APOCALYPSE NOT

Well, it's August 22.

Israel is still on the map. The world hasn't come to an end.

It looks like the rumors of the August 22 Doomsday have been greatly exaggerated.

[A]s noted by Princeton's Middle East scholar, Prof. Bernard Lewis: "This year, August 22 corresponds in the Islamic calendar to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the Prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Burak, first to 'the farthest mosques' usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back."

"This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world," Lewis wrote, hastening to add: "It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for August 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind."

The date also coincides with the conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin, and according to Islamic tradition, it is when Imam Mahdi is expected to return to earth, heralding a new period of justice.

So far, there have been no sightings of Imam Mahdi; but there is an edginess that can't be denied.

Haaretz put out a news flash that played right into the predictions of the Doomsday alarmists.

06:49 Minister Eitan: Prepare bomb-shelters for possible confrontation with Iran (Israel Radio)

That sounds quite ominous, as if an attack is imminent, within hours or less.

That's misleading.

And shock of shockers, the routinely deceptive Reuters is also sensationalizing today's news, feeding off of the August 22 fear factor with the headline, "Israel must be ready for any Iranian attack: minister."

If one reads beyond the headline, one learns that the article is a discussion of Israel's need to be prepared for an Iranian attack, but not an Iranian attack today.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel should prepare for the possibility of a missile attack from Iran, a cabinet minister said on Tuesday.

"We are liable to face an Iranian missile attack. The Iranians have said very clearly that if they come under attack, their primary target would be Israel," Rafi Eitan, a member of the decision-making inner cabinet, told Israel Radio.

Iran could fire missiles at the Jewish state "therefore we must prepare for what could come, and prepare the entire country for a missile strike attack, to prepare all the civilian systems so they are ready for this," Eitan said.

The radio said Eitan, a former spymaster, meant that Israel should prepare its bomb shelters to protect against a possible Iranian attack.

It quoted Eitan as alluding to the current international standoff with Iran over its uranium enrichment, saying if the situation deteriorates, Israel would be the first to come under attack.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." He has said Israel "should not assume" its ceasefire with Iranian-backed Hizbollah guerrillas last week means an end to the crisis.

...Eitan's remarks also came as tensions rose between Iran and six world powers led by the United States, who have sought to persuade Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment program, with an August 31 deadline for Tehran to face possible sanctions from the United Nations.

The threat that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran poses to Israel and to prospects for peace in the region and the world is very real.

Iran intends to defy the UN deadline to halt the enrichment of uranium.

Without question, an Iran with a nuclear arsenal is becoming more and more likely.

An apocalyptic scenario is not unthinkable.

It's just not going to play out today.

RELAX.

________________________________

This isn't good, but it's not the end of the world -- yet.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran turned away U.N. inspectors from an underground site meant to shelter its uranium enrichment program from attack, diplomats said Monday, while the country's supreme leader insisted Tehran will not give up its contentious nuclear technology.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's comments came on the eve of a self-imposed deadline to respond formally to Western incentives aimed at curbing its atomic program, deflating hopes that Iran will accept a U.N. Security Council demand that it freeze enrichment by Aug. 31 or face the possibility of sanctions.

Iran's unprecedented refusal to allow access to its underground facility at Natanz could seriously hamper U.N. attempts to ensure Tehran is not trying to produce nuclear weapons, and might violate the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, diplomats and U.N. officials told The Associated Press.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, the diplomats and officials from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, described other signs of Iranian defiance.

They said Iran denied entry visas to two IAEA inspectors in the last few weeks after doing the same earlier this summer for Chris Charlier, the expert heading the U.N. agency's team to Tehran. Additionally, they said, other inspectors were given only single-entry visas during their visits to Iran last week, instead of the customary multiple-entry permits.

Allowing Iranian defiance to stand is akin to greenlighting a road map to war on a massive scale.

When it comes to Iran, we follow a policy of appeasement at our own risk.