Now those crazy Iranians supposedly are feeding uranium hexafluoride into a centrifuge enrichment cascade, a key step toward producing a nuclear bomb. The good news is that, unlike the Iraqis, they are making it extremely difficult for the civilized world to ignore their nakedly hostile intentions. The prospect of having to face down a nuclear threat from these lunatics puts one in mind of The Firebugs, a satirical 1950s play by Max Frisch in which a man realizes that the two boarders in his attic are the same guys who have already burned down much of the town. Sepp and Willi are not very subtle as they cheerily go about their business, moving oil drums, fuses and such into the attic. The play of course ends with one of them asking the landlord, Biedermann, for a match.

“Surely,” Russia will reply to Iran when the time comes. Actually, Russian has been so very eager to conduct nuclear business with Iran that we shouldn’t be surprised to learn at some point that the world’s reigning troublemaker already possesses a useful quantity of weapons-grade plutonium. We can only guess about China’s involvement, but it is not comforting to see the Chinese pulling out all the stops to defend their diplomatically deranged, petro-rich new friend. China has argued unconvincingly against U.N. sanctions and sees Iran’s removal of security seals from several nuclear facilities as having been within the law. Kim Il-Jong would no doubt agree.

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Channeling Hitler

Although in all of his recent public pronouncements Iran’s president appears to be channeling Hitler, it is fortunate for the world that Ahmadinejad does not have at his disposal even a tiny fraction of the Fuhrer’s pre-war firepower. But that doesn’t mean Iran is going to roll over if and when diplomatic efforts give way, as appears increasingly likely, to more bluntly coercive tactics.

One would surmise that Ahmadinejad has read not only Mein Kampf, but Sun Tzu as well. From The Art of War, #21:  “If the enemy is superior in strength, evade him.” It has of course been widely reported that Iran’s bomb labs and centrifuges lie scattered across the country in as many as 300 sites, many so deeply bunkered that nothing short of a nuclear blast could be expected to rattle their contents.

Khrushchev blinked in 1962, fortunately, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that the mullahs who control Ahmadinejad will not be so easily intimidated. Khrushchev after all was sane, and the men who sat on the Politburo were not wild-eyed mullahs. We can only pray that our leaders will make the right call here, since there is every possibility that Iran is not bluffing, as Russia was. Assuming the Iranians are able to dispel all doubts about this, a time may come when the West will find it necessary to channel the deviousness and calculating cruelty of Stalin into the project of pacifying so crazed and dangerous an enemy. And if that doesn't work, channel...the Enola Gay?