Friday, August 18, 2006

Who Will Answer on August 22nd?

Iran says they will "answer" on August 22nd our demand they halt nuclear activities.

Their new and ongoing maneuvers (via Winds of Change) worry me given this:

The military exercise, involving 12 infantry regiments, is called "The Blow of Zolfaghar," in reference to a sword that belonged to Imam Ali, one of the most revered figures of Islam for Shi'ite Muslims. A majority of Iran's 70 million people are Shi'ite.

On Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said that Iran also plans to boost security patrols on its borders.

Could the Iranians be planning a nuclear test in the southeast of the country where the new maneuvers will take place? It does seem odd to me for them to be practicing with infantry so far from the main theater along the Iran-Iraq border. I assume by "regiments" this is British terminology for what we call battalions. That's still a division's worth, I might add.

This is worrying enough, but we also have reports North Korea may be readying a nuclear test.

Could these two close friends and surviving charter members of the Axis of Evil be planning a double test?

Probably not. Our experts insist we have ten years before Iran goes nuclear. And they've been consistent on this. Probably for the past ten years, at least.

If only North Korea fires up a nuke soon, I still say they should smoke 'em if they've got them.

Of course, North Korea has seemed ready to test before.

So who knows? Next week may be very interesing--in a holy crap, what do we do now sort of way--or not.