Mahdi Rising (This Time For Real)
Vol: 107 Issue: 25 Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Iran officially became a nuclear power over the weekend when it loaded the Russian-supplied nuclear fuel rods into its reactor in Bushehr and throwing the switch that took the plant online.
The event capped a years-long countdown to the dreaded point of no return.
The ‘point of no return’ is that time after which Israel or the West will be unable to take conventional military action against Iran without the risk of nuclear fallout or a nuclear response.
Now that the Bushehr reactor is online, a direct hit could release deadly radioactive fallout that could threaten the whole region, if not the whole Northern Hemisphere.
An Israeli strike is made even more complicated by the additional nuclear risk posed to Iran’s neighbors; Iraq, Turkey, UAE, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Russia, China, (Iran lives in a crowded neighborhood) etc.
So we can now tick off that ‘point of no return’ as being realized.
It is still difficult to determine with any degree of certainty if it is because of the Obama administration’s naiveté and incompetence, or if the administration is deliberately looking the other way.
After all, this is an administration that claims to be more plugged in and knowledgeable about Islam than any previous US administration in history.
The president once claimed America’s 0.7% Muslim population made it ‘one of the world’s largest Muslim countries.’ He called the Muslim call to prayer “one of the prettiest sounds on earth at sunset.”
His top terrorism advisor, John Brennan, feels qualified to teach Islamic doctrine, explaining on a number of occasions the true meaning of ‘jihad’ as being an ‘internal struggle’ and the true face of Islam being the peaceful, loving, kindly and respectful religion.
The planners of the Cordoba Mosque exemplify Brennan’s Islam.
The White House’s policies are so seemingly Islamocentric that fully one voter in four believes Obama is really a Muslim, despite the fact he denies it and does not openly follow Muslim teachings.
Obama doesn’t fast at Ramadan. He doesn’t interrupt his schedule five times a day to pray. He doesn’t observe any applicable Islamic laws that I can see. I don’t honestly believe Obama is a Muslim — any more than I believe he is a Christian.
In my view, if Obama worships anybody, it is the current President of the United States.
Obama continues to place his faith in economic sanctions against Iran. Consequently, I am still not certain if he is merely incredibly incompetent or so brilliant that he is pretending to be incompetent to mask his true agenda.
Neither possibility is particularly comforting, under the circumstances. I can’t discern what his true agenda really is. I only know it isn’t to advance the doctrine of American exceptionalism.
On June 9th, the Five Permanent Members of the Security Council, the US, Russia, France, the UK and China voted unanimously to impose an even more draconian series of economic sanctions on Iran.
Together with Germany the five countries are often referred to as the P5+1 countries, which try to negotiate with Iran as a united block.
So how’s that working out?
Well, Russia signed on to the sanctions regime in June and over the weekend, it supplied Tehran with nuclear fuel despite the global outcry. But that’s not the worst of it.
Iran says that of the P5-1 countries, only one nation has actually decreased the level of trade since the imposition of the latest round of sanctions.
Only one. Which?
Russia.
Assessment:
For its part, Israel has called developments in Iran “unacceptable” but despite intense rumors of an imminent military strike, Israel appears increasingly ready to consider accepting the unacceptable.
The US also called it unacceptable, but the Obama administration has accepted all kinds of unacceptable things it said it would never accept — like North Korea’s growing nuclear stockpile or Iranian or North Korean proliferation in the Arab Middle East.
Evidently, nobody in Tehran or Moscow really cares what Obama thinks is acceptable.
Noted an editorial in the Washington Times:
“The cliche of the day from the Obama administration is that “Iran’s nuclear clock has slowed,” but this would be news to the mullahs. Iran is producing enough weapons-grade material to make a bomb every nine months, and this rate is accelerating. In February, the Islamic republic began enriching uranium to higher and more dangerous levels than it had previously. There is no evidence that Iran’s technical capacity to make nuclear weapons has diminished, the strategic logic of nuclear weapons has not changed, and Tehran’s desire to pursue regional hegemony is undiminished. Absent solid evidence to the contrary, the notion that Iran is moving less rapidly toward its nuclear goals is simply the O Force’s hope masquerading as change.”
“The new Iranian drone bomber, which looks strikingly like a modified version of a Nazi V-1 rocket, was hailed by Tehran in Orwellian terms as “an ambassador of death for the enemies of humanity, [which] has a main message of peace and friendship.” Iranian drones are an increasing threat. In March, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in congressional testimony that Iranian drones are “a concern because it is one of these areas where, if they chose to – in Iraq, in Afghanistan – they could create difficulties for us.” The Tehran Times gloated that Mr. Gates was just “envious” of Iran’s drone program.”
Iran has stopped pretending that the quest for nuclear power is a peaceful one; the day before it flipped the nuclear switch it announced it successfully tested a new missile, the Qiam-1, which launched with the words ‘al Mahdi’ on its side.
The word Qiam means ‘rising’ and so the message of “Mahdi Rising” rings through loudly and clearly.
The Mahdi is a reference to the 12th Imam, a mystical figure in Islamic eschatology who will awaken from the state of ‘occultation’ he been in since the 7th century.
The role of the Mahdi is to lead a victorious Muslim jihad against the West that will usher in a period of Islamic-ruled paradise on earth.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a True Believer in the Mahdi rising from his state of occultation and said openly and repeatedly that he believes that he (Ahmadinejad) was called by Allah to start the conflict that will bring about the Mahdi rising.
So the symbolism behind al-Mahdi Qiam was not lost on the Israelis, the Europeans, or the Muslim world. About the only one that doesn’t seem to get it is the Obama administration.
The day after Iran’s Mahdi Qiam was announced, Iran and Russia jointly thumbed their noses at the West and flipped on the Bushehr reactor.
The following day, Iran unveiled its new “Ambassador of Death” — an unmanned, long range drone bomber capable of delivering nuclear warheads anywhere in the Middle East or Europe.
“The scope of Iran’s reaction will include the entire the earth,” said Ahmadinejad. “We also tell you — the West — that all options are on the table.”
According to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the main message of the Ambassador of Death is peace and friendship. Honest.
“The jet, as well as being an ambassador of death for the enemies of humanity, has a main message of peace and friendship,” said Ahmadinejad at the inauguration ceremony, which fell on the country’s national day for its defense industries.
(“Hello? I am the new Iranian Ambassador of Death, here to deliver a message of peace and friendship. And death.”)
This morning, Iran reported the test fire of another new missile, the Fateh-110 with an advanced guidance system.
The White House responded by expressing its willingness to engage Iran in “constructive dialogue.”
That’s a great idea! I’m sure Iran has an ambassador all fueled up and waiting to engage at a moment’s notice.
Omegaletter 