Iran the squeaky kitten

"Iran is a big power and wants nothing more than its legal right to nuclear technology. Nothing can persuade us to abandon our right."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1210668625720&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The words of no less an authority than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So, I thought I'd do a little research. We all know that the foundation of a great military is a great economy. So, how does Irans economy stack up against the Great Satan?

I checked here to find out what the respective GDP's were.

The US: 13,843,825 in 2007 (in millions of US Dollars)
Iran: 294,089 in 2007 (in millions of US Dollars)

That makes Irans economy just over 2% as big as the US one. Whoo hoo. Very impressive. Need more impressing? These countries all have greater GDP than Iran-

Denmark
Greece
Norway
Belgium
Taiwan
Austria (all the big powerhouse economies!)

and the biggest laugh of all

Switzerland: 423,938 in 2007 (in millions of US Dollars)

Yup, the land of cuckoo clocks, extremely conservative politics and over-complicated utility knives has a GDP over a quarter larger than Iran.

Now, I know we often bandy Belgium and Norway around as world powers... but I think we're going to have to take the diazepam or whatever it is that Mahmoud is sniffing away from him, and gently re-introduce him to the world as it actually is.

Here's a little question for Mahmoud when he comes down- if Iran is a great power, why doesn't the Iranian army sweep into Iraq and get rid of the great Satan from its very front porch? Jast askin'.