Reading the Tea Leaves [Dan from New York]

Dan from New York:

Lots of firecrackers going off simultaneously right now hinting at greater pyrotechnics to come.

On Sunday, I noted that Israel's "Mr. Peace" is warning of war, a link to a story in which Israel’s president, uber dove Shimon Peres, warns that "A military strike on Iran is growing more likely than the diplomatic option." Today comes news that Israel’s #2 man, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, not only seconded Peres, he went a step further. As the JPost reports, “Addressing the IAEA report, the reported contents of which have been leaked to various international newspapers in recent days, Barak said, ‘we've known these things for years. ... ‘We know more [about Iran] than The Washington Post knows and we know more than the IAEA does,’ he added.” Read about that in “Barak not optimistic about international will to stop Iranian nukes.”

Of course, no situation analysis is complete without taking into account the psychological dimension. So here we have Jewicidal far-left Haaretz columnist, Akiva Eldar, writing in full panic mode beseeching Obama, a foreign head of state, “to stop the duo of Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, before it is too late.”

Then there are anecdotes I’ve received from Israel indicating that as of late the Home Front Command has been helping the general populace prepare for trouble.

Lastly, there’s this question raised by the National Review: "Why Won’t Obama Sanction Iran’s Financial Lifeblood?"

I think all visible signs indicate the Israelis aren’t waiting around for the answer. But I could be reading the signals wrong. Israel may yet decide to placate the West, avoid “destabilizing the region” and do what it’s told: put its future in the hands of the Mad Mullahs in a grand gesture of self-sacrifice.

That’s always good for a slap on the back from the U.S. president and a front page obituary in the New York Times.

Stay tuned. Say a prayer. We shall see.

For the background story, please see "The Atomic Mahdi."