The situation with Iran is advancing in curious ways. Anyone would be able to prescribe a shrewder policy for the Iranians than the one that they are following — i.e. a shrewder policy would be one of continued soft statements and apparent (but not actual) willingness to compromise that would help keep the Europeans, the United States, Russia and China divided. Instead, they basically say, “We’re going to nuke Israel and if anyone tries to stop us, we’ll nuke them too. Don’t like it?? Come and get us!” Something’s missing from this equation. People tend to put it all at the door of “kooky” President Ahmadinejad, but he is clearly not out on his own anymore — he has the backing of the Supreme Leader and has consolidated his power throughout the Iranian leadership. Their plans, motivations and hatreds are not what’s hard to understand; it’s their seemingly self-defeating and overwhelming confidence that leads one to suspect that there’s something we don’t know. Well, history has a way of connecting the dots, so I guess we just have to wait, huh? Some of the recent comments:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran appeared to threaten Israel with a nuclear attack yesterday when he described it as a “rotten, dried tree” that would be annihilated by “one storm”.

In his most vitriolic and anti-semitic attack to date, Mr Ahmadinejad warned that Israel faced imminent destruction.

While he did not refer explicitly to nuclear weapons, his reference to the “one storm” that would do away with Israel was seen as a code for nuclear Armageddon.

Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons [Ed: source for this statement of fact?] but Teheran is widely believed to be bent on developing its own nuclear military capability, in defiance of international protocols and peace treaties.
…
“Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation,” [Ahmadinejad] said. “The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm.”

And he poured scorn on the established history of the Holocaust, saying that an atrocity committed in Europe should be settled in Europe.

“If such a disaster is true, why should the people of this region pay the price? Why does the Palestinian nation have to be suppressed and have its land occupied?”

The land of Palestine, he said, referring to the British mandated territory that includes all of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, “will be freed soon”.

He did not say how this would be achieved, but insisted to the audience of at least 900: “Believe that Palestine will be freed soon.”
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Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards yesterday warned the US not to attack the Islamic republic, saying that American troops in Iraq and the region were vulnerable.

General Yahya Rahim Safavi, one of Teheran’s most powerful figures, said of the US: “You can start a war but it won’t be you who finishes it.

“The Iranian armed forces are totally ready to defend the country. If the Americans attack Iran, they will be making a second strategic error after their attack against Iraq.”

The cat’s in the well and the servant is at the door.
The drinks are ready and the dogs are going to war.

The cat’s in the well, the leaves are starting to fall
The cat’s in the well, leaves are starting to fall
Goodnight, my love, may the lord have mercy on us all.

(sample from Albuquerque, New Mexico, 4 nights ago.)

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