Geopolitical WHAT?

From The Street:

Wednesday's drop in crude oil -- and the metals -- came after the Energy Department reported an unexpected rise in U.S. inventories of gasoline and oil in the latest week. In recent action, crude oil for June delivery was dropping $1.46 at $73.15 a barrel.

But the standoff between Western countries and Iran, the world's fourth-largest producer of crude oil, continue to provide support both for crude oil and gold. The precious metal acts as a hedge against inflation and as a safe-haven asset amid geopolitical uncertainties.

Someone tell me, WHAT genuine geopolitical uncertainty is there in the world today that hasn't been around for the last fifty or so years, since the Iran-contra affair? It's not as if the world is any less safe today because of terrorism: terrorist networks have just been replaced by other terrorist networks which have become dormant. Has everyone forgotten about the USSR "standoff" too? This was a lot more serious than the standoff between Iran and the west: if western countries really needed to, they have the military power to shut Tehran down overnight.

All-time-high commodity prices in light of geopolitical uncertainty is ludicrous when you think about the reality of it. If this is genuinely a major driver for the rally in commodity prices (and I don't think it is as much as China's growth, and even here there are strong signs that this is only being kept at its current rate by foreign investment) then it's only a matter of time before we'll start seeing bargain-basement prices for raw metals and oil.