Sullivan: biofuels an effective weapon against Iran

Andrew Sullivan believes some of our best leverage with Iran is to be found in alternative fuels and high prices at the pump. Presumably the high gas prices will make biofuels relatively cheap, and adding more taxes will allow the government to sponsor more research. By moving to biofuels, Sullivan argues, we reduce Iran's income and thus its funding of terrorism. Question to Sullivan: how much of Sunni dominated al-Qeada's funding comes from Shi'a Iran? For most of the world, al-Qeada remains the number one terror threat.

Another problem with this lightweight analysis: demand for petroleum is increasing. Biofuels will not halt or reverse the demand. By all means pursue alternative energy research and bring as much to market as possible, as our reliance on imported petroleum is far too high, but don't assume that Iran will see it as "one of the most effective weapons against Ahmadinejad we could deploy." Iran will make billions of dollars no matter how much biofuel we produce.

For Sullivan's purposes, increasing supply is nearly as important as cutting demand. If Sullivan is serious he should support more offshore drilling and drilling in ANWR. Although he might see this as too strong a message.

Followed the link from the Times Comment blog.