As far as I know, Crazy A is playing chicken with the international community. Now I don't go out of my way to give the international consensus a great deal of foresight, but El Baradei hasn't embarrassed himself lately. As Bush and everybody else who has spoken up says, Iran has passed the deadline to stop refining uranium.
Now there's nothing wrong with refining uranium. Lots of countries do it. Canada doesn't and they have nuclear reactors, so it's clearly possible to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without refining uranium. But Iran says it wants to do what it wants to do, and since it's quite possible to make electricity with enriched uranium, that's their story and they're sticking to it. But they're also sticking it to us by refusing to let El Baradei and his inspectors in to see exactly what he's up to.
Since nobody can see inside his basement, there very well may be a monster inside. We can't know, we can only presume. So what if he's trying to play us like Saddam? What if all Crazy A wants to do is provoke a pre-emptive strike at Natanz so he can then get Geraldo Rivera there to show the world all that's there is a smoking crater (and maybe some baby milk formula)?
I wouldn't put it past him. You have to have at least half a brain to insinuate yourself into the top of Iran. Nevertheless, the whole deal is very Cold War. Was there any doubt that when Ronald Reagan made similar claims about Star Wars that we were enemies of the Soviet Union? Granted, Hezbollah isn't quite a satellite nation, but the formula is rather familiar. Iran may very well want to be our new arch-nemesis, and so is fully engaged in subterfuge and provocation.
Now I'm going to throw a curveball, something I haven't heard anybody say, which folks ought to consider. Asia is on our side. Japan is the West. South Korea is the West. KL, Hong Kong, Singapore? They're all down with US. I mean say what you will about Israel. I'm not trying to buy an Israeli-mobile. But a Nissan Skyline? Yep. Do I like to eat kosher food? Not really, although I only eat Hebrew National hotdogs at home. Still, I'd much prefer kalbi, sushi and boba anyday. We have been geopolitically distracted by the nasty-ass hijinks of Saddam and Nasrallah and the Kidnapper turned King, Ahmadinejad, but let's not forget that this is still the era of the Pacific Rim. I'm a native Californian, and I grew up in a black and Japanese neighborhood. So we've got a fairly deep vibe over here and I'm here to remind you.
So Crazy A's hocus-pocus may or may not materialize. Hell, Iran may even be able to make cars and trucks and boats and missiles, not as much as when AQ Khan was dealing but some. But they're not about to match up with what the Japanese and Koreans can make in electronics.
China and Russia are still way more important, and I really wish they would both give us some more positive signals. But I suspect that they're going to just keep chuckling because they have no compunction in opening up a can of jackbooted whoopass when it comes to domestic terror, and both of them would like to call us hypocrites if it came to that on our soil. So they'll let a few little missiles slip through the cracks, and if they end up in Iran or Yemen, they don't care how that irks us.
But if Jihadism is successful in making our Asian trade dip, then I expect to hear some angry words from the Tigers.
Either way, there's a hole in the ground in Iran that's got a lot of people uncomfortable, and for good reason. It contains either a slap in the face or a beheading, but there's no question it's aimed at our head. Now's the time to amp up our coalition, because there looks to be showdown in our future.
Recent Comments