2012 is a big election year…everywhere! The Professor takes a brief world tour to catch you up on the hot spots of political power transition happening right now across the planet.Russians are at the polls today to likely re-elect Vladimir Putin; a presidential run-off is in play in Senegal; Iran just wiped out political support for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Nicolas Sarkozy of France is getting ready to be trounced; and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is a big question mark as a second round of cancer treatment calls into question his ability to stand again for office. Democratic change is afoot, Watson!
As the situation continues to spiral into bloody chaos in Syria, the regime of Bashar al-Assad is not the only party that is going to lose big when the state fully collapses into civil war: believe it or not, it’s Iran that stands to be the Biggest Loser, and I ain’t talkin’ about shedding pounds on network TV my friends! In this plaid-cast, the Professor points out multiple ways that Iran is currently getting squeezed by the international community, and how the loss of Syria, its only major ally in the region, is going to be a devastating blow to their power, influence, and status in the Middle East and possibly the wider world.
Keywords: Syria, Iran, Homs, Arab, Persian, Hormuz, nuclear weapon, Hezbollah, embargo, civil war
Synopsis: Ahhhhh!!! Look out! The Islamist are coming! The radical Muslim Brotherhood to be more precise! They are going to take over Egypt if the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak falls! Another radical US-hating state like Iran is forming! Oh no! It’s the end of days!
NOT.
The Paid Avenger introduces the Muslim Brotherhood and explains why the democratic transition that is unfolding in Egypt is a radically different stage than revolutionary Iran in 1979, and offers 7 reasons why Egypt is not likely to go the route of full-on Islamic radicalization and/or theocracy.
Holy hookah my friends! A $60 billion arms deal is in the works between the US and Saudi Arabia, the largest such deal in all of US history….and an arms deal that the Avenger believes is the official kick-off for a full-scale arms race across the entire Middle East region. How does the US stand to gain significantly from this deal? More importantly, how will the deal affect the
current power struggle within the region, and why is it happening at all? The Avenger points out the cultural frictions and fallacies behind this volatile mix of Arab arms and angst!
Synopsis: What the hell are the Iranians spouting about with all this ‘20% uranium enrichment’ business on their 31st birthday? Why 20%? Why does 20% it so infuriate many other countries on the planet, many of whom are now aligning to slam Iran with punishing economic sanctions? The Avenger explains what all the fuss is about with the magic number 20, why Iran may want a nuclear weapon, and the players who are adamant that Iran should never get a nuclear weapon.
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