Iranians In Your Backyard

For a while now, there have been concerns that Venezuela, one of this hemispheres more outspoken critics (or, depending on whom you listen to, avowed enemies) of the United States, is cozying up to Iran, and its (understandably) troubling. Why? Well, three days out of five, Iran is the greatest threat to global peace and prosperity since that Saddam guy was oh-so-flawlessly ousted from power, and the thought that theyre getting a significant political and economic foothold in the Americas is enough to keep, I imagine, the United States counterintelligence nerds awake at night. Thats one half of the threat, of course; the other is that Iran is proving all too happy to provide a wide variety of fairly advanced military hardware to Venezuela, with all the inherent implications for regional stability that suggests. Turns out, though, that while everyones been watching Venezuela, Irans been cozying up to an even closer neighbor of ours. See, it seems that Iran and Nicaragua are fast becoming buddies, again. Hell, a lot of the players are the same as last time around; deja vu all over again. NightWatch notes that not only does Nicaragua border Mexico, but members of the IRGC have reportedly been seen in the country this month, which is a little bit alarming. President Ortega, to judge from his recent public statements, dislikes the United States just as much as Hugo Chavez does, if not more. Yet, nobody seems to care particularly much that Nicaragua is fast becoming very much a proxy for Iranian interests in this hemisphere. The State Departments official line seems to be that Iran has no historical major interests in this part of the world, so theres nothing to see here, move along. Lets put this in perspective: If it was the spring of 1979, or even 1989, and an enemy country - Russia, China, North Korea, or one of their more obvious proxies (Albania, anyone?) were making huge and historically-unprecedented increases in their presence in this hemisphere, the U.S. government would have been crapping themselves not just at the thought of enemy agents on our doorstep, but those same powers getting access to indigenous human assets. (Im not a fluent speaker of Spanish; can you tell a Nicaraguan from a Mexican? How about if theyre speaking fluent English? How about just on sight? Didnt think so&) Even today, if China were developing new inroads in Central America, you can be sure itd be a matter of grave concern. But everyones decided that Venezuela is the problem, and anything that distracts from that message needs to be ignored. Never mind that, fairly literally, all that stands between Irans newest and bestest friend in the whole wide world and the good old US of A is this hemispheres most corrupt, lawless, and porous-bordered country. Nope, Venezuela is the problem, no more and no less. Oh, well; Im sure Irans interests in this part of the world are completely and utterly innocuous, and nothing to be concerned about at all, whatsoever