The Prince of Persia

The Prince of Persia is on the prowl again. Daniel had his own encounter with this demonic principality in the 6th Century B.C. when Persia was a world power (see Daniel chapter ten). Eventually though Persia faded from the world stage. But the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini from exile in Paris to Iran in 1979 seemed to mark a turning point in world history and the reemergence of the Prince of Persia. In many respects the Ayatollah Khomeini is the father of modern Islamic militancy and by any account he was one of the most influential figures of the 20th Century (He was Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1979). That was 27 years ago and Iran has come a long way, baby. Now Persia is getting close to possessing a nuclear weapon. When you consider that the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the Israel to be “wiped off the map” you realize this is completely unacceptable to the Jewish State. So what’s going to happen? I suppose there are five scenarios:

1. Sanctions from the international community led by the UN force Iran to abandon their nuclear ambitions. I think this is highly unlikely.

2. The European powers take the responsibility for military action against Iran. OK, let’s be serious.

3. The United States leads a military strike against Iran aimed at destroying their capacity for developing a nuclear weapon and the removal of the current hard-line regime. Though this is possible, I think it is also unlikely. It’s too costly politically (and otherwise).

4. Nothing happens. Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapon. Israel cannot permit this to happen. That leaves only one other option…

5. Israel will destroy Iran’s capacity for nuclear weapons. This is what I expect to happen, though it will not be near as easy as it was for Israel to destroy Iraq’s nuclear ambitions in 1981.

Look for Iran and Israel to make some headlines.

I’m thinking about this song today.

Neighborhood Bully
by Bob Dylan

Well, the neighborhood bully, he’s just one man,
His enemies say he’s on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He’s the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He’s criticized and condemned for being alive.
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin,
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He’s the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He’s wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He’s always on trial for just being born.
He’s the neighborhood bully.

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He’s the neighborhood bully.

Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he’ll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
‘Cause there’s a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He’s the neighborhood bully.

He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don’t get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won’t be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He’s the neighborhood bully.

Well, he’s surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn’t hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He’s the neighborhood bully.

Every empire that’s enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He’s made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one’s command.
He’s the neighborhood bully.

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He’s the neighborhood bully.

What’s anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin’, they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He’s the neighborhood bully.

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.

Copyright 1983 Special Rider Music