http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/868831.htmlThe ongoing disagreement with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who came to power 7 years ago, pertains to whether he is someone to talk to and not to whether there is anything to talk about with Syria. Does Assad mean business, or is he still a 42-year-old kid?
The debate is based on two strategic conceptions. The first is that in the Middle East, one signs agreements with leaders, as opposed to nations. After all, the states of the region are headed by tyrants, whose ability to survive can determine the durability of a treaty. The second assumption is that signing a peace agreement with Israel is a privilege that Israel deigns to grant its partners.
This is not strictly an Israel perception. It comes neatly packed straight from Washington. The U.S. administration recognizes that any peace deal between an Arab country and Israel requires an American dowry. And for that, the prospective groom must first obtain the in-laws' approval.
This is fair enough, except the American in-law is not too keen on seeing Assad receive peace with Israel when he is still suspected of aiding the terrorist organizations operating in Iraq. Hence, President Bush is forcing a linkage between the Iraq War and the Arab-Israeli conflict, even though the two conflicts are not interdependent. Bush is therefore ready to prolong the Syrian-Israeli standoff and make it a hostage of the Iraqi imbroglio.
more...
and I saw that
Iran’s deputy interior minister on security, Mohammad Bager Zolghadr, issued this warning Sunday, June 10, with an eye on the joint US-Israel air maneuver which began the same day in the Negev. The unusually explicit threat by a senior Iranian official was prompted
Tehran sources, by his government’s interpretation of the seven-day Negev exercise as a preparatory step for a US-Israeli air attack on their nuclear sites.
His threat to send oil prices skyrocketing to $250 a barrel hinted that Iran could block the Strait of Hormuz to oil exports from the Gulf.
He has threatened before but this shows me that Condi's diplomacy is just a smokescreen...and with Joe Liberman pounding the War drums
its getting tense out there
Congress didn't stop them and the madness continues