At some point today, Iran is supposed to give its official response to the United Nations deadline that it stop nuclear weapons research. Based on the news that has already come out, its pretty clear that the official response will be an emphatic no. Many, though, have thought that Iran would use today to launch a doomsday attack on Israel.
Michael Totten is guest blogging for Andrew Sullivan and reporting from Tel Aviv, where he seems to be getting impatient:
First, there’s his last post of the night:
TEL AVIV — It may be Monday, August 21, for those of you in the slow time zones. But here in Israel it?s BOOM Day, August 22.
The end of the world will be blogged. Or not. I?m going to bed. Hope I wake up!
Then the morning came, and still the world had not ended:
TEL AVIV — We?re still here in Israel, even though it?s DOOM Day, August 22. I slept all through the night. The megatons haven?t yet landed. We?ll see if I can make it through breakfast.
And, by lunchtime, Michael was clearly growing impatient:
TEL AVIV — Yo, Ahmadinejad. What?s the deal? You do remember that today is August 22, NUKE Day, right? It?s lunchtime already. God, get it over with, dude, or Human Rights Watch is going to write you up for cruelly compounding our angst.
And he’s just getting more impatient as the day goes on:
TEL AVIV — Okay, now I?m getting annoyed. Here I am, ready to liveblog the first use of nuclear weapons in anger since the end of World War II, right outside the blast radius, and Iran?s little nutjob-in-chief looks like he might not be into it after all. Maybe he?s waiting for the sun to set so the flash over Jerusalem will be bright like he promised.
And, now that dinner is over, he’s just plain annoyed:
TEL AVIV ? Um?something?s not right. Iran is supposed to nuke Jerusalem today, and today is almost over. All they?ve done so far is harass the Romanians. Well, that?s the Middle East for you. People around here just don?t respect time the way Westerners do. Everything is done at the last minute, late, or never. At least I made it through dinner at that fancy French place on the corner with the piano next to the bar.
Heh.
