Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
"The stakes are obviously formidable for the United States. Without Russia, Washington may not succeed in bringing its policies in the Middle East to fruition."Russia has in the past few years been busy regrouping and redrawing its role vis-a-vis the outside world. … Thus Iran and Syria are only pawns in a much bigger game and are used to challenge U.S. hegemony in the Middle East in order to ensure Russian hegemony in its own neighborhood. By the same token, Russia is not playing along easily with U.S. efforts to bring Palestinians and Israelis to the negotiating table. And what applies to the Palestinian question applies equally to Iraq … Finally … Putin knows how important the Iranian nuclear program is for the United States and its chief ally in the region, Israel, and he happens to hold some important keys to break the deadlock.
Against this backdrop, U.S. initiatives in the Middle East, including the Annapolis peace meeting, are not likely to bear fruit without a minimum of support and cooperation from Russia. Access the full article>>
