Some Middle East expert, one Kenneth Katzman is quoted by Yahoo and I couldn’t help notice. And comment.

“Iran’s ascendancy is not only manageable but reversible” if one understands the Islamic republic’s many vulnerabilities.

Tehran’s leaders have convinced many experts Iran is a great nation verging on “superpower” status, but the country is “very weak … (and) meets almost no known criteria to be considered a great nation,” said Katzman of the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service.

The economy is mismanaged and “quite primitive,” exporting almost nothing except oil, he said.

Also, Iran’s oil production capacity is fast declining and in terms of conventional military power, “Iran is a virtual non-entity,” Katzman added.

The administration, therefore, should not go out of its way to accommodate Iran because the country is in no position to hurt the United States, and at some point “it might be useful to call that bluff,” he said.

My first thought one word, Hezbollah. They’re everywhere even in the U.S. And they’ve proven they are a force to be reckoned with.. at least in Lebanon.

Friends, Iran does have those, Hugo Chavez for instance, not the model of democratic leadership and not our friend. We do get oil from him too… for now.

Other friends and trading partners, Russia and China. Russia is practicing democracy Putin style, think of it as a little like Chavez style. What do you expect from someone who was in the KGB? Democracy? China of recent anti-satellite weapon fame, yes, they’d like to take over too. They never did the democracy thing so it will be easier for them.

And then there’s the other Shiites. They’d back Iran, that Hezbollah thing. Not the Sunnis thou, they’d kill each other off unless… Iran attacked Israel. They’d all like that.

Oil, lots of oil in the Middle East. Anything happen that disrupts it affects U.S.. So yes, Iran can hurt the U.S.. He’s wrong. And that’s probably why the U.S. may be planning a slightly more comprehensive solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions than he might think warrented. Oh, he’s quoted at the end of the article. Pelosi and the Congress will probably buy into his comments too.

And do nothing.