All posts by Hutchins AAron

Born in Deutschland 1965, hometown was Bütthart, parents were not U.S. government employees. However, when father was tricked into joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, in 1969, with the promise that we could remain in Germany, we were promptly shipped off to Iran. Due to one of my Iranian educators being disappeared, along with her husband, by the U.S. ally Shah of Iran's Israeli & U.S. created Savak (for the then official terrorist act of promoting the idea that women can vote), and due to my U.S. citizen mother being placed on Savak's Terrorist Arrest List (for supporting the idea that women should vote, at that time the U.S. ally Shah of Iran did not allow women to vote, now they can) we left Iran for the United States in 1973, literally in the middle of the night. At the U.S. Embassy airbase the CIA operated Gooney Bird (C-47) was so packed with other U.S. citizens fleeing our ally Iran (because the Shah gave the OK to arrest any U.S. citizen for such terrorist acts as promoting the concept of voting) that we were turned away by the Loadmaster and had to take a chance on a civilian flight out of Tehran's airport. My father told me he and my mother had three culture shocks; first when they arrived in Germany as civilians, then after being shipped off to Iran as U.S. government employees, then again returning to the United States as unemployed civilians (because so much had changed in the U.S. while they were gone, their only news source was the U.S. Armed Forces Radio & Television Service which heavily censored information about the home front). Since I graduated high school in 1982 I've worked for U.S. government contractors and state & local government agencies (in California), convenience store manager in California, retail/property management in Georgia, California and Idaho. Spent the 1990s in the TV news business producing number one rated local news programs in California, Arizona and Idaho. 14+ years with California and Idaho Army National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Obtained a BA degree in International Studies from Idaho State University at the age of 42. Unemployed since 2015, so don't tell me the economy has recovered.
Idaho

Hope at Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho

Rescue workers say they think there is a void within the caved in roof of the Lucky Friday mine.  They drilled through the debris, ran a camera through and discovered that there is open space.

They drilled some other holes to let fresh air in. Rescuers have been working since the the cave in, on April 15.  53-year-old Larry Marek, and his brother were just finishing up watering down the latest dig, when the roof fell in.  Larry didn’t get out.

Rescuers gave up trying to dig through the debris, because it became more dangerous as they went.  They feared another cave in.  Now they’re trying to dig new tunnels.

International

Xenophobic British women attack Iranian woman

An Iranian foreign exchange student, attending school in the United Kingdom, was attacked on April 13, by four British women.  The British women said they attacked her because she would not remove her hijab (head covering).

“If it turns out that the incident has been a racial attack and the Iranian student has been assaulted because of her nationality, Iran will show reaction.”-Mahmoud Mollabashi, Deputy Minister of Science, Research and Technology

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Iran threatens higher oil prices, says “No way will it fall below $100”

“Iran can have an effect on world energy and fuel. Fuel prices will go up dramatically. If sanctions are not removed, particularly sanctions against banks and other economic sanctions, the price of oil will go above $150 a barrel.”-Mahmoud Bahmani, Iran’s central bank

A top U.S. Federal Reserve official said that gasoline prices above $4 a gallon would throw the U.S. economy into another recession.

Iran is the world’s third-leading oil exporter, and thanks to U.S. backed sanctions, has just expanded their own oil refining abilities, now making them an exporter of gasoline as well.

On top of any threats of increased oil prices, Iranian oil Minister Massoud Mir-Kazemi, said factors remain that will ensure that oil prices will continue to go up, regardless of how much oil is pumped out of the ground: “The price of oil depends on two things: First, the fundamentals, including supply and demand, and then the political, psychological and unforeseen elements. Based on these factors, oil prices should increase again by end of the year.”

 


Business/Economics, International

Iran and Pakistan speed up pipeline development, Germany onboard

The Iran-Pak (or Pak-Iran) Gas pipeline just got a boost from Germany.  A German company signed a deal to lay the new pipeline between Pakistan and Iran.

The German company might be ILF Consulting Engineers, who were hired to do a feasibility study earlier in the month of April.

The pipeline will begin from Iran’s Assalouyeh Energy Zone in the south, run through Pakistan, and could end up in China, depending on future deals with China.  Originally the pipeline was to run to India, but there were issues with the Indian government.

Business/Economics, International

Iran and Germany sign Gas deal, so much for U.S. backed UN sanctions

Germany has agreed to provide Iran with the latest technology and training, to take advantage of the South Pars natural gas fields in Iran.

Iran is also working with several European countries for similar deals: “We are in talks with many foreign companies to attract U.S.$20 billion of investment.”-Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh, Managing-Director of the National Iranian Offshore Oil Company

Iran has already signed a deal with South Korea.

Iran had signed a deal with the French, but said the French failed to live up to their end of the bargain.

Iran hopes to push production of the South Pars gas fields up to 1.1 billion cubic meters per day.

Business/Economics, International

Iran says U.S. led military actions cause of World Instability, part of Control though Chaos

“Military buildup does not result in energy security, rather it causes instability in the energy market.”-Massoud Mir-Kazzemi, Iranian Oil Minister

Mir-Kazzemi says the West’s militant approach to world issues is the root cause of instability in the global energy market.  The U.S. does not have an interest in creating “win-win” situations.

Iran suggests that the situation in Libya is all about driving up the price of oil, in the interests of Western oil companies.  It is also true that non-western oil companies are benefiting as well.

Iran is the current President of OPEC.  The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was created in September 1960. The members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

International

Construction workers kidnapped in Afghanistan

12 Iranian construction workers were kidnapped in Afghanistan.  They were building a police training center.

Iran blames “foreigners” which could refer to Western forces, or to al Qaeda.  The Iranian government did not specify.

In the last few years Iran and Afghanistan have made major economic deals, including construction programs and gas/oil shipments.

In the late 1990s, the Taliban killed several Iranian diplomatic officials, which prompted Iran to mass hundreds of thousands of troops on Afghanistan’s border.