Ahmadinejad, Emperor Nero & Great Fire of Rome

Photo: The Middle East Interest


Ahmed Al-Rabei of Asharq Alawsat has a refreshing look at the Iranian jigsaw puzzle and the craziness of Mahmood, The Mercurial. Excerpted segments below:

The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has come to resemble a young child playing with a dangerous toy. On a daily basis he issues a new statement about this new toy, namely, "the nuclear bomb". One day he is celebrating the use of the centrifugation process, another day he announces the 'national nuclear day' for the Islamic Republic of Iran and on another day, he rejects nuclear inspection in protection of "the dignity" of the republic!

(snip)

President Ahmadinejad has a real weapon, namely the 50 billion dollars that Iran had obtained in the past year through the surge in oil prices. However, unemployment and poverty rates are on the rise and those billions are aimed at companies and deals with Russia and Korea to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has the opportunity to present itself as a force for peace to its neighbors and the world in order to gain everyone's respect and create an appropriate climate for investment and development, yet it continues to search for "divine victory" in Lebanon, militarize militias in Iraq and spread Shiism from the mountains of Yemen to Tajikistan in an attempt that Iran knows will not be successful.

Assuming that Ahmadinejad now owns a nuclear bomb and that missiles are capable of efficiently carrying it, what would he do with it? Does he want to create a balance of terror with Israel so that he could negotiate with Israelis? This would be impossible as he does not believe in peace with Jews in the first place! Will he shell Israel with his bomb, hoping that his nuclear Islamic bomb would kill the Jews of Israel and at the same time spare the lives of millions of Muslim and Christian Palestinians in the occupied territories and within the Green Line?! Does he believe that the world would just sit and watch if he uses the nuclear weapon or does he forget that the Iranian people would be the first victims of such action?!

The biggest problem is that the Iranian president disregards the prospect of a large-scale military strike on Iran, which is a major strategic error. There are two aircraft carriers in the region as well as decisive firepower. It is not true that the United States cannot act because of its status in Iraq; in fact perhaps the opposite is more accurate.

Everyday, the world awakes to President Ahmadinejad's dangerous games of which he does not realize their consequences. We all fear that the political messages that the Iranian president conveys to the Iranian public would make him forget the reality of the international situation itself, hence embroiling himself and the Iranians just as others did before him.

Yesterday's edition of World Tribune.com contains this urgent headline:

"U.S. still preparing cruise missile strike on Iran"

According to Russian military analysts interviewed by the publication, the U.S. is still planning to strike Iran, possibly in a matter of weeks. A similar assessment has also been offered by French military sources, who recently told a London-based Arabic newspaper that the United States will probably attack Iran sometime this year.

we saw many of the same claims about a year ago, in separate articles published by the Washington Post and the New Yorker. The fact is the U.S. has plans for attacking every country in the world even Canada.

Obviously, the difference this time around is the U.S. naval build-up in the gulf, and the continuing escalation in the Iranian nuclear conference. The sustained presence of three carriers in the Persian Gulf might suggest that something really is up, but we'll see about that shortly. The USS Eisenhower and its escorts have been operating in the region since last fall, and are scheduled to leave station sometime this month. They would be replaced by the Nimitz carrier group, which would remain in the area, along with a second carrier (USS John C. Stennis) which arrived a few weeks ago. If the Eisenhower's remains on station into May, that could be a sign of escalation toward a potential strike against Iran. While the nuclear-powered carrier can steam almost indefinitely in the gulf, an extended deployment would require extensive replenishment for its crew, the embarked air arm and its conventionally-powered escorts.



Mahmoud is, indeed, playing with fire and he is going to take the whole nation down with him reminscent of Nero the Roman emperor who set Rome on Fire for political gains.

It is said that Nero being hated by his people and extremely unpopular, decided to burn Rome to the ground for political intent and expediency (or perhaps sheer amuzement).

He began a rather large relief measure; he housed citizens in the remaining public buildings and his own gardens, built temporary shelters, imported food and water, and lowered the price of food. However, by this time rumours were already beginning that he started the fire himself. He is also known for having set fire to peoples' houses and then buying them from their owners.

Tragically, Mahmood and those occupying Iran seem to have been studying Nero's game plan and will be following in Nero's footsteps, soon. At this point, though, a Navy-led attack against Iran is far from certain. The U.S. is keeping its military options open, and the criminal mullahs occupying Iran keep guessing

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