No have no doubt Juan Cole will find some way to argue that "cannot continue its life" is a mistranslation, and that what Ahmadinejad actually said was "must be given kittens and cake". But in the meantime, Ahmadinejad was standing in front of a giant Iranian flag overlayed with the picture of an atom and he was threatening to wipe out six million Jews. Think that the UN will condemn him for threatening to destroy a UN member state?

We like how this is now just a "hard line" stance. It used to be called genocidal, but the drip drip drip of Ahmadinejad's literal insanity has successfully shifted the spectrum of public discourse. Sure, he's still on the edge of respectable public opinion - but he's not out of bounds. Threatening to wipe out Israel is just something that some politicians will do. Some people will recommend new farm subsidies, some people will argue for the elimination of six million Jews.

Incidentally, the CNN headline is pretty neat. Ahmadinejad gives two quotes - one about how Israel is "cruel" and one about how he wants to murder all of them. Which one do you think ran in the headline?

UPDATE: Germany says they're done trying to make Iran change it's behavior. Not like in the good "we're done playing games with these people" kind of way. More like in the bad "ok, well that didn't work - how about some appeasement" way.

References:
* Ahmadinejad: Iran can help secure Iraq, Israel is 'cruel' [CNN]
* Iran To Rule: Was There A Holocaust? [MR]

Previously:
* Iran: Israeli Self-Defense is a Cause for War
* Purdue Nuclear Strategy Expert: Bomb Iran Now
* Purdue Nuclear Strategy Expert: Bomb Iran Now

Cross-posted to:
* Israpundit