Iran Prescription: Oh My God, Tehran Almost Has The Bomb! (Repeat as Necessary)

Iran is about a year away from developing a nuclear bomb! That is not me getting  hysterical --- it's US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in an interview on American television:

"The consensus is that, if they decided to do it, it would probably take them about a year to be able to produce a bomb and then possibly another one to two years in order to put it on a deliverable vehicle of some sort in order to deliver that weapon."

Panetta is not the only Cassandra. His statement echoes that made by Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak last November about the 'when' of Iran's supposed nuclear weapons program.

All very worrying. Just as it has been worrying on every occasion over the last 7 1/2 years when Iran was on the verge of The Bomb.

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Britain and the US: Scott Lucas with the BBC on Lobbying and the Liam Fox Case

Liam FoxBritain is currently in the throes of a scandal over a politician named Liam Fox, who resigned as Minister of Defence last Friday after the discovery of his close friend's unauthorised lobbying.

This morning Dan Damon of BBC World Service's World Update and I discussed the wider issues, both in the US and Britain, of the episode.

The clip starts at the 48:25 mark.

Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Shifting Positions?

1915 GMT: Medical sources says at least five people have been killed in shelling by regime forces and five more people are in critical condition. Many other wounded people could not be reached by medical teams because of sporadic shelling.

1820 GMT: Britain has announced that it is bringing four more Tornado fighter jets to the coalition mission, bringing the British total to 10.

Even more interesting, however, is the news that London will provide communications equipment on the ground to the opposition. That has probably already been occurring --- Al Jazeera English's James Boys reported yesterday on insurgents moving towards Brega with the new gear.

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Bahrain Snapshot: The New Look of the "Last Independent Newspaper"

British Minister of Defence with Bahrain's KingFor weeks, Bahraini authorities and their supporters have waged a campaign against Al Wasat, the only newspaper which is not connected with the Government. A steady "information" effort has accused the paper of lies and distortions, and its printing works were attacked by armed civilians last month, forcing a reduction in the newspaper's number of pages.

On Saturday, after hours of "special" coverage on State TV denouncing Al Wasat, the newspaper was suspended by authorities. It was allowed to resume publication yesterday, after the board replaced the editor-in-chief, chief, and local news editor.

So what does the "new" Al Wasat look like? 

Well, this morning, only two of its featured nine stories are about Bahrain: 1) The Ministry of Education reports on the "negative impact" on the educational process and threat to the safety of students from recent events challenging national unity, and 2) Why is the Ministry of Municipalities not developing some of the old public parks?

Oh, yes, there is also the lead item in Local News: "King Receives British Minister of Defence and Confirms Importance of Cooperation and Joint Defense".