A bad back has kept me from posting much over the last couple of weeks. Sitting in the chair for any length of time isn't really possible when your back is aching, as anyone with back pain can tell you. But I'm getting better, so I hope to spend more time on the Internet and writing new posts.

We are entering a very dangerous time in world history. While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon lies incapacitated in a hospital bed, the Iranians announced that they will resume their Uranium enrichment program, even after receiving a warning from the U.S., the Europeans, and even the Russians and Chinese.

I cannot think of a more dangerous confluence of events. Israel is now feeling even more vulnerable than usual, with an untested leader heading up essentially a caretaker government while the country's leading political figures, minus Sharon, maneuver in advance of the election. With a still-healthy Sharon leading the government and leading his new political party, it was clear that his policies would prevail. Without Sharon, nothing is clear. Meanwhile, a nation headed up by a man who has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel is now resuming work that most believe will lead to nuclear weapons. This is how wars start. Fanatical ideologues who cannot see reality, uncertain leaders who feel their country is threatened with annihilation, potential third-party honest brokers who insist on pretending that nothing has changed, it is all a great big recipe for disaster.