Word: nicaragua
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...Nicaragua is a place you can basically ignore as long as it is not doing anything significantly negative," says Dennis Jett, Dean of the International Center at the University of Florida in Gainesville. However, Jett and other analysts wonder whether Tehran's romancing of Managua may mark a change in that status. "You have to wonder what the Iranians are thinking as Mr. Bush goes through his bluster and threatens military action against Iran," says Jett. "It wouldn't surprise me that if they found a willing partner in Nicaragua that they would put some terrorist capability into Nicaragua...
...know that Nicaraguans would see it in their best interest to do that, because then they would become targets - in a real way." Indeed, Jett says, "It would not only upset the United States but all the neighboring countries in Central America." Already, Iran's presence in Nicaragua has upset neighboring Honduras, where two newspapers recently reported the arrival of Iranian diplomats who entered Honduras from Nicaragua bent on photographing hotels, businesses, embassies and tourist sites...
Nevertheless, an alliance between Iran and Nicaragua could pose practical security problems for the U.S. "[Terrorist activities] could be much harder to detect than the Cuban Missile Crisis," says Jett. who notes that in the 1960s satellite photos detected the danger, but today a nuclear bomb can be hidden in a suitcase and go undetected. Neither Managua or Tehran has much to gain by an Iranian military presence, says Jett. "I would think they would just keep it covert and low key to the extent that they...
...real question for the moment is what Iran and Venezuela expect to get in return for their investment in Nicaragua. Next November, delegations from both countries plans to meet in Managua to discuss the seaport. "Nicaragua must give a 'quid pro quo' ... because the other two partners have not talked about [the seaport development being a] gift," says Roger Guevara, a Managua-based lawyer and former Nicaraguan ambassador to Venezuela, in an e-mail to TIME. "Certainly the Nicaraguan Government has to study what... they can offer," he says. "This includes a possibility of more than political and diplomatic support...
...United Nations Security Council when the selection process take place next month. If elected, Iran would serve a two-year stint as a temporary member from the Asia region. To date, only Vietnam of the countries in that region has formally announced its candidacy for the post. Whether Nicaragua would support Iran in a bid for the Security Council remains unknown. Attempts to interview the ambassador proved unsuccessful...