Another anti-devestment piece in the OSU Lantern

Source: Writes Like She Talks blog http://writeslikeshetalks.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

OSU's The Lantern: Against pension fund divestment This opinion piece was written by James Crepea, an Ohio State University senior who is majoring in journalism, marketing and political science. In sum,

If American companies pull out of Iran entirely, as European companies did in Sudan, there are two potential outcomes: Either less investment in Iran leads to civil unrest and local distrust with the Iranian government, or there is increased anger and hatred toward the U.S. and Europe for stifling Iranian jobs and infrastructure.

It will be easier to achieve long-term goals with Iran by helping to build its economy from within and showing the weaknesses of its government to Iranians, whereas pulling out foreign investment will only help to embolden Ahmadinejad and his anti-U.S. supporters.

Although I applaud and respect Mandel for his service to his country and for raising questions about investing in Iran, I think he is wrong and about to make a mistake similar to what the U.S. made when choosing to impose an embargo with Cuba; unfortunately, the consequences in Iran could be far more dangerous.