Disrespecting Mohammed is one thing, but this is beyond the pale

iowahawk: Seething Midwest Explodes Over Lombardi Cartoons

I feel an embassy-burning coming on. Money Quote;

"Those who sow the curds of blasphemy will reap the cheddar wheel of destruction.”

Now I see why New Zealand doesn't like Americans

'Bra fence' is a keeper, voters decide

What a complete dumbass that guy Prassinos is.

I've got a bad feeling about this...

Following a link in a short piece at YARGB lead me to more feelings of unease about Iran. Near the end of the article Herbert E. Meyer titles a chapter "It Isn’t Only Nukes."

Why is it, the more I learn about the capabilities and motivations of Ahmadinejad's Iran I'm reminded of Han Solo when he first sees the Death Star in the inital Star Wars movie. As his apprehension grows, he finally mutters "I've got a bad feeling about this." He tries to run away but finds he can't and is drawn in by forces beyond his control. This whole Iran thing strikes me that way. We're getting drawn into Ahmadinejad's apocolyptic fantasy bit by bit until the time comes when we will realize its too late to escape and we'll have to fight on a battlefield chosen by our enemy. Much like the Star Wars analogy, running away (if even possible) would be pointless. The evil out there which intends to do us harm will only grow stronger with more time.

Don't you miss the good old days of the Cold War?

Watching America once again points me in a useful direction, The Times Online Sunday edition carries an editorial by Gerard Baker. One line in particular caught my eye,

If Iran gets safely and unmolested to nuclear status, it will be a
threshold moment in the history of the world, up there with the Bolshevik
Revolution and the coming of Hitler. What the country itself may do with those
weapons, given its pledges, its recent history and its strategic objectives with
regard to the US, Israel and their allies, is well known. We can reasonably
assume that the refusal of the current Iranian leadership to accept the
Holocaust as historical fact is simply a recognition of their own plans to redefine the notion as soon as they get a chance (“Now this is what we call a
holocaust”).

He goes on to say that this isn't even the worst part of the whole problem. As they say, read it all.

Let the appeasing begin

From ITAR-TASS this morning,

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed doubts that the Board of
Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be able in
early February to submit the Iranian nuclear dossier to the UN Security
Council.

So the next cycle of stall, misdirect, bribe, recrimination, threaten, and negotiation, begins. Honestly, have none of these people raised children before? I have a five-year old and even my dim mind recognizes the pattern. In the meantime, Iran receives more time to harden and disperse their nuclear weapons program, buy more sophisticated air-defense systems, and make themselves pains in the ass generally.

Iran seeks Anti-Skyscraper Missiles

Iran Wants Direct Civilian Flights To The US

(hat tip to Ken via LGF)
This couldn't possibly end badly...

Everybody hates Mahmoud

BBC NEWS World Middle East Six killed in Iran bomb attacks

This might be the second (reported) attempt to kill our good friend Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Sure, he's irritated plenty of people but with him out of the picture would anything really change? I really rather doubt it but one can hope.

Thomas Holsinger makes the case for invading Iran now

Summation quote:

All the reasons for invading Iraq apply doubly to Iran, and with far greater
urgency. Iran right now poses the imminent threat to America which Iraq did
not in 2003. Iran may already have some nuclear weapons, purchased from
North Korea or made with materials acquired from North Korea, which would
increase its threat to us from imminent to direct and immediate.

I admit that the idea Iran may already have nuclear weaponry has been a blind spot for me. Maybe that explains why Ahmadinejad has been talking so much smack lately. Maybe Bin Laden's latest announcement that new attacks were being prepared for America is connected. "The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your houses as soon as they are complete, God willing." Reuters carried that quote and I can't say that it made me feel any better.
Please do follow the link and read the whole piece. If you don't make a practice of reading the comments postings that go after particularly interesting articles then try it out. Lots of other good minds are out there thinking about these same things and most of them have something good to add to the discussion.

EU3 getting chapped with Iran.

Putin Urges Caution as Nations Debate How to Deal With Iran - New York Times

Its beginning to appear that the route of diplomacy with Iran is failing. Appeasement, bribery, and stern rebukes just aren't having the desired effect on Iran's nuclear ambitions. Referring the matter to the UN Security Council is generally the last stage of diplomacy. Judging from the past I predict failure again, but with a few more months gone past. Try as I might, I just can't think of any good resolution to this problem. Allowing Iran to make as many atomic bombs as they like is just plain foolish. Mahmoud "David Koresh" Ahmadinejad has a serious jones for the whole apocalypse theology thing and that just can't be good for any of us. He seems to embrace the national version of "suicide-by-cop" entirely too much. On the other hand, a military resolution is fraught with peril at every step. What a mess. In any event, it appears that Europe (or at least the EU3) have almost exhausted their seemingly unlimited patience. From the NYT;

Still, the diplomatic initiative is remarkable in that Britain, France and
Germany - the three countries that had forged a nuclear agreement with Iran in
November 2004 under which it froze most of its nuclear activities - are now in
lock-step with the United States.

Lock-step isn't how I'd describe it. (gratuitous shot at the NYT) I realize that our friends at the NYT can't really believe that GW Bush and Europe might have congruent interests and beliefs, but the evidence is right there. Anyway Europeans in general couldn't possibly sleep well thinking of Shahab-4s packing kilotons of whoop-ass pointed at them. European governments haven't been terribly popular with the radical Islamic crowd of late and lets not forget where the Crusades originated. I'm sure that Ahmadinejad remembers. I'm guessing that he would love to remind us all.
By the way, when the NYT originally posted this article, the headline read "Putin Urges Caution as Nations Debate How to Deal With Iraq." If I had a dollar for every time I made that mistake when ranting with my friends...

David Koresh, but with a country and atomic bombs

Independent Online Edition > Profiles

Just what we need, someone working on atomic weaponry who desires apocalyptic chaos. I'm glad that I don't live within Shahab range of Iran.