Der Fuhrer must be squirming in the river Styx. Here are Semites, Arab and Jew, united in pitching one Aryan nation against the other.
Mustafa Alani, a military analyst at Dubai's Gulf Research Center, captured the general Arab mood over Tehran recently.
"If the Security Council imposes restrictions on Iran, these (Gulf Arab) countries will be happy to join those sanctions or boycott against Iran."
That's just days away, by latest calculation, though those deadlines for Iran keep getting stretched because never in history has one nation held an entire world to ransom without those conventional qualifications like a strong military, economic or technical muscle. This, after all, is the birthplace of Purim, where an endangered minority managed to turn the tables all of a sudden.
Still sanctions will bite.
Among the top five oil exporting nations, Iran is the only one with a major budget deficit. Sanctions would be more than a kick in the teeth. It provokes hunger, anger and accidents.
If an accident happens, God only would know who drew first blood. The United States -- post-Korean war -- had fallen for every short-term interventionist trap the world could offer. It's neo-liberal, free market fandango at the expense of democracy in Latin America and elsewhere have been blunders of such colossal proportions - and loss of lives - that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had to publicly refurbish Uncle Sam's new benign foreign policy recently
"The United States has no trouble, no difficulty, dealing with countries from either side of the political spectrum," assured Rice just before attending the March inauguration ceremony of Chilean President-elect Michelle Bachelet in Valparaiso. She cited Chile and Brazil as leftist-oriented governments which enjoyed good ties with Washington. "The issue for us is that when you're elected democratically that you govern democratically."
Fair enough. US citizens are asking the same of their current president and people elsewhere are still seeking the mere privilege of asking the same.
Let's hope it's not too late. For Latin America still views the US with deep suspicion. Hugo Chavez has not ceased taunting Uncle Sam with his muleta. There are just too many of them being flailed on the global arena, with too few bulls available for the show.
After Osama bin Laden kicked off the game on 9/11, the bulls veered off their objective and geography to perform a bloodsport in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, Iran may get into the game.
Bulls don't die in this sport; people and soldiers do. The chickenhawks and longhorns will indeed be safe in Crawford (Texas!), Pennsylvania Avenue, and some cavern in Waziristan, where, a bearded goat often appears for an Internet show, bleating and gloating over the gored and slain. It has been ruminating this way for the past five years, regurgitating its cuds in peace, and possibly perplexed by the war on terror supposedly unleashed in its name.
Time to separate the goats from the sheep, and stop this charade?
Sounds like a passage from the Good Book but it is our misfortune that the United States and Iran are now led by messianic poseurs, each eager to hasten the return of either the Savior or the Imam Mahdi. But not before one almighty Armageddon both feel to have a prophetic role in fulfilling.
The heavy thuds of a stampede are afoot and it behooves us to rally for peace. At least some of us.
Let us hope both parties chicken out in time, or limit their duels to nothing more than a diplomatic cock-fight.
