As a set-up to this week's special edition of Outside the Box from Stratfor, let's take a look at a blog from the Middle East Media Research Institute which discusses some recent allegations from the Iranian leadership that the Holocaust did not occur. Quoting:

In a December 28, 2006 interview with the Iranian website Baztab, which is affiliated with Iranian Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezai, Iranian Presidential Advisor Mohammad Ali Ramin said that Hitler was Jewish, and that Hitler's policies were aimed at bringing about the establishment of a Jewish state. Ramin added that Hitler acted under the influence of his powerful Jewish associates and in cooperation with Britain, since the latter shared his desire to force the Jews out of Europe.⁽¹⁾

Ramin was recently appointed secretary-general of the new "world foundation for Holocaust Studies" established at the Iranian Holocaust Denial Conference in December.⁽²⁾

The following are excerpts from the interview :⁽³⁾

Adolf Hitler... Developed an Aversion to Judaism Because His Mother Was a Jewish Whore

"The Bolshevik Soviet government in Lenin's time, and later, in Stalin's - both of whom were Jewish, though they presented themselves as Marxists and atheists... - was one of the forces that, until the Second World War, cooperated with Hitler in promoting the idea of establishing the State of Israel. A book that was published about this... - titled Adolf Hitler, Founder of Israel by Hennecke Kardel, a German born in 1922 - proves that Hitler was Jewish, and that his grandmother was a Jewish prostitute. [Hitler's] father went by his mother's Jewish name until he was 40, and later changed his surname to Hitler.

"Adolf Hitler himself developed an aversion to Judaism because his mother was a Jewish whore. He first received [negative] information about the Jews in an Austrian monastery, (the book presents details and pictures of it), and from then on, he [tried] to escape his Judaism.

"Thus... Hitler simultaneously developed both feelings of solidarity with Judaism and feelings of hatred towards it, and this emotional ambivalence shaped his behavior towards the Jews. On the one hand, his entire family, the people who shared his views, and his associates who brought him into power and stood by him to the last - including his lovers and his personal doctor - were [all] Jewish. On the other hand, he welcomed the policy of expelling the Jews from Central Europe for two other reasons: Firstly, the establishment of a Jewish government in Palestine was an aspiration of the rich and influential Jews who surrounded him. Secondly, exiling the Jews from Europe and Germany was a general and historical demand of the Western Christian nations. With the full support of the British, and in coordination with them, Hitler addressed this general demand and [thereby] managed to gain widespread popularity in Europe. Obviously, publishing writings and information of this sort is forbidden in Germany and in the West...

"The Zionists recently... destroyed many documents and papers pertaining to the period before the war, which contained authentic statistics and figures regarding the Jews, such as how many Jews there were, where they [lived] and how they operated. One of the places that was destroyed completely and burned [to the ground] - and which... contained the most valuable documents pertaining to this matter - was the [building of] the newspaper Pravda, which had been published in Moscow for 80 years. On February 10, 2006, the building was set ablaze, and its entire archive, with all its back issues and photographs, was burned and destroyed, and not a trace of it was left. Nobody - not a single news agency anywhere in the world - investigated this historical crime or discussed it extensively..."

Source: http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD140807

Iran is truly being led by madmen, and not just madmen but irrational madmen completely capable of seeing the world through a distorted lens of their own making. They believe what they want to believe. Damn the facts. Full speed ahead. These are the same people who say they want to destroy Israel. If you are the leadership in Israel, all this has to make you uncomfortable with the potential for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Not to mention their Muslim neighbors. This puts into context the following essay.

George Friedman, President of Stratfor, writes about the growing tension between Iran and Israel. In "Israel's Options Against Iran," he discusses how uneasy Israel would be if Iran were to emerge as a nuclear power. George further goes on to highlight the potential courses of action that Israel may or may not be forced to take.

If you are a money manager active in foreign markets or perhaps just a person interested in global affairs, I would recommend that you check out George's service at Stratfor. He generously offers my readers a special discount that you can get here.

I hope that you are enjoying and finding value in these special geopolitical reports.