The always—insightful Jack Risko of Dinocrat.com — a site we highly recommend — sees a complex game underway in the cartoon crisis. Read the whole thing.

The escalation and counter—escalation of rhetoric and action seem to us to indicate a number of things, but notable among them is this: Iraq is no longer the central battlefield of our current World War — for either side. The new number one enemy seems to be Iran, and Iran has been planning to make a chief battlefield in that conflict the streets of Europe. It is our surmise that after 7/7 and the spectacular success of the Muslim riots in France that began last October, Iran and other Jihadis decided that a combination of mayhem, terrorism and intimidation of the European appeasers could keep France, Germany and the UK in check. Our view is that the cartoon crisis must be viewed in this light (it was no accident that Syria, visited by Ahmadinejad two weeks ago, was the largest locus of anti—Denmark rioting).

We suspect that the Chirac Doctrine was promulgated partly to pre—empt terrorist attacks that French intelligence determined were planned for the spring in France. Recall Chirac's words:

'The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would consider using in one way or another weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and adapted response on our part,' Chirac said during a visit to a nuclear submarine base in northwestern France. 'This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind.'

'Against a regional power, our choice would not be between inaction or annihilation,' Chirac said in his first major speech on France's nuclear arms strategy since 2001. 'The flexibility and reactivity of our strategic forces would enable us to exercise our response directly against its centers of power and its capacity to act.'

Chirac's words seem carefully chosen, and they seem to point straight at Iran. Iraq, with its three elections and its constitution, has ceased to be center stage. Iran has take its place. Ahmadinejad's strategy to make the battleground the cities of Europe is clever. Whether it can succeed in an awakened Europe is another matter.