Maureen Dowd, "Andromeda Is Coming!": Depends Where You Live

Will the end of the earth come in 2012? Well for certain uber-liberal New York Times columnists, e.g., Paul Krugman and Gail Collins, their worlds might end if Romney is elected in 2012; however, for most of us, the sky is not about to fall over the next seven months. However, "most of us" does not include "all of us."

In her latest New York Times opinion piece, "Andromeda Is Coming!" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/opinion/dowd-andromeda-is-coming.html), Maureen Dowd seeks to distract us with rumors concerning the impending destruction of the world as we know it sometime later this year. Dowd tells us that she consulted with David Morrison, the senior scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, who debunked the Mayan calendar/Armagedon/Nostradamus theories floating around cyber space.

Nice piece of fluff, Maureen.

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, I've been hearing about this for a while from my youngest son, who occasionally watches the History Channel and spends too much time surfing the Internet. Also, a friend from Moldova also asked my opinion, and I was shamefacedly forced to acknowledge my ignorance regarding this topic. Given that I live a mere half hour's drive from the real Armageddon, the ancient city of Megiddo, from whose name Armagedon derives, perhaps I should be better informed.

But whereas I don't see the world plunging into blackness anytime soon, war clouds do loom on the horizon.

Remember how Obama, who, seeking to warn Iran to curtail its nuclear development program, declared, "as president of the United States, I don't bluff" (see: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/obama-to-iran-and-israel-as-president-of-the-united-states-i-dont-bluff/253875/)? Well, the Iranians have decided that Obama is indeed bluffing. Proceeding hell-bent with their plans to construct multiple bombs by enriching uranium beyond 20% and increasing the number of centrifuges used to refine uranium at their underground Fordow facility, Iran continues to "negotiate" with the West. Meanwhile, the P5+1, headed by Catherine Ashton, the EU's first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and a nincompoop with no competence in international affairs (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2009/12/catherine-ashton-hideous-baroness-of.html), continues to extend these idle talks.

Yes, unless Obama gets tough, war in the Middle East is coming. In a Jerusalem Post article entitled "'Nuclear negotiations with Iran are not working'" (http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=271748), written by Herb Keinon, we are told:

"The current round of negotiations between the world powers and Iran is 'not working,' a senior Israeli official said Monday, adding that after two meetings there is 'not an iota of evidence indicating the Iranians are in any way serious about curbing their nuclear program.'

. . . .

According to the official, the Iranians have succeeded in changing the world’s demands. 'In the previous rounds of talks, when Iran was only enriching uranium up to three percent, the world’s demand was for a full halt to enrichment. Now that they are enriching up to 20%, there are those in the world saying they are able to accept a certain amount of enrichment,' he said."

Who is that "senior Israeli official"? In my humble opinion, almost certainly Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has not forgotten the declaration of Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei that "Israel is a "cancerous tumor that should be cut and will be cut" (see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9059179/Iran-We-will-help-cut-out-the-cancer-of-Israel.html). Netanyahu will soon need to decide whether to take matters into his own hands and destroy Iran's nuclear production capabilities.

Is Netanyahu capable of doing this? You bet! Netanyahu is a student of Menachem Begin, who destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981. Repercussions? Absolutely. Iran will seek to retaliate with ballistic missiles and demand that Hezbollah's leader in Lebanon, Nasrallah, unleash its arsenal of 50,000 rockets and missiles on Israeli cities.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Syrian President Assad, the darling of Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry, continues to murder thousands of his countrymen (see: http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=271554), and the world does . . . nothing.

Andromeda is coming? I suppose it depends where you live.