The Friday Furo Questus

So how about some more Romney news?

Just kidding. I think three posts in two days is sufficient.

Questus Furore - No Peace At Christmas
Unfortunately, Iranian President Ahmadinejad has not been filled with Christmas, Hanukkah, or even Ramadan spirit.

Last week, he said that Israel should be moved to Europe. This week, he questioned whether the Holocaust even happened. (Let me help you with that one, sir - get your sorry a** on a plane, fly to Poland. Ask the Poles to take you to Auschwitz. That should help. Of course, you would have to actually do something...) Mark Steyn has more on this madman, and Cox and Forkum sum it up nicely here.

And this guy wants nukes.

As you might imagine, the Israelis are more than a little twitchy about this, and are trying to figure a way to perform a repeat of their Osirak raid. But the odds are against them - the Iranians have learned from the Iraqi experience, and dispersed their nuclear facilities across the country. But the Israelis are masters of the creative application of combat power.

More importantly, the Israelis feel alone. The U.S. and Europe are doing little, at least in the public eye, to dissuade Iran from its nuclear ambitions. As Saul Singer wrote in National Review Online last Monday, Israel will act in its own defense - but it would prefer that the international community would step in and solve it peacably.

America has a stake in this as well: keeping nukes out of terrorist hands, keeping nukes out of the hands of rogue nations, protecting what he have so far achieved in Iraq, and keeping American soldiers safe. A military action by Israel will prompt a war; it is illogical to believe Iran would not retaliate in some form. And Iraq and the Americans in it will be caught in the middle.

A full-court press by the US and Europe is needed, and now. It would be ideal to solve this diplomatically, but all sides should be aware that all options are on the table, including military.

Recommended Reading
VDH: "Lancing the Boil."

Joshua E. London: "America's Earliest Terrorists."

Jay Nordlinger: "Impromptus."

Jack Dunphy: "The Moral Chasm."

Patrolling The Front
We have launched a new feature, RomneyWatch. It will be a permanent link, and currently is listed under "House Recommendations" on the link list to the right.

Jamo has been talking about gold on The Jamoblog, and I've been talking volcanoes and other esoterica at The Pacific Slope.

We are also psyched to go see U2 live in concert at the Delta Center tomorrow night. Just so you know.

Otherwise, nothing to see here. Move along.

Thought of the Week
"But complacency is dangerous in the shadowy war now being waged against us. It is a war this country has prosecuted with an energy and reach that has surprised those, friend and foe alike, who thought America would do little more than initiate criminal proceedings again, and wait for the next blow."
Paul Greenberg

Churchill Quote of the Week
"One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half."
Sir Winston Churchill