The good Swede, Hans Blix, laid out a full smorgasbord at the UN today. Something for everyone on the Security Council.

Stern, skeptical, critical words for Iraq — which will please Washington and no doubt be used to justify war. Steady, patient, deliberate words for the weapons inspection process — which will please Europe and no doubt be cited to call for more inspections.

But the parlor game is ending. One hundred and fifty thousand US troops are now en route to Iraq’s borders. Even the great statesman Colin Powell is not talking diplomacy anymore. His “coalition of the willing” may or may not include France, Germany, Russia and China. But it is revving up. And president Bush will give it another push in his state of the union speech tomorrow.

This hour, On Point: Blix speaks, war comes closer.

Guests:

Colum Lynch, UN correspondent for the Washington Post

Terence Taylor, assistant director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, chief inspector for UNSCOM (1993-1997)

Gerard Baker, Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times

Martin Indyk, former US Ambassador to Israel, current director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution

Jack Beatty, On Point News Analyst and senior editor at the Atlantic Monthly Magazine