Iran’s apocalyptic president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, takes no rhetorical prisoners with his belligerent declamations. Threatening to wipe a whole country, Israel, from the face of the earth is only Exhibit A. He’s also the personification of menacing brinkmanship with his nuclear nose-thumbing to the United Nations, common cause with Shiite insurgents in Iraq and threats about playing Iran’s OPEC oil card.
And, yet, there is a governor on his actions, no matter how confrontational and odious his orations. He’s the president of a sovereign country — albeit an “axis of evil” one — not the leader of a terrorist organization. As such, he and the Islamic Republic of Iran have a return address.