Ahmadinejad predicts the destruction of Israel, again
Is it a threat or a promise?
By AcademicElephant Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
During the second day of his conference convened to "debate" whether or not the Holocaust actually happened, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had this to say about the future of Israel:
"Israel is about to crash...when I said the Zionist regime must be wiped off, the Zionist media of course harshly blasted me, but everyone must know that just as the USSR disappeared, this will also be the fate of the Zionist regime, and humanity will be free...those who once supported the Zionist regime must know that every day that passes, this regime's interests are in danger, as well as their dignity. We recommend that as they authorized this regime, they should now 'fold' it. I hope that the Zionist regime's supporters will respond positively to this human invitation."
Read on...
Now we all know that Mr. Ahmadinejad has a well-deserved reputation as a hothead with a taste for incendiary rhetoric, so the temptation is to not take such rantings too seriously. But I admit I'm getting a little nervous. Mr. Ahmadinejad has been so aggressively vocal about his desire to eradicate Israel that he will shortly be in a position of needing to back up his words with actions or be revealed a paper tiger. And I think I may not be the only one who's concerned. There has been some buzz today about Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's "slip of the tongue" that suggested Israel is a nuclear power. Apparently it upsets some delicate sensibilities to acknowledge that Israel sits on a substantial nuclear arsenal--better to preserve the ambiguity and so the face of less-well armed Arab neighbors. And I understand how this state of affairs could be more comfortable for everyone. But I wonder if Mr. Olmert's statement was as inadvertent as everyone thinks. It seems to me that if there was ever a moment for Israel to point out the reality of this situation to Iran, it is now. Mr. Ahmadinejad may be pursuing his own nuclear weapons, but he doesn't have them, still less the capability to deliver them to Tehran. Yet. Can we blame Mr. Olmert for making the implied threat of Israel's nuclear power more explicit at this juncture, as Mr. Ahmadinejad predicts his country will "crash" and cease to exist? I can't, but still, as I said, it makes me increasingly nervous. It's as if the Middle East is a mountain of gunpowder, and the threatening words of a blowhard like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could act as the matches that ignite an inferno.
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Ahmadinejad predicts the destruction of Israel, again 3 Comments (0 topical, 3 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Today is another good day for Israel to strike. The day after Iran gets the nuke will be too late. And Iran will not be able to pursue the bomb with military installations and Tehran in smoking ruin.
Mr Ahmadinejad thinks he is a little Hitler, but it seems he did not get to the last chapter of that history book yet.
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master."
Ahmadinejad thinks he's Hitler but it's a passing similarity... he doesn't really have much power, and the clerics don't care for him too much. His rhetoric is more about domestic politics than anything else. There is no reason to think Iran's actual leaders are unaware of the concept of deterrence, which everyone else in the world has been able to grasp to date.
promises which he knows he can never keep.
His joke is getting tired.