Oh Boy, these Republicans Again

Iran

Capital City: Tehran
Official language: Persian (This was Persia, after all.)
Area: 1,648,195 km²
Population: 70,4 million people
GDP per capita: $11,250
Export Commodities: petroleum, chemicals, carpets.

Like everybody knows there have been a lot of problems here in this country. Wars in and out, and moving all around. Also, Iran was in line after Iraq when it came to the Bush-intentions of wrecking havoc in the area. There was recently a presidential election, which was won by these dude whose name I won't even try to write down, first because I can't pronounce it, and even if I do, everybody will know that I copy-pasted it, so better you do the job and look it up. So, there was a "democratic malfunction" and people went to the streets to protest, like they should in many other countries as well. Then a girl got killed by a sniper. Almost in a poetical way, the girl's name was Neda, which means "voice"... and she was a singer. Life does have an amazing sense of... faith. She became famous world wide with one video: the video of her death. I didn't watch it because I'm one of those faint hearted people who can get affected by stuff like that. I mean, come on! I cried when Trunks died in the Cell saga, and then each time I saw that episode I cried again. Then, I spent almost two weeks depressed because I was SURE Dean would have to kill Sam at the end of season 4. But that's beyond the point.

So yes, we stated that the situation in Iran is far from good, however that's not the only country with troubles. And so, today I read my mail and there's in Forbes an article titled Senators Push Digital Code of Conduct, where Republican Senators, former presidential candidate John McCain among them want to introduce a bill where American corporations will be either rewarded or punished acording to the aid or opposition they give to Iranian activists. Are they for real!?

First of all, Iran is like a whole different country, so American Government should REALLY stick to their own business and stop meddling in other people's and other nations' affairs. There are enough problems inside America, so why don't they tackle those? Want to give incentives? Well, incentive the companies that give job to Americans, the one's that allow them to keep their jobs, and punish those that lay off workers. How about that? Why they have to go "solve" problems or make the mess bigger in Iran, where in their own home IBM is either taking the GOOD, AMERICAN labor force and exporting it to INDIA so they don't have to pay them such a high wage, and then they lay off the rest to replace them with $5-a-week Hindu labor force? Because, suddenly, if IBM decides to aid activists by... providing them free, uncensored Internet or something, they'll be REWARDED, and no punishment will fall on them for letting Americans jobless.

Oh yes, because you didn't think of this: the labor force you export, may have to pay its taxes to the U.S. (I've heard of something like that...), but they'll definitively not pay a dime in local American stores. So all the people that depend at home from their wage to sell them things and survive themselves, will be forced to close and starve.

Secondly, so, you reward companies for aiding activists... and what if suddenly that "help" is turned towards terrorists, and these terrorists take the chance American companies are giving them to plan another attack on the U.S. Or is this already taken in consideration, and it has been measured into the mix so that the U.S. gets another excuse to attack yet another oil-rich country? Please.

Finally, why Iran? Everybody KNOWS of the repression of the people in China, the abuses against human rights, the bullying of this country against the Dalai-Lama, not to mention Taiwan, and the utterly unfair way in which they are trying to sever their ties to every country, in a way much similar to what the U.S. did in the mid 20th century with Cuba. I'd say China fills every single criteria by which Iran is being judged, so why the bill doesn't extend to them as well? And what about Darfur, Zimbabwe, Sudan, the problem with pirates... why there's no bill to promote or reward companies that help the people there? And if the problem is the "anti-democratic practices", why are they not crucifying Costa Rica? Electoral fraud, threatening of the population into voting to a certain "side" in the referendum, upholding of information (the CAFTA referendum had to be voted blindly by many, as the text wasn't made available), anti-constitutional behavior, violation of International Agreements, specially those regarding environmental protection and labor rights.

I'd simply say that the Republican interest in the middle East is, by this point, outrageous.