Egypt and Jordan appear to have found a separate peace. In fact, all that is left is that guy in Iran - and it would be best to understand Iran in a longer term context, because that guy represents only a part of Iran, just like Bush only represents a part of America.

They both are a little edgy, a little over the top - prone to inflammatory rhetoric beyond the will and the aspirations of the people they supposedly represent on the world stage. They are both actors, creating drama for the sake of drama and their intended audience.

Iran doesn't have the wherewithal to do shit to Israel unless they come up with a nuke. That won't happen, but some Iranians want people to think so. The more that gets played up, the more they like it. Israel is not the target anyway. Iran is interested in southern Lebanon. Lots of fellow Shiites, everybody belongs to somebodies gang.

Who else? Syria? Syria has no oil and few friends. They're holding out for the Golan Heights so they can go home. They don't have anything worth trading. They're working on it.

The rest of the Middle East is either on our side (as much as it can be said that anybody is on anybody's side) or they are invested in the status quo (a double edged sword if ever there was) or they are too messed up themselves to give a shit.

Iran is not Germany, Israel is not Poland. It's a misleading if not downright stupid and dangerous analogy and shows contempt for the intelligence of the American people.

Oh, I almost forgot. There is this stateless entity called Al Qaeda. George Bush wants us to think of Al Qaeda to as Hitler's Germany because he still can't get over how a bunch of religious gangsters fucked him in the ass. He does have a point, though - you don't negotiate with these people. No one is saying you do. There is nothing to negotiate.

But anyway, there is a lot more nuance to this than 'appeasing Hiltler' and in a few short months, we will no longer have to listen to that fucking idiot you call a President.