Links and Minifeatures 06 05 Monday

Carnival of The Capitalists Recommended: Econbrowser (M3 vs M2), Jim Logan (billable hours versus solving the customer's problem), Paul's Tips (The easiest way to fool smart people), Free Money Finance (money handling), Casey Software (non-disclosure agreements)



Carnival of Personal Finance

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Dr. Sanity predicted several days ago that Iran would feel the need to do something about Condi Rice outthinking Ahmadinejad. Looks like they've done it. Iran warns U.S. on oil shipments:

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Ayatollah Ali Khameni, Iran's supreme leader, has warned the United States that any "misbehavior" directed at Iran would serve to disrupt Gulf energy shipments.



"In order to threaten Iran, you say that you can guarantee movements of oil through this region," he said Sunday, referring to shipments that pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz near Iran and other countries.



The United States "should know that the slightest misbehavior on your part would endanger the region's energy security," he said. "You are not capable of guaranteeing energy security in this region."



Khameni did not specify what he meant by disruption or misbehavior.

I'll translate, for the realpolitik impaired. Something over half of the world's oil supply goes through the Straits of Hormuz. Iran owns one shore of those straits. They are saying that if we do anything to upset them, they'll destroy the oil going through there. Except that "Who can destroy a thing, controls a thing," (from Dune) may be a seductive thought for those who wish more power than they have, but it is not quite true. It requires that you be able to answer the full might of your enemies more or less equally, which the Iranians cannot. Indeed, the Iranians, by such actions, may very well force the United States to swat them down harder than they otherwise would need to be swatted. It is one thing to treat a lesser power somewhat delicately if you have the latitude. When that lesser power is threatening the economic lifeblood of the entire world, that is quite a different matter. Of course, being from a masculine shame-driven culture, they see this threat as redeeming their manhood.



They are further gone in Denial than the Japanese even thought about being prior to World War II. Yes, they could hurt us badly enough that neither country would come out ahead. I do not want a confrontation with Iran. If it can be avoided without worse consequences, I'll suggest biting our tongue and biding our time - the Iraqi and Afghan governments on both sides are going to kill the current Iranian regime, given only time for the ideas to bleed across the borders. But although they can hurt us, we can destroy them, and everybody knows it. It's kind of like being hit by a .22 versus being hit by dozens of slugs of much higher caliber, not to mention multiple other ordnance, and that's without using our biggest weapons, which would damage our allied countries in the region.

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Matthew Yglesias makes a good point about third parties.



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The big brouhaha today is due to a report from those "anonymous sources" that the army is going to modify one of their manuals regarding the Geneva Convention. Protein Wisdom has the most rational take I've seen.



Assuming it's true, and not another case like flushing the Koran.



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Armies of Liberation talks about electoral corruption in Yemen.



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Captain's Quarters notes that Iranians have moved the equivalent of $200 billion out of the country is recent months. If their president gets them into a violent confrontation with the US, the idea being they'd be in a position to recover personally.



The real bad news for Iran, of course, is that much money leaving puts a serious crimp in the Iranian economy, which doesn't exactly help stabilize the mullah's regime.



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Free speech for Me but not for thee: Michelle Malkin covers the differing treatments of those student who were against one specific piece of legislation as opposed to one person who tried to support it.