The Weekly Blitz – April 18, 2008 - The president of the Iranian regime called it "good news." The world, however, looked on with deep concern and condemned the latest provocation by Iran’s theocracy in enriching uranium after 18 years of pursuing a covert nuclear program that many suspect is aimed at producing nuclear weapons capability. The Iranian regime seeks the nuclear capability to bolster its drive to dominate the Muslim world and threaten regional and world security from a position of power atop a new “Caliphate,”  (Islamic empire). This has been the dream of Khomeini’s Islamic fundamentalists since their usurping of the Iranian revolution of 1979. Regime ideologues have long pointed to Iran’s rightful place as the leader of the Muslim world in imposing their narrow and regressive socio-political and economic model, diametrically opposed to democratic and human rights values.

The Washington Times - That Tehran will not pay any heed to the third UN Security Council resolution condemning its drive to acquire nuclear weapons, stems not from the mullahs' prowess nor the ineffectiveness of the sanctions. Quite simply, the supreme leader Ali Khamenei is hell-bent on getting the bomb.

Any doubt? Take a look at the results of the March 14 Parliamentary (Majlis) elections, which a significant majority of Iranians shunned. The figures announced so far bear out what was expected long before the first ballot was cast: The supreme leader's men have captured more than two-thirds of the seats.

Middle East Times - The Iranian regime seems adept at assigning paradoxical functionalities to certain political or economic tools and mechanisms. Construction cranes, for example, are meant to help erect buildings and further economic progress everywhere else in the world. But, in Iran, they are used to hang people.

Likewise, political elections are the cornerstone of the world's representative governments, but in Iran, they are used to uphold the rule of an unelected few.

Middle East Times - In 2007, the turmoil in Pakistan culminated in the gruesome assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27. Although the epicenter of this political tremor shook Pakistan, its ripple effect was quickly felt throughout the world.

The incident was especially worrying because it demonstrated that, as the second most populous Muslim nation, Pakistan is seeing a sharp rise in Islamic fundamentalism. This trend has marred the country's political process in recent months with more bloodshed as a consequence. Aside from mounting concerns over the safety of Islamabad's nuclear stockpiles, the resulting violence has also tended to spill over into neighboring countries like Afghanistan.

Middle East Times - The international community, with the United States in particular, continues to grapple with ways to confront Iran's nuclear defiance. Backers of the status quo urge that appeasing the reigning mullahs will finally break the impasse. They felt quite justified and encouraged by the findings of a National Intelligence Estimate report, earlier in December.

But, it seems that the appeasers' rejoicing was somewhat premature. The NIE was correct in finding that Iran seems to have halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. But what it failed to report was that the program had been relocated and restarted in 2004, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which first unmasked Tehran's clandestine nuclear program in 2002.

That said, the NIE's reference to the mullahs' nuclear weapons program, speaks volumes about the Iranian regime's nature, intentions, and strategic direction.