December 15, 2006

Time Magazine Goes for Softball Interview of the Year with Ahmadinejad

Time announces it has an "exclusive interview" with Ahmadinejad, who it calls a "Person of the Year Candidate" - and, at least in the excerpt it has posted on the web today, doesn't question him about his threatening to wipe a U.N. member nation, Israel, off the map; or about his denial of the Holocaust; or about his threats of death to other Western nations including the U.S.

Here's their question about the Holocaust denial conference Ahmadinejad staged:

You've just held a conference questioning the Holocaust. Why not hold a peace conference instead? You could invite the Israelis and Palestinians to talk about peace, instead of what happened 60 years ago.

They didn't get on his case for denying the historical facts. They gave him a pass. They just used the topic of a conference as an intro to the wimpy, "why not hold a peace conference" question. A peace conference? Are they kidding? After he's threatened repeatedly all year to wipe Israel off the map and to bring death to Western nations?

Time Magazine accepts it that Ahmadinejad says one thing to them, and another thing in his speeches abroad. They didn't get in his face about this recent quote of his:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Western leaders to follow the path of God or "vanish from the face of the earth".

"These oppressive countries are angry with us ... a nation that on the other side of the globe has risen up and proved the shallowness of their power," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the northern town of Ramsar, the semi-official news agency Mehr reported Wednesday.

"They are angry with our nation. But we tell them 'so be it and die from this anger'. Rest assured that if you do not respond to the divine call, you will die soon and vanish from the face of the earth," he said.

Ahmadinejad is threatening us with death, and Time is lobbing softball questions at him. Why don't they want to "speak truth to power" to Ahmadinejad? This, despite the fact that Iran has been caught arming militias that are killing U.S. troops.

Surely, this is a low point in the magazine's history.

The Easy Way to Crush Iran

Oddly enough, Iran's oil refining capability is so low that they rely more on the West for refined oil, than the West relies on them for crude oil:

With 43 percent of Iran's gasoline imported, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad knows that a comprehensive gasoline embargo could cause social unrest that could undermine his regime. In response, he recently announced a three-part crash program for energy independence.

One tenet of the plan is massive expansion of the country's refining capacity. While no refinery has been built in the United States in decades, Iran's refinery infrastructure is undergoing one of the world's fastest expansions, including the construction of two large new refineries.

A second pillar is to secure imports of refined products from Venezuela, one of Iran's staunchest allies against the West.

The third, and most innovative, part of the plan is to convert Iran's vehicles to run on natural gas rather than gasoline within five years. Iran has the world's second-largest natural-gas reserve after Russia - 16 percent of the world's total - which guarantees an uninterrupted supply of cheap transportation fuel for decades. The cost of conversion of both the cars and refueling stations is heavily subsidized by the government.

The conversion of cars is simple, particularly in a country where unemployment surpasses 10 percent and labor is cheap. All that is needed is a minor engine adaptation and the installation of a gas cylinder in the trunk of the car. More than 105 conversion centers have already been built.

A shift from petroleum to natural gas will save Iran between $3 billion and $8 billion per year on gasoline imports. It will also leave refineries free to produce a greater proportion of essential non-gasoline petroleum products like jet fuel, which will keep Iran's air force and commercial airlines intact, and diesel to power its army and navy.

Iran is working to have an economy that doesn't rely on other nations. And this is an indication that it is preparing for war:

Ahmadinejad's gas revolution is a clear sign that Iran is preparing itself for the possibility of war and is developing a comprehensive economic warfare strategy to supplement its military and diplomatic initiatives.

Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.