Met With Full Force?

Whatever could that mean? Um, perhaps that Israel should stand down, not threaten other innocent nations who mean it no harm ... perhaps? Aggressive nations' reputations go before them. And courageous nations stand up to aggressors. In thisAhmadinejad -through-the-looking-glass scenario, Persians are stout, good-hearted citizens of the world, and Israelis are ... well, you know, untrustworthy filthy pigs. Iran's Koran says so.

And in a spirit of celebratory triumph, two events of world-shattering moment are announced. The anniversary of the removal of the Shah of Iran and the ascension to the Peacock Throne of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Where once the Shah sat now sits the availing triumvirate of The Revolutionary Guard Corps, Supreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in that very particular order. This is a very crowded throne.

But the big news, the big 'punch in the mouth' for the rest of the world is finally, firmly, proudly announced: nuclear-tipped warheads coming your way. Don't like it? Well, too bad, because the Republic of Iran takes its orders from no world body. It takes its orders from the Supreme Being, He who sits in judgement upon all humankind because it has not submitted to His irresistible Will.

This will all change with the appearance of the Hidden Mahdi. Who will guide the world to Armageddon, bringing Paradise to Earth so that noble, faithfulShi'a may live in peace and harmony in a world which has been rid of Sunni Muslims, Christians, Jews and all those other pestilential peoples worshipping false gods. Since this blessed event will shortly occur, what does it matter, unleashing nuclear winter on Earth?

Some of this can be accelerated for greater, more imminent gratification, President Ahmadinejad confided to Syria's President Bashir Assad, an intimate in the struggle for ascendancy over the evil powers of the world headed by senior and junior Satans, for "If the Zionist regime initiates a military operation, then it must be resisted with full force to put an end to it once and for all".

Modestly, however; for its hundreds and thousands of rallying supporters, the regime insists it has use for nuclear energy for simple purposes; energy and the production of medical nuclear isotopes. Were they to wish to produce nuclear warheads they could, but they choose in the greatness of their hearts, not to. And the people cheer and roar their approval.

And since contact with the outside world has been handily cut off for the nonce, that population knows little of the contradiction between what they hear: "The Iranian nation is brave enough that if one day we wanted to build nuclear bombs, we would announce it", and what is nuanced to the international community as a sly suggestion of further attainment of the government's key goal.

Persuading Iranians that the international community stands ready to invade and assault them creates a nice little diversion from the inconvenient reality that internal dissent is getting really, truly to be a huge headache and a nuisance to the administration. All the more so that the violent crackdown, the imprisonments-in-the-night, the swift executions, theprotester-bashing is aired abroad.

And may eventually impinge more deeply on the greater consciousness of the population. Who may yet have reason to grieve the passing of the era that gave them freedoms they no longer possess. For the time being, however, the old familiar refrains orchestrated by that triumvirate will continue to rent the air with "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

Allah forgive them, for they know not what they do.