• published: 05 Feb 2013
• views: 2145

2014 Breaking News Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected John Kerry's warning against a growing boycott movement against the Jewish state should peace talks with the Palestinians fail http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-premier-rejects-kerry-39-boycott-warning-112837984.html 2013 General James Mattis, the commander of Centcom, told Congress today that sanctions on Iran are NOT working and said the U.S. needed to "have OTHER OPTIONS READY." Short version: I agree sanctions are not working. I do not agree the current Iranian leadership can be dissuaded by a "purely cost-benefit ratio." I have deep respect for General Mattis as a military leader. Thus, I would encourage him to consider the role eschatology is playing in Tehran's calculus. Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad and their inner circle of advisors are not being driven by normal geopolitical and economic calculus, but rather by a Shia Islamic End Times theology. They believe the End of Days is at hand. They believe their messiah known as the Twelfth Imam or the "Mahdi" is coming soon. They believe that the way to hasten the coming of the Mahdi is to ANNIHILATE ISRAEL (which they call the "Little Satan") and USA (which they call the "Great Satan.") Such eschatology requires Iran's leaders to acquire nuclear weaponry and the means to deliver it in order to please Allah and their coming messiah and king. As a result, the international is unlikely to convince them to disobey their most-deeply held religious beliefs through diplomacy or sanctions. A credible military threat might work, but we're nearly out of time. Actual military action may soon be the only option. No one wants a war. I don't. But we don't want to have a genocidal cult to obtain and use nuclear weapons. "Sanctions are not preventing Iran's nuclear progress, the US Army commander in the Middle East told Congress on Tuesday," reports the Times of Israel. "A simple 'No, sir' was General James Mattis's response when asked whether 'the current diplomatic and economic efforts to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear capability' were working. 'I think we have to continue sanctions, but have other options ready,' said Mattis, of the Central Command, to the Armed Services Committee during an official hearing." "Mattis said Iran could be convinced to alter its course by 'a purely cost-benefit ratio,' but at the moment, he noted, the 'nuclear industry continues' apace, despite sanctions," reports the Times. "'Between economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and encouragement of behavior that does not cost them such a degree of political support that they end up losing power, there may yet be a way to bring them to their senses,' the general stated. Such means to bring Iran 'to its knees,' Mattis commented in response to another question, did not necessarily entail 'open conflict,' but a military operation is 'one of the options that I have to have prepared for the president.' Mattis's statements came in the wake of a fresh effort on the part of the West to curb Iran's nuclear program via diplomatic means, and echoed comments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday." March 2013 Ahmadinejad wants to visit Gaza www.drudgereport.com www.infowars.com February 26th 2013 Breaking News Ahmadinejad arrives in Cairo for 1st visit by an Iranian leader since 1979 New political tremors rippled through the epicenter today as Iranian Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a Radical Shia Muslim has been quoted of the destruction of Israel with plans to wipe Israel of the map arrived in Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, a Radical Sunni Muslim. This is the first time an Iranian leader has visited Egypt since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Is this the beginning of a true rapprochement between the two extremist leaders of the major Shia and Sunni powers? If so, the implications for regional security -- and notably for Israeli security and U.S. interests in the region. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed the crisis in Syria with his Egyptian counterpart Tuesday in the first visit by an Iranian leader to Cairo in more than three decades, marking a historic departure from years of frigid ties between the regional heavyweights," reports the Associated Press. "Ahmadinejad's three-day visit, which is centered around an Islamic summit, is the latest sign of improved relations between the countries since the 2011 uprising ousted Egypt's longtime ruler President Hosni Mubarak and brought an Islamist government to power in Cairo. Such a visit would have been unthinkable under Mubarak, who was a close ally of the U.S. and shared Washington's deep suspicions of Tehran. Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi gave Ahmadinejad a red-carpet welcome on the tarmac at Cairo airport, shaking the Iranian's hand and exchanging a kiss on each cheek as a military honor guard stood at attention."