BUSINESS AS USUAL

One thing the presumed president will have to deal with in Europe is an uneven, and sometimes reckless, attitude toward Iran.  On the one hand, Europe has joined with America in opposing the Iranian nuclear program, but, on the other, has shown little stomach for actually doing anything about it.  One reason, of course, is money.  Trade between Europe and Iran is major, and Europeans have never been known to look down on the word "profit," except in writing term papers in universities.

There is a wonderful organization operating out of Vienna called Stop the Bomb, devoted to exposing and opposing the mullah regime in Iran.  Its website is here.  I've met one of its key people, Simone Dinah Hartmann, who acts as the group's spokesperson.  She's an impressive and vigorous person, totally devoted to this cause.

Stop the Bomb has issued a chart ranking the countries of Europe in terms of their trade with Iran.  The group reports:

The most important commercial partner of Iran in Europe is Italy, followed by Turkey, that will keep its position due to a 2.25 Billion Euro deal signed last year. Germany ranks third, it might, however, be the secret European champion, conducting more and more of its commerce via third party countries.

France, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia and Greece hold further top positions. Is the trade volume calculated per capita, the current football titelholder Greece is also European champion in economically supporting the Mullah dictatorship in Iran. The host countries of the Euro 2008 do everything in their power to ascend to top positions. The Iranian regime refers to Austria as its "gateway to the European Union. OMV, Austria's biggest company listed in the stock exchange with the Austrian state holding more than 30 % of its shares, plans to enter into a 22 Billion Euro agreement with Iran. Switzerland is not just ahead of its Euro 2008 hostpartner as to football skills: The Swiss power company Laufenburg signed a deal with the Iranian Gas Export Company for a yearly delivery of 5.5 Billion cubic metres of natural gas in April 2008 with a an estimated total volume of 18 Billion Euros. For the Swiss foreign ministry Iran is “one of the most important commerce partners of Switzerland in the Middle East."

Senator Obama will be in Germany and France this week.  I hope some enterprising reporter asks him about this, and shows him the Stop the Bomb chart.  The group makes this point:

Why shouldn't countries trade with Iran, some might ask. But Iran is not just some arbitrary regime. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a an islamic dictatorship exerting domestic and international terror for almost 20 years. At the same time it is obviously developing nuclear weapons. Labour unions are banned and industrial action is put down as brutally as the students’ protest movements.

The systematic persecution of minorities like the Kurds and the Bahai, the execution of homosexuals as well as the constant repression against women that do not obey the islamic code of conduct, are main features of this regime.

Every Euro that flows to Iran can easily become part of Europe's death sentence.  Senator Obama has said he'd negotiate with Iran without preconditions.  What will he say, if anything, about strengthening the regime's economy through massive trade with Europe?

July 23, 2008.