The Lonely Dictators Club

With the downturn in the world property market and the collapse of banking stocks across Europe many people are looking for a sure win investment. Oil? Gold? Our research here at the Lonely Dictators Club says missiles are the way to go.

With Russia’s Foreign Ministry reacting to Americas missile defence agreement with the Czech Republic yesterday by declaring “We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods” Iran joined in on the party and decided to brighten up the morning sky by test firing 9 long- and medium-range projectiles and threatening to strike American and Israeli interests in the region if it‘s attacked.

In 1979 the Islamic Revolution overthrew the Shah of Iran and saw Ayatollah Khomeini come to power as Supreme Ruler of Iran. In 1989 the Assembly of Elders elected Ayatollah Khamenei to the position after the formers death. While Iran has a President elected by the people the Supreme Leader is recognised as the highest ranking political and religious authority in the country and has overwhelming power in deciding state policy in relation to defence and foreign affairs. Iran most certainly has a very creative form of democracy. The people elect the Assembly of Experts, who elect the Supreme Leader for life but have the power to dismiss him. The Supreme Leader then has full power over the Armed Forces and also appoints the head of the Judiciary who then appoints the head of the Supreme Court and chief public prosecutor. The Supreme Leader can have the President, elected by the people, removed from office if the Supreme Court (which he effectually appoints) says he’s acting counter to the constitution. Of course, the constitution needs to interpreted and who better to do that then a 12 man Guardian Council, 6 of whom are appointed by the Supreme Leader and the other 6 coming from the Parliament. The Guardian Council also has the power to veto parliamentary and presidential candidates and also has the power to determine a candidate’s eligibility to run for a position on the Assembly of Experts. And should the Guardian Council and the Parliament disagree over something then the mater is resolved by the Expediency Council, every member of whom is appointed by… you get the picture.

In recent months the US and the UN have been piling sanctions onto the Islamic Republic in an effort to get it to abandon its enrichment of plutonium. Iran claims this is being done to provide electricity but America claims it’s for nuclear weapons. Well today it’s Iran that has bitten back declaring that if America or Israel attacks it will be able to retaliate. Israel has in the past led air strikes against what it said were nuclear installations within Syria and in the last month has staged exercises with up to 100 aircraft leading to speculation that it might hit Iran. Israel is believed to be the middle-east’s only nuclear power and wants to keep it that way, vowing that Iran will never be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

Amongst the missiles fired today where some Shahab-3s which has a range of up to 2100km putting it in range of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and parts of Egypt. This means that it is well within range of striking Israel or the US fleet in the Persian Gulf.

In only the last few minutes Reuters has reported International Institute for Strategic Studies experts in London as saying the missiles pose little threat and will be little deterrent to Israel should it choose to attack and also that Iran’s stockpile of Shahab-3 missiles is low. So for the aspiring dictator out there long range projectiles are the best long range investment we can suggest. Hold on to them until Iran starts offering big bucks or declare your back garden as a micronation and point it at your local representatives house.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.