If the Louvre disappears under a mushroom cloud, so would Iran. Much as we lament the lack of conventional forces in Europe, France and Britain have enough nukes to be a credible deterrence.

Rafsanjani’s threat to Israael is also questionable. His family is wealthy, so he’s a very, very rich mullah. In other words, he may be motivated by money as much as anything else. Perhaps his statement about the Arab bomb was meant for someone not as greedy as him.

Frankly, after the action in Russia (so far?), it’s tempting to simply destroy a Muslim population (Chechens come to mind). One wonders what Putin is contrmplating.