but, alas, the plan for the United States vis-a-vis Iran appears to be more of the same old neo-con war mongering.

Oh, sorry, here’s what I’m referring to:

Scientific output has grown 11 times faster in Iran than the world average, faster than any other country. A survey of the number of scientific publications listed in the Web of Science database shows that growth in the Middle East – mostly in Turkey and Iran – is nearly four times faster than the world average.

(Iran showing fastest scientific growth of any country, New Scientist, 02/18/10)

My take below …

I’ve been around the block enough times to come to the firm conclusion that fundamentalist religion demands a certain level of ignorance and lack of basic education in the sciences. This, in my well developed sense of reality, is true whether we’re discussing Islam, Christianity, Judaism or any other organized religion.

We WANT Iran to become developed scientifically. We WANT a well educated class of technocrats to develop inside that nation.

We want this because this is the best way to move beyond the ignorance so required of fundamentalist regimes.

If our plans for Iran had involved pushing them into the future, our desired results could not have better than what the New Scientist article proclaims.

Now if only we could bring this same advancement to the United States.