Meanwhile, sounding oddly like a neocon-Likudite Chatty Cathy doll, Tony Blair has come out, as the Israelis did last week, and “accused Iran and Syria … of supporting terrorism,” according to Iran Focus. Blair went on to say “we have no desire whatever to act against people in Iran or people in Syria, but the governments of those two countries have to understand that the only basis of friendly relations is that they abide by their international obligations and do not support terrorism in other countries.” In other words, Blair put millions of people on notice and essentially told them the neocons, tagged up with the Brits and the Israelis, will kill hundreds of thousands of people for the unpardonable sin of living in countries (and of course following Islam) that happen to be in the way of Greater Israel and, in the case of Iran, for the impertinence of creating its own oil exchange (often called the Iranian bourse), a far worse crime than Saddam Hussein’s conversion to the euro for Iraq’s oil exports in the fall of 2000. In all fairness, it should be noted that Blair said it would be a “terrible miscalculation” to bomb the dickens out of Iran, but then, since the British PM is connected at the hip to the Straussian neocons, we can put absolutely no faith in this statement.

As Ivan Eland, a senior fellow and Director of the Center on Peace and Liberty, correctly notes, the “real losers in this arms-length conspiracy… will be the American and Iranian peoples,” a no-brainer for even the casual student of history. Mr. Eland seems to believe Iran is on the verge of creating nuclear weapons—revealing that he probably reads the New York Times and the Washington Post a bit too closely—and that a “do-nothing” policy is probably the best advice because attacking Iran will cost too much “blood and treasure.” No doubt. But then this demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the Straussian neocon and Jabotinsky Likudite master plan, a blissful ignorance all too prevalent among intellectuals and the folks installed in foundations and the ivy dappled towers of academe.

In fact, it appears a large number of people, academic or otherwise, are blind to the real purpose of the impending Iran attack. It has nothing to do with nuclear weapons, as the invasion and occupation of Iraq had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction or fanciful hallucinations of Osama frolicking with Saddam in Mesopotamian moonlight. It has everything to do with a criminal collaboration between Straussian neocons, Likudites, and money-grubbing neoliberals and their financier buddies on Wall Street and within the vastly profitable death merchant and associated industries. In order to understand how these forces have come together like incestuous kissing cousins at the local Motel 6, look no further than the appointment of the top-drawer neocon, Paul Wolfowitz, to the neolib loan sharking operation, the World Bank.

Finally, as if to slam an unmistakable message over the outfield fence and out of the ballpark, Secretary of State Condi Rice has once again declared that “time had run out for talking to Tehran,” reports Reuters. “Rice said the time for talking was over and European discussions had come to a ‘dead end’ because of Iran’s actions. ‘I don’t see much room for further discussion in any format,’ said Rice.” Of course, Rice takes her cue from Israel’s Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who once again, in repetitive fashion, said “Israel was preparing to protect itself if international diplomatic efforts failed to convince Iran to give up its nuclear program,” so-called “efforts” the Likudites and Straussian neocons not only want to fail but are actively sabotaging with their war-drum rhetoric and belligerence.