In the News Today

Ah, what is going on today...

Well, for starters, it seems that the palestinians keep truces with each other about as well as they do with Israel. From YNet News:

Gun battles erupted in the Gaza Strip on Thursday between Hamas gunmen and security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and at least six people were wounded in the violence that tested a 3-day-old ceasefire.

Isn't it amazing though, how inter-pali fighting "tests" a cease-fire, but sending a suicide bomber to Eilat, or shooting Qassam rockets at Sderot doesn't? Gotta love that editorial slant... Arutz Sheva does seem a bit more realistic on this one:

Hamas and Fatah terrorists renewed their bloody clashes in the streets of Gaza Thursday afternoon, ...

Six Palestinian Authority residents were wounded in the shootout...

More than 50 percent of PA residents believe that terrorists have escalated their street battles into a civil war, ...

And the Jerusalem Post reports an ominous development from Iran:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that Iran will celebrate the "stabilization" of its nuclear program as early as next week, a comment believed to mean Teheran will announce the start of installing 3,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.
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Last week, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said Iran intended to begin work in February on an underground facility for the centrifuges. "I understand that they are going to announce that they are going to build up their 3,000 centrifuge facility ... sometime next month," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said.

Two points here: El-Baradei's solution to the issue, as you may recall, is to put Iran in "timeout." I think there may be a reason why the UN don't get no respect in the world today...

The second point is this, from the article:

The status of the new centrifuges has been unknown because for the past month, Iran has repeatedly given contradictory statements. It is already behind schedule because Teheran had originally said last year that the installation would at least begin by the end of 2006.

We have no way of knowing how much of the Iranian bluster is bluff, rather like the situation with regard to Saddam Hussein before the current Iraq war. In each case, a violent government with a clear desire for mass destruction weapons and a history of using them, is trying to look stronger than it is. Saddam's bluff was called, and a dictator was removed. What will happen with Iran?

From YNet News:

The United States does not intend to strike Iran to force it to stop supplying Shi'ite groups with weapons technology to kill US troops in Iraq, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said in a radio interview broadcast on Thursday.

Burns said Washington believed tensions with Tehran could be resolved diplomatically, although "all options are on the table concerning Iran."

I don't think that anyone really believe diplomacy can get anywhere with Iran; they've been dragging the diplomatic game out, and making the EU look stupid, for three years now. It seems that the US is looking more toward the military option. From JPost:

The US was drawing up plans to attack sites where Iran is believed to be enriching uranium before President George W. Bush's candidacy comes to an end, the UK-based Times reported on Wednesday.

According to the Times, the Bush government has been inviting defense consultants and Middle East experts to the White House and Pentagon for tactical advice.

The Pentagon was reported to be considering ways for the US to destroy nuclear facilities such as Iran's main centrifuge plant at Natanz...

And, two days ago, another US Navy assault ship joined the 5th Fleet, which operates in the Persian Gulf:

A US Navy strike group led by the assault ship USS Bataan steamed through the Suez Canal on Tuesday on its way to join the buildup of American forces in the Middle East.
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The seven-vessel Bataan group includes 2,200 US Marines and sailors, helicopters and Harrier fighter jets, the Navy said in Bahrain.
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The Navy is in the midst of a regional buildup, with the group of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis on its way as well as 21,500 US soldiers being sent to Iraq. The carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is already in the region.
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The Bataan will join a second amphibious assault ship, the USS Boxer, which was on port visit in Dubai on Tuesday.

That's a whole lot of muscle, and with Iraq being a land conflict in a country with a miniscule coastline, it seems to me that Iran is the logical target...

As I have said before, 2007 will be interesting year.