Mideast Developments on Front Page Mag

Two very sobering articles in FrontPageMag today.

First, Kenneth Timmerman, in War Within Range, discusses the possible impact of an incapacitated Ariel Sharon and the fact that Sharon, himself, was perhaps the only brakes remaining on an Israeli government seeking to deny Iran nuclear capabilities by military strike.

Second, P. David Hornik talks about the other side of that tug of war, the Iranian leadership in Iran, and the World, at the Brink.

The news about Iran always gets worse. On Wednesday The Guardian reported on a “western intelligence assessment,”dated July 1, 2005, that “draws upon material gathered by British, French, German and Belgian agencies” and could seemingly shake even Western Europe out of its complacency and pacifism if that was still possible.

The Guardian says that according to the 55-page assessment, “the Iranian government has been successfully scouring Europe for the sophisticated equipment needed to develop a nuclear bomb. . . . Scientists in Tehran are also shopping for parts for a ballistic missile capable of reaching Europe, with”—directly quoting from the report’s conclusion—“import requests and acquisitions ... registered almost daily.”

The US and Israel have allowed the EU to waste away what little time leverage we ever had against the crazy Islam fanatics in Tehran, and now we are at the last stage of "preimminence," that fabled place in time where we feel we are still safe because we don't have an imminent threat, but also know that we don't want to have to endure an imminent one.

My take on Israel is that there will be no wait for an imminent threat status from Iran, and we might be no more than weeks away from an attack on Iran's missile sites and nuclear development areas. Meanwhile, Iran's President Ahmadinejad will continue to rattle his sword and flap his lips while Israel will inch closer and closer to launching the attack.

Very sobering indeed.