[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

[waterworld]

Twelve reasons why nuclear energy for Iran is not a good idea

01 Nuclear energy, despite it being used by some nations as an important energy source for decades, remains a technology that can be dangerous and destructive when accidents happen. Any state that uses nuclear technology for energy production takes a great responsibility on its shoulders. When the nuclear process gets out of control, the destructive consequences may be felt by other nations as well. One only needs to track the radio-active rain that for weeks passed over large parts of Europe and the Middle-East after the Chernobyl disaster, to consider the depth of responsibilities that come with going nuclear. Such responsibilities can only be properly upheld by transparent states, willing to work together with other states in an environment of trust and mutual cooperation. In many nations there is an on-going discussion about the use of nuclear energy and many people have expressed their sincere doubts in applying the technique.

02 On of the strongest arguments against nuclear energy is the problem of nuclear waste. All producers of nuclear energy have difficulties with dealing with the radio-active materials that result from the use of this technology. Nuclear waste remains poisonous for thousands of years. Various solutions to the problem of nuclear waste have been suggested: from shooting it into deep space to dumping it in salt layers deep in the ground. However, no real solution to this problem has been found so far. Though there are temporary 'solutions' like enriching nuclear material, these come with their own problems like transportation. All this time, the storage problem is not really solved and some nuclear plants look like nuclear waste warehouses. How is the IRI gonna deal with its nuclear waste? Is it gonna be transported back to Russia, and if so, how? Or will the IRI, like their Russian example, just dump the waste in the Caspian Sea?

03 The geographical position of Iran on top of various earth-quake zones is something to consider as well. Is it a responsible act to bring this delicate technology to a region that is almost weekly hit by earthquakes? What security measures have been taken to prevent a nuclear disaster in the event of shaking ground? Can the world trust upon the capabilities of the Russian engineers that have assisted the IRI in this project? What would be the consequences of a Chernobyl-like disaster in the Persian Gulf region?

04 Nuclear energy is very expensive. It has been estimated that it is between four and ten times as expensive as other sources of energy. It is only for the rich and affluent states to afford such technology. Unless the rulers of a country like Iran have decided to make it a life and death issue, so that responsibility for the well being of their citizens may be offered for this necessity that they deem more important than anything else. At the same time, these 'health'-experts right now are experiencing a revival of the contagious deadly disease cholera, that has already taken hundreds of victims. Could this insistence on nuclear technology just be a demonstration of their level of technological abilities? Or is it about something else, essential enough to take huge unemployment and grand scale social crisis for granted in order to catch the next train? In the case of Iran -with its abundance in natural resources- such a suspicion becomes obvious when the regime is so vigorously attempting to sell the atomic issue as a case of national pride to the Iranians and is willing to risk a major international crisis over it. That the IRI wants the technology at any price, and by any means, shows that there must be additional reasons for going nuclear, and preserving the regime is the most important one.

05 Talking of natural resources, Iran has plenty of them. These resources have been on sale permanently, being sold for dump prices to thirsty economies in West and East. In the context of this sell-out, investing lots of capital in nuclear energy is not only a waste of money, it is a double robbery. The Iranian population has no saying in what happens with these oil- and gas-revenues, let alone about investing it in a nuclear industry. Next to the enormous quantities of oil and natural gas, the country also enjoys plenty of sunshine. However, an Iranian solar industry remains a faraway dream. While circumstances to set up such a real 21st century industry are very favorable: plenty of sun, a huge labor force, a huge market, enough technical skills, environmental advantages, enough opportunities to set a prime example for environmental awareness. But instead of turning the current situation into a positive change, the IRI has chosen to imitate the ones that they despise most, once more. With the stubborn stupidity of a mule, the IRI thinks it can take on the civilized world. What a waste of resources and what a stupidity.

06 Any proper energy production and distribution takes proper management. The reputation of the IRI in this field is notorious. Twenty-five years after the ousting of the Shah, the IRI never managed to equal the oil production as it was under the Pahlavi dynasty, let alone surpass it. The way in which the current regime is exploiting its reserves, is far from favorable. Necessary measures to get the highest output from the gas fields are neglected: to get the most out of a field, the drillers need to replace the gas they take out, otherwise the remaining resources start moving and can not be exploited. Such approach and the accompanying management is not present in the thinking of the IRI, like a thief it grabs the opportunity without any further thinking. The IRI considers these resources mainly as an endless flow of foreign exchange that is to be used to advance the peculiar political agenda of its unchallenged leader.

07 And so we arrive at the international political context. In many ways the installation of the IRI in 1979 was a total breach with history and (international) society, not unlike the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1917. The new regime considered itself outside the international order and behaved as such when they overtook the American embassy in Tehran and got involved in actively supporting terrorist movements in the Middle-East. The nuclear program of the IRI has been taking place in the hidden since 1986. At first Khomeini et al were not at all interested to continue the nuclear aspirations of the Shah. In the late eighties however, the regime decided to restart the program, in the dark, because of the international climate that was highly unfavorable towards the IRI, as expressed by economic sanctions against the regime. This decision to go at it illegally is the hand that has been seen. The international community of civilized states cannot and will not tolerate such an important issue as atomic power in the hands of criminals. The IRI tries to play the role of the victim and the regime points its dirty fingers at other nations and complains that Iran is not being treated fairly. Fair treatment is what this regime knows all about, isn't it? One saying goes: once a thief, always a thief. The international mistrust against the IRI is more than justified. No PR-campaigns can change that, inside the country or abroad. Still many nations have a tendency to turn a blind eye when they can secure oil for their industries. Civility is not spread around the world equally, unfortunately.

08 In the region itself, an Iranian nuclear industry -and with it the possibility to produce a nuclear weapon- could create a nuclear arms race. Let's not forget that India and Pakistan -as well as Israel- already have nuclear weapons. Such a weapon in the hands of the mullahs, however, creates a whole new dimension to the conflicts in the region. Since its inception, the IRI and its leaders have the willingness to export its political ideas and realities. Now what when this striving will be supported by some nuclear muscle? How will other nations like Saudi-Arabia and Egypt respond to this? Will it be possible to lease an atom bomb? Soon we will see what oil-money can buy. For the so-called peace process in the ME, nuclear proliferation will not contribute to a climate of better understanding and cooperation.

09 Speaking of this peace process, the IRI is known for its support to anti-Israel organizations in the Palestine Territories, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. IRI connections with various terrorist organizations are under close scrutiny. Is it so strange to consider an Iranian bomb in the hands of its political companions that are not state-entities, and have a lot less scruples about using a bomb to provoke a crisis? The reputation of the IRI in this connection is well known. What proof of good behavior can the IRI hand over to take away the mistrust that it has created itself? The negotiations with the EU-3 provide enough examples of the way in which the IRI is operating. Let's just say that transparency is a beautiful thing.

10 The attempts of the IRI to become a nuclear power could create an all out war with the Western powers that are not going to sit and watch this all happening in front of their eyes. To think that the Americans would tolerate the IRI -not just any state but its declared enemy- to have nuclear weapons, is just as optimistic as it is hopeless. No way will the Americans tolerate such a shift in the balance of power, especially not while they know that the concept of mutual destruction -that kept the Cold War in the balance, so to speak- will meet a deaf ear in Tehran and Qom. Destruction is what the IRI is after, its ideology is based on the worship of death. A nuclear weapon will be another -yet very destructive- item in their tool-box for the spread of their so-called Islamic Revolution. They will have no problems with setting it off, somewhere in the West, or even in Iran itself, and then claim it came from Israel or the US.

11 So the nuclear issue is a political gamble by the regime: the IRI is in a race against time to produce a working atomic weapon that is considered the ultimate safeguard for the IRI itself. The regime in Tehran thinks that with an Iranian bomb no one will even consider attacking Iran. With this gamble the IRI once more puts the Iranian people at the risk of becoming the hostage of the regime’s ideological and political aspirations. Yet another example of how a group of ideological fanatics have hijacked a whole nation and are willing to go to destruction in order to bring its elevated message to the world. As a reminder: when Adolf Hitler brought the German nation victory after victory in the first years of WW II between '38-'41, the Germans stood as one man behind him. But when the Allies finally brought home the destructive nature of Nazism to the inhabitants of the capital Berlin in '45, there were not many left to stand behind their Fuehrer, with the exception of some young kids and retired old men. True statesmanship has very little to do with political gambling of this order, the price is just to high.

12 Nuclear energy is just not what Iran needs. The money for that endeavor should have been invested in the Iranian society, in housing and schooling, in sewer systems and good roads, in lifting unemployment and raising the general standard of living. After all, that money came from oil-revenues, which are owned by the Iranian nation. Has there been any genuine political discussion in Iran about the usage of nuclear energy? Is there any genuine political discussion about anything in Iran? Posing the question is answering it. A country where the people are not informed on or consulted on a matter that concerns all of them, if not the whole world, does not deserve the right to play with such dangerous technology. A government that has repeatedly broken its international obligations by moving against the treaties it signed and, as a nation, even helped to establish in earlier times, cannot be trusted. That trust, by the way, has to be earned, but can never be demanded. The current situation is reminding of a criminal who is on the run, and breaks into a gun-store to steal a weapon to put it to the head of a law enforcement officer and then tell him at gun-point: 'You have to trust me, I do not intend anything wrong! Trust me and respect me!' These people do not understand that respect and trust is something that is being given by others, it can not be bought, let alone be demanded. It is earned by a spirit of openness and transparency, of cooperation and compassion. A spirit of interest in the world as a whole and of shared visions for the future. Unfortunately the regime of the IRI lacks all of this. On the contrary, the logic of the IRI works the other way around: when they cry out that the US has nuclear bombs and even used them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, one should really wonder if that is not exactly what they want to do themselves too. Using an atomic bomb, but not against Japan of course, no, not against Japan, but against the USA itself. Always copying the acts and behavior of others, but always copying exactly the wrong acts and bad behaviors of others, reverse logic pur sang. But what can one expect of the ones who proudly call themselves the Master Imitators.

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