The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been gripped by a growing verbal momentum in the past few weeks. In the middle of last week, he took pride in his country's success in enriching uranium - the admission ticket to the nuclear club; and at the end of the week, he devoted to Israel another in a long series of declarations of hate.
This time, Ahmadinejad accused Israel of posing a danger to the entire Muslim world, likened it to a dried and rotten tree, and promised that this tree "will be eliminated by one storm." It is not Ahmadinejad's style that is troubling, but rather what is behind it - for the storm the president of Iran is promising might be a nuclear one.
For the time being, the countering efforts are focused on the political channel. The representatives of the permanent members of the Security Council and Germany are scheduled to meet this week in Russia to coordinate their approach ahead of the United Nations debate on Iran's moves, which challenge the resolutions of the International Atomic Energy Agency. So far, the six leading powers have split into Western firmness (U.S.-British-French-German) versus Eastern appeasement (Russian-Chinese). Lengthy negotiations are expected, in which will be discussed - ostensibly within other frameworks, such as the G8 meeting of industrialized nations in Saint Petersburg this July - other topics as well, including the Middle East.
