Ahmendinejad hatred of all things Israeli is not new. Even Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic never harangued and provoked Israel verbally as much as Ahmadinejad, beginning with his speech in the city of Zahedan in December 2005, in which he called the Holocaust a “myth” and climaxing with the controversial Holocaust denial conference a year later in Tehran.
The more threatening reason could be his own isolation. Ahmadinejad is a cornered man, who is losing popularity at a ferocious pace inside Iran, mainly due to the failings of his economic policies. He may feel that provoking a war with the West, in hopes of inspiring a public rallying around the flag will be his only saving grace. Otherwise, he stands very little chance of winning the 2009 presidential elections.
The more threatened Ahmadinejad feels, the more he will be looking for a conflict to survive. The Western world needs to think very carefully before giving him what he wants.
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