Every society for which Records exist created a religion based upon a higher being—i.e., an inherent universal belief in gods or a God. In essence, all of mankind has sung the same melody. The problem is that each group composed its own set of lyrics, and ever since they have been killing one another over the minuscule differences in their lyrics.
The Middle East has given birth to three of the world’s predominant religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the Muslim religion. The Old Testament of the Bible and the Koran bear numerous similarities; clearly they share roots. Christianity was originally a branch of Judaism. These three religions are first cousins, but throughout the millennia, religious persecution has prevailed and countless wars have been fought and atrocities committed, both between and within these religions. Religious faith may be ubiquitous, but religious tolerance is exceptionally rare.
Until recently, man lacked the technology to extinguish all human life, but with the advent of the nuclear age, that barrier has been breached and will be acted upon by religious zealots unless proactively prevented.
The current Iranian government is throwing its resources into becoming a major nuclear power, and its motivation for doing so is religious. It has a light-water (H2O) modulated nuclear power plant in operation, and is constructing a heavy-water (deuterium oxide) modulated reactor that can fission unenriched uranium ore and will be completed in 2010.
Iran possesses uranium mines, over 8,300 cascading centrifuges concentrating the ore, and has plans for an additional 45,000. It has initialed a deal with China for 20 more light-water nuclear power plants and, as of this writing, possesses 3,300 pounds of low-enriched uranium (LEU) with which to fuel them.
And from where has the money for all this come? From the sale of oil to other nations at sky-high prices. If this sounds familiar, recall that following WWI France was Germany’s single largest trading partner as it re-armed in preparation for WWII.
Iran is the fourth largest oil producer in the world and could meet its power needs at a fraction of the cost with hydrocarbon-fueled steam turbines. However, its current refining capacity does not meet even its domestic needs; additional gasoline and other refined products must be imported. If Iran’s intentions were peaceful, it would have expanded its refining capacity instead of building nuclear power plants.
