Doctor Zin at Regime Change Iran has found a megatrend piece that’s so arresting it can’t help but make you stop and think.

World oil prices right now are dropping like a stone. If they go below $50 a barrel and stay there, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are in for hard times. They won’t be able to maintain their political popularity because in all case, that popularity is derived from pork-barrel spending and government handouts. If they lose popularity, will that make them more, or less, aggressive against their own internal opposition and the rest of the world? The implications of this growing development are huge. It may well mean that a guy like Ahmadinejad won’t be in any position to develop nukes. But then again, it may well mean that he’s more predisposed to use what he has. It’s hard to say what will work out, but one thing is for sure, this is a growing factor in international affairs.

Doc Zin’s piece can be read here.

UPDATE: Citibank has just come out with a report on Venezuela, saying the same thing here.