Just as German officials called on Iran to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful, Iran opened two new missile-producing factories.

Germany is strengthening its economic ties with Iran while accusing China of blocking the very sanctions which would block German-Iranian cooperation.

US General James Jones said that he is surprised by Iran’s “puzzling defiance” of the West. Far from puzzling, the Iranians are quite rational. They want the bomb and are sure that the West won’t stop them, just as it did not stop India, Pakistan, or North Korea.

US envoy Mitchell, mindful of his experience with the IRA, offered Abbas a way down from his high tree: the peace talks will be indirect, with Mitchell shuttling back and forth between the sides.

That arrangement would be ridiculous in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict . Unlike the British government and the IRA, Israel and the PLO maintain working relations, and the PLO depends on Israel for everything from money to border permits.

Two suicide bombers killed 40 and wounded 150 pilgrims in Iraq near Karbalah. As the US troops are set to withdraw by August, Iraq may descend into chaos and terrorism.

So far, Shiite groups have refrained from retaliating for various terrorist acts against them. The Sadr militia and other Iranian-backed groups have shown restraint in order to avoid prompting Americans to delay the withdrawal. But after August, they will act.

When everyone else lauded the US Army’s surge tactics, we said that the results would be short-lived.

Attacks on Shiites intensified somewhat after the Iraqi Shiite-led government banned 511 Sunni candidates from the elections over their connections with Saddam. Under American pressure, Iraqi judges overturned the ban, which leaves us wondering, are those people in the State Department really crazy? In the name of liberal democracy—which does not exist in this part of the world—they ensured a deadlocked parliament in Iraq. A proper solution would be to give Shia parts of Iraq back to Iran, allow independence for Kurdistan, and let Iraq persist as a Sunni state.

On the same day that a double suicide bombing resulted in two hundred casualties in Iraq, similar explosions ripped through Karachi, killing 33 and wounding 160 more.

Western analysts consider Shia to be an aggressive crowd, but Sunnis so far have the upper hand in terrorism.

The Taliban has rejected talks with the UN or the puppet Afghani government. Looking at Iraq, the Taliban understand that the Americans will soon withdraw. Unlike Westerners, the Taliban do not think in terms of compromises.