Ahmadinejad, Nasrallah, Assad and Erdogan were all diminished by the Iranian president's bumbling performance in Lebanon - as were their hopes of a solidifying a radical bloc potent enough to rule the Middle East roost.

In 1990, the Glaspie Effect, whereby the US declines to take a definite position on a conflict, led directly to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the first Gulf War in 1991. In 2010, the same effect generated by Hillary Clinton on the threat to Lebanon has brought the ...

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has carved out for himself a role at Barack Obama's right hand - uniquely for a non-American politician. In its latest issue out Friday, DEBKA-Net-Weekly looks behind Tony Blair's astonishing rise to the top of the White House team of policy-makers, especially on the Middle East and Iran. His popularity in Washington is matched inversely by his falling stakes at home and in Europe.

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Willing to entrust the Saudi king on Afghanistan, Obama also gives him a free hand to cut Iran down, mainly by making Assad irresistible offers for control in Beirut and influence in Baghdad for dropping Tehran and Hizballah,

The Saudi and Jordanian monarchs were persuaded by Barack Obama to shelve their respective nuclear programs for now, while French president Nicolas Sarkozy is licking his wounds after losing nuclear contracts with both and a hoped-for boost to the French economy and his own sagging prestige.

After losing its "only Middle East ally", Israel and Greece are heading for an advantageous strategic partnership. Prime Minister Papandreou hopes for help in overcoming Greece's economic crisis and upgrading his armed forces.

Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan is determined to lead an anti-Western, anti-Israel Muslim bloc of nations, but has still to choose his senior partner - Iran or Egypt.

America's show of military force in the Middle East was ignored not only by Turkey but by the moderate Arab rulers, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Gulf leaders are weighing a merger of their armies for self-defense against a nuclear-armed Iran.

US military preparations under way to attack Iran's nuclear facilities in response to Iran's plans for sending its allies to attack Israel this summer.

Some say Israel has missed the boat for knocking out Iran's nuclear facilities. It has no such option for Saudi Arabia and, in any case, Israel and Saudi intelligence chiefs hold regular parleys.

Saudi nuclear program is coordinated with and assisted by Washington on the understanding that the oil kingdom will be the sole Sunni Muslim nuclear power in the Middle East and rival to Iran.

The Obama administration's nuclear initiatives and strategy for Iran have not managed to thwart a Middle East arms race. That race is well under way with Saudi Arabia in the van - as DEBKA-Net-Weekly reveals in exclusive detail in its latest issue out Friday.
Washington is now trying hard to grab the steering wheel and safeguard its Persian Gulf interests.
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The Ahmadinejad-Assad summit in Damascus brought a showdown with Israel on four fronts a step closer. Tehran would like its allies to strike first to pre-empt an Israeli attack on its nuclear sites.

The US decision to restore its ambassador to Damascus and ease pressure on Iran was met with a muscle-flexing space extravaganza in Tehran and Syria lining up with Iran, Hizballah and Hamas for an anti-Israel warfront.