IRAN GETS EVEN MORE SCARY – AT 9:44 A.M. ET:  We have taken our eyes off the ball and are wrapped up in domestic financial issues, but the Iranians are pushing ahead, just as the Nazis did during our Great Depression.  The result may, for our children, be the same: 

(Reuters) - Iran is preparing to install centrifuges for higher-grade uranium enrichment in an underground bunker, diplomatic sources say, a development that is likely to add to Western worries about Tehran's atomic aims.

Yeah, I'd say so.  When you work in underground bunkers, it usually isn't to produce power to charge iPads.

Preparatory work is under way at the Fordow facility, tucked deep inside a mountain to protect it against any attacks, and machines used to refine uranium could soon be moved to the site near the clerical city of Qom, the sources said.

MacArthur said that all defeats begin with two words:  Too late.  I'm afraid it may be too late to stop Iran's nuclear weapon.  Obama has certainly been effective, hasn't he? 

The Islamic Republic said in June it would shift production of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity to Fordow from its main Natanz plant this year and triple output capacity, in a defiant response to charges that it is trying to make atomic bombs.

Tehran only disclosed the existence of Fordow two years ago after Western intelligence detected it and said it was evidence of covert nuclear activities. The facility has yet to start operating.

"They are preparing (for the centrifuges to be installed) in Fordow," one diplomatic source said.

Refined uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power reactors and also, if enriched to much higher levels, provide material for atomic arms.

COMMENT:  And what will our response be?  Well, among other things, Germany seems to be maintaining, and even increasing, its commercial trade with Iran.  And the Obama administration has hardly reacted at all. 

Iran is aiming to be the dominant power in the region.  At the present rate, it will probably succeed.  Which is one more powerful argument for denying the inept Obama a second catastrophic term.

July 13, 2011