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It is odd... Iran has lots of energy resources, is a huge energy exporter, and has a ton of heavy polluting industry...but they are also investing heavily in n

It is odd... Iran has lots of energy resources, is a huge energy exporter, and has a ton of heavy polluting industry...but they are also investing heavily in nuclear energy? Odd.

nitrogen 6y ago
Western oil companies have invested heavily in solar power. It's a hedge against peak oil and/or global CO2 restrictions.
vbezhenar 6y ago
Nuclear energy is a clear path to eco-friendly future. Everyone is interested with that, nobody wants to burn oil even if you have plenty of that oil. I live in Kazakhstan, we have plenty of oil, gas and coal, but we want to build nuclear plants, we are experimenting with wind and solar generators, nobody likes to breath dirty air.
- hogFeast 6y ago
  Sarcasm. Iran are, amazingly for such a small economy, a massive polluter and they would rather drop dead then stop selling oil (fighter jets don't pay for themselves, the military owns most of their economy). My point is: the nuclear industry exists to make weapons. That is it. It is baffling that other nations pretend otherwise (for example, the EU seems quite happy to pretend that Iran's massive interest in nuclear technology is for civilian purposes...unf, countries in the EU have a long record of supplying countries in the region with "civilian" technology that was later used to murder people).
  - vbezhenar 6y ago
    That might be true for Iran. But I don't see it as an issue, because obviously Iran wants to do so to protect them from foreign invasion, just like North Korea managed to get in position where nobody would want to risk invading them. It's not an ideal situation where one should get deadliest weapon ever to bring peace to the country, but at least it seems to work.
    - hogFeast 6y ago
      That would be a correct theory if you assumed that Iran is a rational actor. There is no evidence this is the case. I would actually argue that NK is a fairly rational actor, if a slightly volatile one. Their "enemy" is Emmanuel Goldstein, they understand the US won't invade them but it is useful for them to pretend they will. If Iran got a nuclear weapon, they would use it. No questions, they used chemical weapons before, they have gassed and bombed civilians, they don't care anymore (btw, the theory you are proposing was suggested before...Boris Johnson suggested it, he proposed giving a nuclear weapon to Iran, I studied IR, I am aware of the theory...it only works when a country has an incentive to not use nuclear weapons).

It is odd... Iran has lots of energy resources, is a huge energy exporter, and has a ton of heavy polluting industry...but they are also investing heavily in nuclear energy? Odd.

nitrogen 6y ago

Western oil companies have invested heavily in solar power. It's a hedge against peak oil and/or global CO2 restrictions.

vbezhenar 6y ago

Nuclear energy is a clear path to eco-friendly future. Everyone is interested with that, nobody wants to burn oil even if you have plenty of that oil. I live in Kazakhstan, we have plenty of oil, gas and coal, but we want to build nuclear plants, we are experimenting with wind and solar generators, nobody likes to breath dirty air.

hogFeast 6y ago
Sarcasm. Iran are, amazingly for such a small economy, a massive polluter and they would rather drop dead then stop selling oil (fighter jets don't pay for themselves, the military owns most of their economy). My point is: the nuclear industry exists to make weapons. That is it. It is baffling that other nations pretend otherwise (for example, the EU seems quite happy to pretend that Iran's massive interest in nuclear technology is for civilian purposes...unf, countries in the EU have a long record of supplying countries in the region with "civilian" technology that was later used to murder people).
- vbezhenar 6y ago
  That might be true for Iran. But I don't see it as an issue, because obviously Iran wants to do so to protect them from foreign invasion, just like North Korea managed to get in position where nobody would want to risk invading them. It's not an ideal situation where one should get deadliest weapon ever to bring peace to the country, but at least it seems to work.
  - hogFeast 6y ago
    That would be a correct theory if you assumed that Iran is a rational actor. There is no evidence this is the case. I would actually argue that NK is a fairly rational actor, if a slightly volatile one. Their "enemy" is Emmanuel Goldstein, they understand the US won't invade them but it is useful for them to pretend they will. If Iran got a nuclear weapon, they would use it. No questions, they used chemical weapons before, they have gassed and bombed civilians, they don't care anymore (btw, the theory you are proposing was suggested before...Boris Johnson suggested it, he proposed giving a nuclear weapon to Iran, I studied IR, I am aware of the theory...it only works when a country has an incentive to not use nuclear weapons).