The Turkish army, NATO's second largest, is showing little fight against the pro-Muslim Erdogan government's mass arrests of top military chiefs, past and present. Washington and Brussels ask which way it will jump in a war involving Iran.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is unmoved by Western obliviousness to his hate campaign against Jews and Israel. He is campaigning hard to plant the poison in the Muslim mainstream. Its malevolence recalls Nazi "final solution" propaganda.
Israel feels the Obama administration has been stringing it along. The urgency of sanctions suddenly receded in Washington at the very moment that Jerusalem believed they were fully aligned on the handling of Iran's nuclear program. But the US insists the policy is still in place despite difficulties.
Ahmadinejad scripted a step-by-step performance and show of allied unity to convince Washington that Iran, Syria, Hizballah and eleven radical Palestinian groups were poised to ignite a Middle East religious war. The gambit worked - at least for now.
The Western powers are scrapping tough measures incorporated in the original motion they drafted for a UN Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran to make the draft more acceptable to Russia and China. debka file reports: By the time it is tabled, the resolution will be toothless as an instrument for holding back Iran's dash for a nuclear bomb.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas complained to the UN about Israel's enforcement of order on Temple Mount Friday, March 5, even though the disturbances were staged by radical Hamas and Islamist elements to destroy the US-mediate peace track which he has agreed to join.
Despite Tehran's denial, president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delayed his trip to Kabul by 48 hours when US defense secretary Robert Gates arrived suddenly in the Afghan capital Monday, March 8. The Iranian president had set the scene for his visit by accusing the US of "fabricating" 9/11 as a pretext for invading Afghanistan and unveiling new missile production lines.
debka file 's Middle East sources reveal that the US Middle East envoy George Mitchell presented his mission to Israeli and Palestinian leaders Monday, March 8, as getting direct talks between them started without delay and moved to Washington. Their lead negotiators have been appointed. They are the Israeli prime minister's adviser Yitzhak Molcho and the senior Palestinian negotiator Saab Erekat.
The Obama administration does not propose to let Bashar Assad go scot free for publicly poking fun at America as he stood side by side with the Iranian president. Syrian ambassador Imad Moustapha was left guessing about the shape of the punishment to come.
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