Death in Iran

"In any event, the beat goes on. The war in Gaza continues. The protests by the soon to be unemployed on many of our campuses continue. The Democrats stabbing Israel in the back continues. In other words, life in Mr. Rogers neighborhood is very messy indeed. Now with an unexpected leadership change in Iran, who knows what is next."

Just when you thought the Middle East could not get more convoluted, last night a helicopter carrying the head of Iran along with a dozen or so other high rollers, crashed into a mountain in dense fog. All were killed. What does that mean for the ongoing proxy war between Iran and Israel (and US)? Unknown at this time. Let's deal with the bad stuff first - Ebrahim Raisi was not a good man. He earned the nickname the "Butcher of Tehran" for the thousands of people he killed in 1988. He was the brains behind the drone attack on Israel. He also was in charge of Iran's nuclear program.

Now the world holds its collective breath. Israel immediately announced it had nothing to do with this crash. After seeing the crash site with the thick fog present, they should be easy to believe. What is hard to believe however is this - when the copter went missing, Iran had trouble locating it. In Iran! Turkey had to come in and assist. For a country who is trying to become a high-tech nuclear power, now being able to find a missing leader's copter is a head scratcher.

Meanwhile, as this turmoil was going on in Iran, Jake Sullivan was over visiting the Saudis. Purpose of the visit? The old "two state solution", which will never fly, and (ready for it?) - a nuclear program for the Saudis. The United States will help the Saudis build a reactor to be used only for electricity. Wait - I thought the Saudis had oodles of oil left. Is this not the same thing the Iranians said when they wanted to build a reactor? They too, had lots of oil. For electricity only? Now the Iranians are inches away from a bomb. 

I think I remember reading something a while ago, where the Saudis said if the Iranians ever got the bomb, the Saudis might need a nuclear program also. That caused a fuss, as who needs another nuclear neighborhood in the world right now? Reading that Sullivan is over in Saudi Arabia discussing getting a nuclear reactor for electricity only, gave me pause to wonder.

In any event, the beat goes on. The war in Gaza continues. The protests by the soon to be unemployed on many of our campuses continue. The Democrats stabbing Israel in the back continues. In other words, life in Mr. Rogers neighborhood is very messy indeed. Now with an unexpected leadership change in Iran, who knows what is next. All we can do is pray for peace, prepare for war.