World press on Iranian and Russian internal and foreign policies (July 21-23, 2012)

The Washington Post reported that Iran is capable of producing nuclear fuel for ships but has no immediate plans to upgrade the level of its uranium enrichment, the nation’s nuclear chief was quoted as saying in Sunday. Fereidoun Abbasi said if it decides to, Iran would first declare its need for higher grade enriched nuclear fuel to the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran is currently enriching uranium to 20 percent. An Iranian parliamentary committee has approved a bill requiring the government to design nuclear-powered merchant ships and provide them with nuclear fuel.

The same agency reported Monday that a top Iranian naval commander said that Tehran’s forces have full control over the Gulf’s strategic Strait of Hormuz, but have no plans to try to close the route for one-fifth of the world’s oil. The comments by Adm. Ali Reza Tangsiri, acting commander of the Revolutionary Guard naval forces, appear designed to reinforce Iran’s claims of military dominance over the Strait as U.S. naval forces boost their presence in the Gulf. He did not elaborate, but the remarks appear to point to Iran’s efforts to build pipelines to Asian markets and develop other Iranian ports with direct access to the Indian Ocean. Tangsiri’s message also is seen as an effort to reassure world oil markets that Iran — which was OPEC’s second-largest producer before recent sanctions — will not disrupt supplies. Oil prices have been swayed by worries that Iran could choke off tanker traffic in retaliation for tighter sanctions over its nuclear program.

The Los Angeles Times published the article headlined “Iran's birth control policy sent birthrate tumbling.” It says that since the 1980s, Iran has experienced the largest and fastest drop in fertility ever recorded — from about seven births per woman to fewer than two today. "It confounded all conventional wisdom that it could happen in one of the world's few Islamic republics," said Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi, a demographer at the University of Tehran. The author of the article believes that it happens largely because of the Islamic government. The birthrate plunged, helping to usher in social changes, particularly in the role of women. With smaller families, parents could invest more in their children's education, and the idea caught on even in rural areas. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sought to reverse the trend toward smaller families. Doubling the country's population of 75 million would enable Iran to threaten the West, he said. He has denounced the contraceptive program as "a prescription for extinction," called on Iranian girls to marry no later than 16 or 17 and offered bonuses of more than $950 for each child. So far, he has been widely ignored.

The New York Times published two articles about Russia. One is headlined “Work on Gas Line to Start in December.” It says that  Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom and Italy’s oil and gas company Eni plan to start building the South Stream gas pipeline in December, the news office for President Vladimir V. Putin said on Sunday. Energy cooperation will be an important item on the agenda Monday when Mr. Putin meets in Russia with Prime Minister Mario Monti of Italy. South Stream, a Russian-backed rival to a European pipeline that plans to ship gas from the Caspian region under the Black Sea, is expected to cost more than 15 billion euros ($18.25 billion) and export 63 billion cubic meters of gas to southern Europe as of 2015.

Another article is devoted to the Krymsk tragedy. It says that the Russian authorities on Sunday announced the arrest of three officials in Krymsk, whose residents erupted in anger against the government after a 20-foot wall of water barreled through neighborhoods this month and whose victims received no warning of the flood. A statement from the prosecutorial Investigative Committee said the officials “did not determine the proportion of the natural disaster, did not carry out their responsibility to promptly and appropriately warn the population about the hazard arising from an extreme situation caused by nature, or to evacuate people to safe areas.” The charges are unusual, both in their swiftness and seriousness, and reflect the Kremlin’s anxiety about the popular anger that emerged after the flood, which left at least 171 dead, according to an official count. Survivors erupted in angry shouts when they learned, during a conversation with Gov. Aleksandr Tkachev, that officials received warning of the danger three hours before the wave hit, but had made no attempt to evacuate sleeping residents.