We have noted internal divisions in Iran over the nuclear issue. This story from the Jan. 23 New York Times provides another piece of the puzzle, and greater nuance than the corporate media generally display on the Tehran regime:

TEHRAN — Iran is barring 38 nuclear agency inspectors from entering the country in retaliation for a United Nations resolution aiming to curb Iran’s nuclear program, a senior Iranian lawmaker said Monday.

Israeli historian Benny Morris, once seen as a post-Zionist dissident, produces a terrifying piece of war propaganda. Far be it from us to be optimistic, but this scenario strikes us as a long shot. Is Ahmedinejad likely to still be in power five years hence, even if the fear-mongers do not succeed in prompting military intervention against his regime? Even if he is, and even if he really is lusting to exterminate the Jews (rather than shrewdly playing a card to solidify his internal support), would he really be so sanguine about committting genocide against Muslims (even Sunnis)—and going down in history as the man who destroyed the al-Aksa Mosque? And even if the answer to all those questions is "yes," is he so fanatical as to risk massive US retaliation, which strikes us as a certainty? (The fact that Morris can describe the current hyper-interventionist posture of the US as "isolationist" indicates how far out of wack he is.) In fact, Israel would likely launch a pre-emptive strike as soon as Tel Aviv figured out what he was planning—and, despite his protestations that Israel would be paralyzed and the US apathetic, a pre-emptive srtike seems to be what Morris is really arguing for. Which brings us to the most salient point: Doesn't Morris realize that aggression by Israel would only make its own destruction that much more likely? Talk about creating what you fear... Originally published in German by Die Welt, Jan. 6 (translation received via e-mail):

A telling story by Marc Perelman for New York's Jewish weekly The Forward Jan. 12 (links and emphasis added):

A campaign to convince Iran’s 25,000 Jews to flee the country has stalled, with most opting to stay in their native homeland despite President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial and anti-Israeli speeches.

We've argued repeatedly that strategic imperatives related to global control of oil are propelling the US towards intervention in Iran. But it is looking more and more like Israel could throw the first punch. Tragically, the bellicose Israelis seem to believe that this will be in Israel's national interest—seemingly blind to the inevitable global backlash and escalation of nightmarish chaos throughout the Middle East. Worse still, pro-war Israeli commentators seem to view airstrikes against Iran as an assertion of Israeli independence from Washington—again blind to how they will merely be doing US imperialism's dirty work. Brigadier General (Res.) Oded Tira, the former Israeli Defense Forces chief artillery officer writes in a Dec. 30 commentary for Israel's YNet (emphasis added):

Scott Ritter is the latest to join the fast-growing chorus that would exculpate the petro-elites by blaming the Iraq adventure—and now the looming Iran intervention—on the Israel lobby. Supposed progressives like Democracy Now! are lapping it up. We will point out, even if nobody else does, that if Ritter's predictions were accurate, the US would have started bombing Iran in June 2005. A Dec. 29 book review by Nathan Guttman from New York's Jewish weekly The Forward:

What's really depressing about this opinion piece is that the writer really appears to believe his absurd thesis that Israel must assert its independence from the US by nuking Iran—whereas we have argued again and again and again that Israel is playing US imperialism's fool in preparing aggression against Iran. From the LA Times, Jan. 12 (link added):

We can only hope. How interesting that Iran's opposition lawmakers manifestly have more courage than Washington's Democrats. From the Italian news agency AKI, Jan. 9:

TEHRAN - Iranian reformist lawmakers have started collecting signatures in Parliament to demand the impeachment of the country's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So far, 38 signatures have been collected out of the 72 required to formally summon Ahmadinejad and request his impeachment. Noureddin Pirmouzen, a deputy with the reformist minority, says it is nonetheless "positive to question" the head of the executive branch.

In our last post about the Holocaust denail confab in Iran, we asked whether the rumors are true that anti-Zionist writer Norman G. Finkelstein is participating. Alan "torture could be justified" Dershowitz explores the question on the ostensibly liberal Huffington Post blog: