The New New Middle East

While many of us believe things are now going quiet in the Middle East, it appears that Western intelligence services have been busily networking and crafting. American foreign policy with regards to the region has been seriously undermined at the moment with Iraq in the grip of civil war and ruin, Israel defeated by Hezbollah, Iran going nuclear and Syria still with fingers in many pies. It appears that attempts at a new Sunni axis, to counter the contrived Shia arc from Iran to Syria, are now underway.

In Egypt, Gamal Mubarak started making noises about nuclear power, Jordan's puppet Hashemite King is still playing his PS2 while his intelligence services are now effectively the Middle East branch of the CIA and Saudi Arabia is ecstatic that it is now back in America's good books; nobody there really wanted to talk about Al Qaeda or fundamentalism. Lastly, within the Palestinian territories, thugs supported by the Israelis and Americans are now fomenting civil strife against the Hamas government, to distract all Palestinian movements from nipping at Israels heels.

To sum up, it appears to me that the beacon of freedom and democracy in the world is acting as midwife to the "moderate" nations of the Middle East against radical rogue states. Condoleeza Rice's new Middle East may have been a stillborn, but it's sibling is being conceived as we speak. In the West where the concept of the "single mum" has gained acceptance, there may be no difficulty in accepting this child. However, in the East, many people will still recognise the offspring for what it is, a bastard.