to which ever group (Hezbollah, etc) they feel like.

originally posted by: Wardaddy454
They don't have to use the bomb on anyone. They just have to make the damn thing and then give it to which ever group (Hezbollah, etc) they feel like.

If that happens, which these deals specifically prevent from happening in the first place (but our old policies conceded was the eventual endgame scenario) then the world will hold Iran responsible.