I held off in commenting on the prospects for 2012 under the philosophy that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.  If you've been following me, you already know what I think about the eurocrisis, the chinese housing bubble, the dismal prospects for the US and world economy in 2012 and other things.  As I told my friends on Facebook today, 2012 reminds me of the time a vegetarian waitress chastisted me for my order in an Indian restuarant.  "Have fun with your meat," she said.  And we are all meat.

And yet with less than twenty minutes to go before the old year ends, I peruse the New York Times, and I find this article by John Vincour entitled Clock Ticking for West to Act on Iranian Nuclear Program.  Surprise, surprise! The Israelis have authoritatively announced that within nine months "before Iran's attempt to acquire nuclear weapons moves into a 'zone of immunity' where it could be no longer stopped."  This means that the Israelis are now thinking about how much time they could have to stage military and naval airstrikes.

The upside for the Israelis is that with no more on-duty US military personnel in Iraq, Iraq does not have any access to an air force of its own to possibly interfere with an Israeli direct flyover.  And the article states that a German Marshall Fund poll shows that while 76% of Americans are concerned about Iranian nukes, only 8% of Americans would not consider the existence of an Iranian bombs a major concern, with a full 54% understanding the US having to resort to a military option if all other recourses were exhausted.

Never mind that a tinpot dictatorship like North Korea has tested more than one A-bomb, and we haven't bombed Pyongyang yet.  But between the Israelis and the Republicans calling Obama a pansy and "throwing Israel under the bus," it appears to be only a matter of time before either/and/ America or Israel launches the air sorties in 2012.

I will not go into extensive analysis again in telling you about what a horrible, bad idea this approach would be -- or how much chaos and catastrophe it would bring both on Israel or the United States.  I suggest that you look up some of my older blogs to see how stinky and downright stupid this whole situation would be.

I will only say for now that if such a thing happens, Barack Obama will appear more and more to be like Jimmy Carter in every way.  And of course, there's nothing more bracing to a worldwide economy in depression than $200 a barrel oil.

Happy New Year, suckers.