Iran: The New USSR

I found this article by searching far and wide through Google. It is entirely too difficult to find articles from uncommon/foreign outlets on the world's largest search engine, but that is another issue.
This article talks about the looming economic sanctions against Iran due to their tremendous debt. They are dealing with unemployment and inflation ranging around 20%, which is astronomical for that type of data. Iran also has an unstable banking and currency system. The article says that Iran is using billions upon billions from subsidies that they have no intention nor the capibility of paying back. As is well documented, there has been plenty of political corruption in Iran. The elections of 2009 and the connections we are studying show this to be true, but this is also a reason that Iran is in such economic trouble. There are many opposing sides within the government and from religious factions. The President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made the banks give out loans with incredibly low interest rates, and has made other questionable decisions. The only thing keeping their economy alive is their exporting of oil, which is a common tale in the region. However, the most important part of this article is where the pressure to impose the sanctions are coming from. The United States. This rivalry reminds us of the Cold War, with Iran having nuclear capability, but also having a smoke screen that tries to show a country of power.
The United States, along with the United Nations, has imposed sanctions on Iran before,and have even weakened their strongest export, oil, by discouraging foreign companies from investing. However, the sheer fact that the United States is involved with Iran speaks volumes. I compare it to the Cold War with the USSR. Iran has a volatile leader in Ahmadinejad who compares to the many Soviet leaders, and it has a scary idea. The United States still does not know how to handle the ideal of Islam just as it did not know how to deal with the idea of communism. The United States had a different tactic in attacking the economy of the USSR by increasing their own spending, but they are doing a similar thing to the Iranians. They are pushing for more economic sanctions which will hurt Iran instead of increasing their already ridiculous spending. The USSR apparently had atomic weapons as does Iran. The similarities go on and on. However, the most similar characteristic is the appearance of stability in Iran. Just as the USSR did, Iran's leaders have created an illusion of a strong and capable nation. However, there are reports every day of retention of human rights, riots at universities, and a struggling economy. There is one quote from the article that is very telling:
Iran's economic problems are linked to its extensive use of subsidies — billions of dollars a year — to keep basic necessities such as electricity, gasoline, bread and other food staples far below their true market value (Shuster)."
Iran is having to spend billions of dollars to keep the daily infastructure of their country alive. This is exactly what the USSR had to do during the Reagan years to make it seem like they were still a force to be reckoned with(there are many that say Reagan did not have anything with the downfall of the USSR that is was just a matter of time). It may be the case with Iran, as it was with the USSR, that the country will ruin itself before the United States can do any visible damage. Iran is one of the few countries standing up the United States in an era of American dominance, the United States if fighting back economically, and Iran could be done by the end of the rivalry. That sounds a lot like a modern day USSR.


http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/04/05/irans-economic-troubles-mount-as-sanctions-loom/