Paying For Results

The Jerusalem Post reports that Hizbullah is paying for the kassam rocket attacks by Palestinian terrorists against Israel. Michael Totten noted that Hizbullah was paying $30 per person for people to show up at its demonstrations in Beirut last month (and to stick around for days thereafter). But make no mistake about whose money that is.

Hizbullah is Iran's proxy, which means that the money being thrown around by Hizbullah is Iran's money.

Iran wants results, but its efforts have been underwhelming. The Lebanese government remains in control though Hizbullah continues its efforts to undermine the Siniora government. Kassam rockets continue to fall on Israel and while I consider the Israeli lack of response to be a major failure and sign of weakness by Olmert's government, the Iranians aren't getting the bang for the buck.

Once again, this points out what Iran is trying to do and why diplomatic actions are not going to produce results. Iran is applying every conceivable manner of pressure, coersion, and violence on the region to expand its interests. The mullahs are using proxy terrorist groups and throwing money around like it's going out of style to pave the way for their vision of reshaping the Middle East in their image.

The destabilizing actor in the region is Iran. They're the ones behind a significant part of the violence in Lebanon, against Gaza, and in Iraq. Going after the proxies may lessen the problem temporarily but the only way to stop the problem altogether is to deal with the regime in Tehran once and for all.

Yet, as Blue Crab Boulevard notes, the Iranians may be experiencing a cash crunch due to problems they're experiencing with their oil production and gas refining capabilities. The Iranians are throwing all their resources into the nuclear program and there is little that the West can offer that the Iranians would accept.

Others noting the cash flow: Ed Morrissey, Kesher Talk (who further notes that in the past month 64 rockets hit Israel - a quarter of the pre-ceasefire amount), and It Shines For All.