Another confidence builder....

Pentagon delays new "bunker buster" bomb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A "bunker buster" bomb with more than 10 times the explosive power of its predecessor will be put into service by the United States next December, six months later than previously scheduled, the U.S. Defense Department told Reuters on Friday.

Especially when set against the backdrop of this news...

Iran testing new generations of centrifuges

TEHRAN (FNA) - Iran is testing new generations of home-made centrifuges for enriching uranium, a senior Iranian nuclear official announced.

""At present we have included the new generations of centrifuges in our (uranium) enrichment activities and these new generations (centrifuges) are passing necessary tests rapidly,"" Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said in an exclusive interview with FNA.

Salehi explained that Iran's nuclear scientists are currently testing two advanced models of home-made centrifuges named IR3 and IR4, and added, ""Hopefully we can use the new generations of centrifuges by the end of the next (Iranian) year (early 2011) and after removing all flaws and problems.""

Add to all that news this wonderful confidence builder:

Obama's Iran Policy Falls Short
Gordon G. Chang, 12.18.09, 12:01 AM EST
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton isn't impressed. She's not alone.

Diplomats say the darnedest things. Take our secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. This week, she blurted out the following about America's Iran policy: "I don't think anyone can doubt that our outreach has produced very little in terms of any kind of a positive response from the Iranians."

Whether she was criticizing the ayatollahs or the Obama’s is hard to tell--Mrs. Clinton reportedly dislikes both groups intensely--but it is undeniable that she has put her finger on something. The United States, unfortunately, has had little influence over the Iranian leadership this year. Obama's campaign pledge to meet the world's top despots, including the ones dwelling in Tehran, has not in fact generated good will in Iran's abhorrent theocracy.

And the finale....

....unless Obama changes course, Iran will get the bomb. And once the ferociously aggressive and deeply insecure clerics put their hands on an atomic weapon, it is virtually certain the world will never be the same. Almost all the assumptions we make about geopolitics today could--and probably will--become obsolete.