John McCain is still trying to make hay from Obama's remark that "Iran, Cuba, Venezuela — these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union." Matt tries to help him out by mapping the situation:
Stark, but I'm not sure straight land mass is the best way to think about this. After all, we're human beings. We're afraid of bees. So here's a graph comparing the population of Iran and Soviet Union in 1991, back when the Soviet Union existed:
And here they are in terms of military spending:
Land area, population, military spending -- it doesn't really matter which metric you use. Iran is small, and not much of a threat. They're very useful, however, if part of your political platform requires inventing scary enemies in order to terrify voters and convince them to vote for the guy who opposes health care for kids.
Stark, but I'm not sure straight land mass is the best way to think about this. After all, we're human beings. We're afraid of bees. So here's a graph comparing the population of Iran and Soviet Union in 1991, back when the Soviet Union existed:And here they are in terms of military spending:Land area, population, military spending -- it doesn't really matter which metric you use. Iran is small, and not much of a threat. They're very useful, however, if part of your political platform requires inventing scary enemies in order to terrify voters and convince them to vote for the guy who opposes health care for kids. 
