Iran, August 22 and the Apocalypse

I believe that Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a radical with apocalyptic visions of grandeur.

For starters, Ahmadinejad has expressed on more than one occasion his devout belief that he is in direct communication with heaven about his policies. Now normally, I would write this off as pandering to a pious audience. However, there are many interests at work in Iran besides fanaticism, so it would profit Ahmadinejad little to cater to the zealots.

Also, the crazy remarks attributed to Ahmadinejad go back to his days as a mayor, and even further to his radical youth - where he participated (albeit in a minor role) in the American Embassy hostage taking in 1979. So, to say he is only doing this to appear tough is misleading. He's been walking the walk and talking the talk all of his adult life.

On top of all of this, Ahmadinejad belongs to a small subset of Shiite Muslims who believe in the return of the Hidden Imam. Even the ultra-radical Ayatollah has had to rein in some of Ahmandinejad's comments regarding this particular faith. An interesting note about this Hidden Imam - believers view his return to the way Christians view the return of Christ. That is, that he will return amid a great world struggle to fight on behalf of the righteous and hasten a day of eternal happiness. The big difference (well, one of many really) between this and Christianity is that the Hidden Imam's believers follow the belief that they can actually bring about his return by spinning the world into chaos. In fact, believers claim it to be their duty. So, that Ahmadinejad is one of these believers should be of great concern to the western world.

Does Iran have nukes? That is the million dollar question. The Israelis predicted he would be armed in 6 months - about 6 months ago. While this is open to debate, that Iran has formed close ties with North Korea is not. And there is general consensus that Kim Jong Il does, in fact, possess nuclear weapons. So, does Iran have some of that North Korean sweet stuff? If they do, I would expect an announcement to such effect on August 22nd.

Finally, the real proof about Ahmadinejad's intentions are in his actions. He's funding Hezbollah, forging defense compacts with Syria and calling for the destruction of Israel. Given his personal make-up, I'm inclined to believe that he is serious about doing something to back up his words.

August 22 approaches ominously, indeeed.