The madman of Tehran

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is completely crazy. Just in case you weren't quite sure, consider this: According to the AP, the Iranian president today declared that Israel is "heading toward annihilation," a "permanent threat," and "a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm".

One storm? As in a nuclear one?

I've recently argued (see here and here) that non-military options need to be considered in response to the Iranian nuclear crisis and that a window of opportunity now exists for such options to be pursued. But, clearly, we're dealing with a madman here. I'm still hopeful that a potentially disastrous military strike can be averted, disastrous in terms of the repercussions throughout the Muslim world, and it may very well be that Ahmadinejad's fiery comments were intended largely for domestic consumption, but the prospect of Iran with a nuclear bomb, with a madman at the helm, and with Israel as a prime target is truly worrisome.