This article is the best articulation of what I've been feeling about the mess in the Middle East. I do not agree with the solution, but I think it draws an interesting parallel between Nasser and Ahmaninejad, which I think is essentially correct. I think, like Nasser (from my reading of him back in my college days when I had to write a paper on the Aswan Dam for a course on the Middle East...packed that year due to the first Gulf War, I might add), Ahmaninejad has designs of conquest. I think the notion of a "crescent" of Shiite persuasion is very real, and what the Bush administration (and the douchebags in the PNAC) doesn't seem to understand, or want to admit, is that by throwing all of our cards onto the table in Iraq, cards that have turned out to be a very bad hand, the likes of Ahmaninejad are now emboldened because they know we're probably not going to send troops over there. And Kim Jong-Il is playing the role of a Sideshow Bob quite predictably. The only thing missing here is the Cold War backdrop.

Need any more proof that Ahmaninejad has designs on Iraq, and the Middle East at large? Due to the vacuum we've created, guess who's stepping in?

Hmmmm, smells like 1979. Interestingly, the author does not pick up on the fact that Khatami was considered a reformer, someone, perhaps, that the U.S. felt a little friendlier with. Remember when the Shah was given refuge in the U.S. for health concerns? I can't help but wonder if Khatami's visit is something along similar lines. I'm guessing he's the odd man out over there given the current regime.

I don't put a lot of stock in the right wing meme "Middle East Nazis" that's being floated around. But Ahmaninejad is someone we should be very worried about. Contrary to what the neoconservatives might think, he is emboldened by our actions in Iraq. Remember the "peace through strength" argument that was bandied about during the first Gulf War? We've shown that we're overextended and Iran is moving to exploit it. Things are bad now over there, and they're going to get a hell of a lot worse. And I have no faith that the Bush Administration knows what it's doing. They're making up shit as they go along.