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September 25, 2006

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Justin Mitchell recounts the thoughts of Iran's new consul to Hong Kong. Who knew the Iranians can justify a consulate here? But even in our tiny corner of the geopolitical landscape, absurdities abound:

When asked why a country with so much oil and gas feels a pressing need for a nuclear program (which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has claimed is strictly for peaceful purposes and about which Iran is in conflict with the United Nations) Nekounam said nuclear power is preferable to fossil fuels because it "is cost effective ... it makes the most of resources at a minimum cost."
You'll be interested to know that petrol in Iran costs 9 American cents per litre, which makes a marked contrast to Hong Kong's US$1.70 a litre. Remarkably, the Iranians still import oil because they don't have refining capacity and because of the massively subsidised petrol price.

Instead of spending billions on nuclear energy and causing angst for their "peaceful" program, it turns out Iran could save itself a fortune by taking a couple of lessons in high school economics. Perhaps the consul could send a cable back to Tehran?

 posted by Simon on 09.25.06 at 02:20 PM in the Hong Kong category.




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Comments:

Hm, from the tone of this post you are quite condescending, especially in light of clearly not conceptualising sharia economics. Just because your paradigm is not willing to accept a different method of development from what you are accustomed to, does not mean that Iran is not developing... and it really doesnt matter to Iranians what you think of their development just the same as it really doesnt matter to you what interpretation someone makes of you from your blog. So why do you get have an opinion on there being an Iranian consulate in Hong Kong? Surely an Australian in finance would be open to more oppertunities for capital than pigeonholing potential clients?

posted by: Frederich on 09.25.06 at 03:27 PM [permalink]

I'm not a fan of Iran and think their nuclear desires are very suspicious. That said, it's worth pointing out that oil is generally used for cars and other vehicles, while nuclear energy is used for electricity. Just because they have oil doesn't mean they have coal, or even big multi-gorge rivers they can dam. ;)

 posted by: Derek SCruggs on 09.26.06 at 12:55 AM [permalink]

I would be interested to see a clear conceptualization of sharia economics. Please edify, post haste.

Cheers

yisa

 posted by: Du Yisa on 09.30.06 at 05:21 PM [permalink]




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