THE WAR WHORE VIRUS

Once released into the world, the consequences are hard to predict. Noriel Roubini provides an opinion piece by Joschka Fischer, former Foreign Minister of Germany, about the likelihood of a pre-emptive attack by Israel on Iran's nuclear facilities.

And sixth, with the approaching end of the Bush presidency and uncertainty about his successor's policy, the window of opportunity for Israeli action is seen as potentially closing.

The last two factors carry special weight. While Israeli military intelligence is on record as saying that Iran is expected to cross the red line on the path to nuclear power between 2010 and 2015 at the earliest, the feeling in Israel is that the political window of opportunity to attack is now, during the last months of Bush's presidency.

The neo-cons will do what they can to make this happen.