How's this for Bad News?

New York Times The Guardian (UK):

Iran revolutionary guards' commander set to become president of OPEC

Rostam Ghasemi, who is blacklisted by western powers, could have major role in determining global oil price...

 

 

A senior commander of Iran's revolutionary guards, who is subject to comprehensive international sanctions, has been nominated as the country's oil minister, a position that currently includes the presidency of Opec.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, sent a list of four ministers, including Rostam Ghasemi, commander of the revolutionary guards' Khatam al-Anbia military and industrial base, to the parliament for approval, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Should the parliament confirm Ghasemi's nomination next week, the commander, who is targeted by US, EU and Australian sanctions, will be automatically appointed as head of Opec, giving the revolutionary guards access to an influential international platform....

 

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

Back in 1964, when James Burnham wrote hs classic "Suicide of the West: An Essay in the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism" (still one of the best dissections of the Libs ever done), he was writing about Communism and the eagerness of many liberals to succumb to its "charms." In the event, the suicide attempt failed, thanks largely to a Conservative named Ronald Reagan. But the sad fact is that here we are, nearly half a century later, and the West -- still essentially Liberal -- is still trying, still doing everything it can to snuff out its own life. A world serious about its survival would have put the kibosh on this Iranian nonsense a long time ago. The suicide of the West is still -- very much - a work in progress.