This is an article from January, but I was just thinking about this issue again in the context of an email discussion, on whether or not Iran can be trusted with nukes.

All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days. A common rumour – denied by the government but widely believed – is that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a “contract” pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran.

Iran’s dominant “Twelver” sect believes this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.

He is said to have gone into “occlusion” in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.

This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus.

Mr Ahmadinejad appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable.

The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is worrying. The unspoken question is this: is Mr Ahmadinejad now tempting a clash with the West because he feels safe in the belief of the imminent return of the Hidden Imam? Worse, might he be trying to provoke chaos in the hope of hastening his reappearance?

Now here’s the funny thing (at least to me). During the eighties, many accused Ronald Reagan of exactly this–thinking the Apocalypse at hand, and being willing and even eager to hurry it along with his itchy nuclear trigger finger, because we all know what a Christy bible-banging nutbag he was. It should be added, of course, that no credible evidence that he actually believed this was ever produced, and in fact we not only survived the Cold War under Reagan, but won it decisively, without a shot being fired, let alone initiation of the End Times.

Yet somehow, I don’t see much in the way of expressions of concern from any of the people who were shopping this nonsense about Reagan then, about another nation’s leader who actually does believe this, and whose every word and action confirms such a belief. This seems to be the same mindset that feverishly sees a theocracy continually descending on America, but never seems to notice that it somehow (to paraphrase Tom Wolfe) always lands in the Middle East. As Dennis Prager pointed out the other day, MAD (ironically) requires sane people.

Nazis and Communists wanted to live and feared death; Islamic authoritarians love death and loathe life.

That is why MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) worked with the Soviet Union. Communist leaders love life — they loved their money, their power, their dachas, their mistresses, their fine wines — and were hardly prepared to give all that up for Marx. But Iran’s current leaders celebrate dying, and MAD may not work, because from our perspective, they are indeed mad. MAD only works with the sane.

There is great room for doubt that this is a description of the folks currently in power in Iran. Despite the nasty options facing us, none of them good, the worst outcome would be if they get their hands on nukes (if indeed, they haven’t already, as some have suggested, via North Korea). It should be additionally worrying that they seem determined to develop launchers (which implies ICBMs) But some people are too busy trying to get us to disarm to be worried about them.