The Moose makes a geo-political new years prediction.
Unless the world gets serious about the Iranian nuclear threat, Israel will take the matter into its own hands in the coming year. Last week, Mohammed El Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency sent out the alarm that if Iran resumed its uranium enrichment program it would be only a few months before Iran had the bomb. It appears that the belief that the Teheran mullahs were still a decade away from going nuclear was a wee bit optimistic.
The European Union has been notably ineffective in slowing down the Iranian rush to the bomb. And despite the Bush Administration's admonition about the "axis of evil" a few years back, the Bushies seem not to have a clue about how to deal with this threat. If they have a strategy to deal with this threat, it is not apparent to anyone.
Unfortunately, the Democrats are not demanding accountability from the Administration on this one. Here's an instance where the Democrats can establish that they are stronger than the Bushies on national security.
The moral equivalency crowd will ask why all the bother about the Iranians and the bomb?After all, a bunch of nations have the big one. Well, some view Iran a bit differently. You see, it is ruled by a Jew-hating extremist nut-job who hasn't been shy about his stated intention of wiping Israel off the map. Last week, President Ahmadinejad was struck by a moment of generosity and suggested that the Israeli Jews just be relocated to Europe (he overlooked that a sizable portion of Israel came as refugees from Muslim countries).
Mark Steyn writes,
"We assume, as Neville Chamberlain, Lord Halifax and other civilized men did 70 years ago, that these chaps may be a little excitable, but come on, old boy, they can't possibly mean it, can they? Wrong. They mean it but they can't quite do it yet. Like Hitler, when they can do it, they will -- or at the very least the weedy diplo-speak tells them they can force the world into big concessions on the fear that they can."
Meanwhile, the Israelis are playing down a report that appeared in the London Times this weekend that they have plans to attack Iran in the spring if the international community can't put a halt to the nuke program.
"Israeli officials declined to respond to the report directly, but Sharon's spokesman Ra'anan Gissin did say, "Israel has no intention of launching an attack against Iran, definitely not before all diplomatic options have been exhausted."
Of course, the Israelis would not show their hand on this sensitive national security matter. But suffice it to say, they are not going to remain idle if the Iranian leader obtains the weapon that can achieve what his rhetoric threatens.
Over two decades ago, the Israeli Air Force went on a peace mission when they eliminated the Iraqi nuclear threat at Osirak. While the world naps, the Israelis will not sit on their hands - however, their mission may be far more difficult, if not next to impossible, this time.
It would be good if the world would awaken to the evil that is in its midst. What good is the United Nations if it cannot prevent the potential elimination of a member state? Where are the serious sanctions on the Iranian regime?
Worse than the axis of evil is the axis of indifference. -- | 
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